The former professional Italian wins in Aritzo after 48.3 km, whilst his 22-year-old countrymen holds the GC lead ahed of Ilias. The Dutchman was unbeatable among the Women, with Peretti runner-up

Aritzo (Italy), August 31st, 2024 – Davide Foccoli and Tessa Kortekaas claimed the overall success at the 10th Rally di Sardegna MTB, an international stage race held from Wednesday to Saturday, August 28th-31st in Sardinia. Former Italian professional Riccardo Chiarini topped the final stage, 48.3 km with start and finish in Aritzo with 1,800 meters gradien, ahead of the 2012 world champion and stage-1 winner Periklis Ilias. The two latters also climbed onto the final podium, in reversed positions. Leader of the first two days, Diego Rosa experienced another unlucky day.

Tessa Kortekaas scored the fourth success in as many days among Women in 2 hours 51 minutes and 54 seconds, with a 5:16 advantage over the Italian champion Claudia Peretti.

“I didn’t expect to win the Rally di Sardegna MTB – Foccoli commented after his arrival with a flat tire – and I’m ‘overjoyed’: I fought until the end to hold the GC lead. Today too the route was tough, I tried not to lose too much time from the stage leaders. The last descent was tough, I got a flat tire and tried to get down without too much damage it. Like in all the stage races, the punctures were an unexpected factor always around the corner “

Riccardo Chiarini can also smile, with his comeback success after an early stage market by the attempt of Becking and Saitta:: “After two second places, I think I deserved this win. The stage start was really fast and after twenty minutes its destiny seemed sealed. However, I and Ilias came back to took the lead. At the top of the last KOM Periklis attacked, gaining about twenty seconds. I caught him on the slight slope and then I took some risks on the following descent, gaining an edge that I kept until the finish”.

Leader of the first two stages, unlucky in the third one, Rosa attacked in the first kilometers before being affected to further problems with the front wheel again, losing minute after minute. “This year I’m not very lucky – commented Rosa – but I try to face every experience with a smile. I can say this was sa great experience, in a beautiful race: I hope we’ll see each other again next year”.

Tessa Kortekaas picked her full of a king in the Rally di Sardegna MTB 2024 final stage, after a strong recover on Claudia Peretti. “I am very happy with this victory at the Rally di Sardegna. The stage was tougher than I expected – Kortekaas commented – and Claudia Peretti attacked hard right from the first climb: I did not expect that. Claudia was initially in the lead and I lost more time in a very technical descent, but I hade great feelings and I managed to recover on the longer climb and to overtake her. From the moment I woke up this morning, I knew I had to stay in the lead”.

Italian Maria Cristina Nisi completed the stage race with a third place in Aritzo, whilst Monica Calderon rounded out the Women’s overall podium.

Italian champion and European bronze medallist Claudia Peretti showed a bit of regret, even it nobody can say she didn’t try to succeed: “I knew that today it would be difficult to compete for the overall standings because the gap with Tessa was too large, so I was hoping for a stage victory. I started off strong right away, gained some ground on the first climb, and then managed to stay in the lead until almost the thirtieth kilometer. But when Tessa passed me at twice the speed, I realized I wasn’t going to win”.

The OC coordinator, Giandomenico Nieddu, made an early balance of the eventh: “We are relly satisfied, because we have shown a major sporting event can be brought to the mountains of Sardinia in August. In Aritzo, Desulo and Seulo, we received a warm welcome, as we did in Tonara, Gadoni, Sadali and Seui”.

“We are extremely pleased we brought great bikers to Sardinia. Many of them told us they competed surrounded by unspoiled nature and crossed landscapes of wild and heartbreaking beauty. The event had a strong impact on tourism: all the hotels were full this week and we are happy we helped to extend the “Ferragosto period”. Maybe it’s just a drop, but a positive one. Our hope for the future is to start planning the 2025 edition immediately, as it’s a task that needs to be done a year in advance when the major teams schedule their participation in events” Nieddu added.

Aritzo’s Mayor Paolo Fontana also spent greateful words: “This has been an important opportunity for our town. We hope it can be repeated in the coming years, and for this we appeal to Councillor Cuccureddu. I had the chance to speak with some of these champions, they told me about the beautiful routes. They didn’t expect mountains like ours and they will take away fond memories. The Rally di Sardegna MTB is a very important event for us and that’s why we hope it will be repeated in the future”.

OFFICIAL CLASSIFICATIONS

Race results Men Stage 3
1) Riccardo Chiarini (Cannondale IBS Sport) in 2:22:19
2) Periklis Ilias (Tabrosracingteam) + 0:20
3) Vincenzo Saitta (Rolling Bike Racing Team) + 1:56
4) Davide Foccoli (Olympia Factory Team) + 2:52
5) Hans Becking (Buff Megamo) + 4:28

Final classification Men
1) Davide Foccoli (Olympia Factory Team) in 9:10:45
2) Periklis Ilias (Tabrosracingteam) + 0:26
3) Riccardo Chiarini (Cannondale IBS Sport) + 3:30
4) Vincenzo Saitta (Rolling Bike Racing Team) + 4:48
5) Hans Becking (Buff Megamo) + 6:12

Race results Women Stage 3
1) Tessa Kortekaas (Cannondale ISB Sport) in 2:51:54
2) Claudia Peretti (Olympia Factory Team) + 5:16
3) Maria Cristina Nisi (Boscaro Racing Team) + 21′:45
4) Monica Calderon (Cannondale ISB Sport) + 25:40
5) Karla Loffelmann (Ceska Sporiteln – Accolade) + 26:27

Final classification Women
1) Tessa Kortekaas (Cannondale ISB Sport) in 10:57:40
2) Claudia Peretti (Olympia Factory Team) +12:44
3) Monica Calderon (Cannondale ISB Sport) + 57:01
4) Karla Loffelmann (Ceska Sporiteln – Accolade) + 1:07:09
5) Maria Cristina Nisi (Boscaro Racing Team) + 1:24:38

The Rally di Sardegna MTB is promoted by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia – Department of Tourism, Handicrafts and Commerce, and is organized by Wild Track, under the aegis of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI), with the support and sponsorship of the municipalities of Aritzo, Desulo and Seulo. The collaboration of the municipalities Tonara, Sadali, Seui and Gadoni, as well as the Forestas agency with its management and its territorial offices (Cagliari, Nuoro e Lanusei) played also a key role. The event is also supported by companies such as Scott, Enervit, Playcar and USE, with media partnership by Corriere dello Sport.

Photos:  1) The final podium celebration with Davide Foccoli (center), Periklis Ilias (left) and Riccardo Chiarini (right) (Credits Daniele Pisanu); 2) Tessa Kortekaas (center) between Claudia Peretti (left) and Monica Calderon (right) together with two young people dresset with traditional clothes of Aritzo (Credits Daniele Pisanu); 3) Riccardo Chiarini celebrating win in the final stage (Credits Daniele Pisanu); 4) Diego Rosa slowed by problems with his front wheel (Credits Nicola Belillo); 5) Tessa Kortekaas dominated the Women’s race (Credits Nicola Belillo); 6) The Italian champion Claudia Peretti on the attack (Credits Antonio Caggiano); 7) Vincenzo Saitta, right, with the ‘Rally’ winner Davide Foccoli (Credits Antonio Caggiano); 8) Maria Cristina Nisi, third placed in the stage 3 (Credits Nicola Belillo); 9) Hans Becking, right, and Vincenzo Saitta in the front race (Credits Nicola Belillo); 10) Jaroslav Kulhavy, campione olimpico a Londra 2012 (Credits Antonio Caggiano)