PICTURES HERE
credits: Michele Mondini
COMMEZZADURA (VAL DI SOLE – TRENTINO), 9 SEPTEMBER 2016 – The second day of practice runs revealed every aspect of the Black Snake, awarding DHI World titles on 11 September. Yesterday’s video preview (YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3WvymUEDk8) already showed the loose terrain conditions, covered with a thick layer of dust, making Val di Sole track even more challenging for athletes. The comparison with the legendary Streif slope in Alpine skiing fits perfectly.
It is going to be very hard to find the right pace, unless the weather conditions change, adding another tricky ingredient: rain. “Riders are those who spotlight the track, it’s not the other way round … you have to attack, otherwise you will bite the dust” said creator of the Black Snake Pier Paolo “Pippo” Marani.
The athletes’ approaches are very different, also because lines are hard to understand, dust covers everything. Riders who stood out in the morning’s training sessions are Australia’s Troy Brosnan and South Africa’s Greg Minnaar. They have totally different body shapes – the first, average height and robust, the second, tall and slim – and tackled the course in a completely different way: Brosnan rode super composed while three times World champion Minnaar attacked trying to find the fastest line also thanks to his incredible power.
Among the athletes’ comments, the most significant are those of the two super favourites, French rider Loic Bruni – defending champion – and British Danny Hart, who arrived in Val di Sole with three World Cup victories in a row. “The race should be divided in two runs, from the start to half way, and then from half way to the finish line” said Bruni. “Pippo, where should you go through here? Tell me, please!” this is a short bit of the dialogue between doubtful Danny Hart and Pippo Marani.
It’s hard to say now which athletes are the favourites in the battle for the downhill world title. Only tomorrow, after Junior seeding runs and Elite timed session, we will know who could tame the crazy and wild Black Snake.
Info
Saturday 10 September: 8.00-9.15 Junior Men and Women, Elite Women official training; 9.30-10.45 Elite Men official training; 11.30-15.00 Juniors seeding run and DHI official timed session
Sunday 11 September: 8.00-9.00 Junior Men and Women, Elite Women official training; 9.00-10.00 Elite Men official training; 10.15 Junior Women and Men final; 12.40 Elite Women final; 13.45 Elite Men final
Alberto Penasa - Azienda Turismo Val di Sole
Viale Marconi, 7 - 3827 - Malè - (TN)
Tel. +39.0463.900863 - Fax +39.0463.901563
www.valdisole.net - penasa.a@valdisole.net
