{"id":17213,"date":"2017-01-18T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2017\/01\/18\/italian-duo-back-with-serious-intent-r6015\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T07:18:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T07:18:06","slug":"italian-duo-back-with-serious-intent-r6015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/italian-duo-back-with-serious-intent-r6015\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian duo back with serious intent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year Italians Damiano Ferraro and Samuele Porro arrived at the Absa Cape Epic as dark horses. They had competed with distinction on the world marathon circuit, but how would they manage the rigours of eight days of racing?<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-52269800-1484733068.jpg\"<\/a>Photo credit: Gary Perkin | Sportzpics<\/span><\/p>\n

Very well, as it turned out. The amiable Italian pairing won a stage and swept to third place overall on their first attempt at the Untamed African MTB Race.<\/p>\n

In 2017 their opponents will be alert to the challenge, but Team Trek Selle San Marco is gearing up for a serious assault. The pair has been encouraged by the 2017 route, which they believe will play to their strengths as climbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have studied the new stages and I believe that they suit us and the way we race,\u201d said Porro. \u201cAbove all they are perfect for our qualities as climbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferraro added: \u201cFor marathon and long distances specialists, more kilometres will not be a problem. Indeed, it can be an advantage and the added climbing will be in our favour because we are familiar with long climbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be at the start with even more experience but we will be also aware that the level of the competition will be higher,\u201d said Ferraro. \u201cIt would be nice to win a stage again and try to take the best place possible on the overall ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-62454400-1484733069.jpg\"<\/a>Photo credit: Nick Muzik | Sportzpics<\/span><\/p>\n

The pair is well into a highly structured and intense training programme for the Absa Cape Epic: \u201cUntil now I have been able to train very well, helped by an unusually hot and rainless winter here in Italy. Now we\u2019re ready to go to Calpe in Spain (for a training camp). Then we will train in South Africa for a couple of weeks before the race \u2026 I think it is really important to train in South Africa to be competitive at 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have both become fans of the Absa Cape Epic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cape Epic is what you call \u2018the race par excellence\u2019,\u201d said Ferraro. \u201cIt has amazing stages and routes. Everything is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing! I took part last year having heard it was a really important and well-organised event in one of the best places in the world for mountain biking,\u201d added Porro. \u201cI must say that it was even better than I expected. It\u2019s difficult to find a similar standard in mountain bike races all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly, they have a strong back up team this year. Their countryman Fabian Rabensteiner and formidable Russian champion Alexey Medvedev, who notched up some impressive results in 2016, will be their support and on hand to help if required.<\/p>\n

The other top contenders will know to keep an eye on Ferraro and Porro this year, but the Italians will expect to spring a surprise or two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year Italians Damiano Ferraro and Samuele Porro arrived at the Absa Cape Epic as dark horses. They had competed with distinction on the world marathon circuit, but how would they manage the rigours of eight days of racing? Photo credit: Gary Perkin | Sportzpics Very well, as it turned out. The amiable Italian pairing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24,1593,1867],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-17213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic","tag-damiano-ferraro","tag-samuele-porro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17213"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=17213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}