04 May METALLURGICA VENETA MTB PRO TEAM – Riva del Garda marathon
Nicola Tafferel and Maria Zarantonello among the stars of the Riva del Garda marathon
Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team, ambassador de ISB Sport, shines in the queen race of the Bike Festival in Riva del Garda. In the Ronda Extrema Taffarel finished sixth, in his first participation, exceeding expectations, Maria Zarantonello took a surprising fourth place.
The highlights of the race with 82.7 km and 3,434 meters of elevation gain are self-explanatory, plus, as always in Riva, the line-up was very good so Taffarel was prepared for a tough day.
The Vittorio Veneto rider, who did not make it to the finish line last year, managed to hold on to the top positions without any problems and showed with a solid race, finished in sixth position, a very good form that had a really interesting epilogue in the first big classic of the European marathon season.
It came in a UCI event the most beautiful joy for Maria Zarantonello, who had already collected great results in these two months of racing. The victory in a granfondo had already come, the podium was now an established practice, but today’s fourth place in an international marathon, the first of her life, was a masterpiece.
After his excellent results in the last two editions, Jacopo Billi would have liked to bring home a third Top 10. Billi is not coming from a period of super form, but he still felt he was on the rise and did his best with a smooth race. On the first climb he had a mechanical problem that caused him to lose a few seconds, he restarted a lot behind, then took his rhythm trying to make the climbs all in progression, one after the other, recovering up to 14th position that reflects the current potential of the rider from Tori, still recovering after his illness.