17 Apr Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team wins the 4Island MTB
After an exciting start to the season, Metallurgica Veneta MTB Professional Team, ambassador of ISB Sport, has once again turned a corner and imposed its strength at the international level as well. Taffarel and Rosa are the strongest and win the 4Island MTB Stage Race.
Grand finale of the 4Islands MTB Stage Race for Metallurgica Veneta MTB Professional Team, which completed its second participation in an international UCI race in an extraordinary way. The Italian team competed head-to-head with the top category teams and was the protagonist during the five days, winning two stages and with a second and a third place, put the finishing touches on the overall.
After taking the overall lead in the second stage, perfectly centered on the objective, Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa in the week in Croatia found the right timing to give the team its first international success.
- Tuesday, April 16, Prologue (12 km, elevation gain 260 mt), Baška
The defending champions, Germany’s Lukas Baum and Georg Egger, made a victorious start to 4Islands MTB Croatia by imposing themselves in the prologue that indicated which teams were in good shape for the 2024 race. In the very short and intense time trial, Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa remained at the top of the leaderboard until the favorites begin to print their times. Behind them, the Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team pair is 21 seconds back occupied the fourth position, while teammates Ole Hem and Jacopo Billi posted the sixth time less than a minute behind Baum and Egger.
- Wednesday, April 17, Stage 1 (72 km, elevation gain 1,530 m), Baška
After an excellent performance in the prologue, with a superb ride Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa won the stage and took the leader’s yellow jersey. In the first 20 kilometers between the four leading teams, Taffarel and Rosa helped set the race an incredible pace and develop the day’s breakaway. Each time the course climbed, Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa along with the Buff Megamo pair, Wout Alleman and Pablo Rodriguez Guede gained a handful of seconds, then a mechanical problem slowed the Spanish team’s riders and opened the door wide for the first Italian triumph.
Victim of a puncture, Ole Hem and Jacopo Billi crossed the finish line heavily delayed in 14th position, seeing any chance of maintaining a top position in the overall standings vanish.
- Thursday, April 18, Stage 2 (84 km, elevation gain 1,880 m), Merag
The third day was dramatic for the opponents of Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa. A crash and some problems in the queen stage for the two most insidious teams allowed the Italian team to extend its lead in the overall standings to 3minutes and 40 seconds. Once again Taffarel and Rosa were the team in the best position to capitalize. Their concentration and a bit of luck kept them out of trouble and for the second consecutive day they won the stage.
Ole Hem and Jacopo Billi, fifth at the finish, recovered five positions in the overall by moving back into the Top 10.
- Friday, April 19, Stage 3 (39 km, 900 m elevation gain), Lošinj
The short and hard-fought 39-kilometer stage did not bring a change at the top of the general classification, but it set the race up for the final stage. Only 2 minutes and 25 seconds separated Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team from the Spaniards of Klimatiza Toteemi Cabberty who took the stage win. Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa experienced the toughest stage of the race and had to work to defend the yellow jersey, finishing third.
Sixth place in the stage was for Ole Hem and Jacopo Billi a show of combativeness and confirmation of their eighth position in the overall.
- Saturday, April 20, Stage 4 (65 km, elevation gain 1,640 m), Rab
With second place in the stage Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team made the 4Islands MTB Stage Race its own. A splendid victory that seals a historic result for the Italian team. Top level opponents did not hold back the ambitions of Nicola Taffarel and Massimo Rosa who took a great, unexpected and beautiful victory.
The key factor of the day was the management of the race, the two Italians were always with the Spaniards of Klimatiza Toteemi Cabberty and in the last 20 km they administered, keeping the race under control until the finish line where they occupied the second position.
16th place for Ole Hem and Jacopo Billi who helped their teammates defend the yellow jersey and then lost time on the trails due to mechanical problems that took them out of the Top 10.
