FLORIANE PUGIN RULES THE WOMEN’S FIELD AT
THE TEST EVENT IN VAL DI SOLE
She ended her 2007 season on the podiums of
Fort William and Maribor, and in 2008 she
never stepped down, not even, especially, on
sunday may 4th, at the pre-World
Championships test event in Val di Sole.
Floriane Pugin gained a wonderful victory in
this race, which is also team Playbiker –
Iron Horse’s first international win for
this season. Floriane, at only 18 years of
age, has proved in her first race as an
Elite to be able to compete with the world’s
best athletes. Onboard her new Sunday
Factory Floriane ruled the race right from
the semifinal, finishing almost 4 seconds
ahead of her friend and current World
Champion Sabrina Jonnier.
Less exciting weekend, but still useful for
training and equipment setup, for the rest
of the team, with Mike Skinner 41st, Adam
Brayton 52nd, Matthias Stoing 64th and Luca
Bertocchi 68th. Nathan Rankin and Geoff
Ulmer decided to sit out after two burly
falls during practice, preffering to rest
and get better before the World Cup debut in
Maribor later this week. Lorenzo Suding and
Elisa Canepa, both racing with the italian
national team’s colors in Val di Sole, had
alternating luck. Lorenzo did not race due
to a bad hit on his shoulder, while Elisa
came 8th in saturday’s 4X and a 12th spot in
DH, after having a great run in the
semifinal, which she did not repeat due to
two falls in her final run. Elisa has shown
she is still one of the few riders who has
the energy to race both disciplines in the
same weekend with good results.
After the test event the team stayed in Val
di Sole to perform further tests on the
track before moving on to Slovenia for the
first stop of the World Cup in Maribor.
Team Playbiker – Iron Horse is the first
international UCI Trade Team based in Italy
specialized in gravity racing. The team is
supported by the factory sponsors: Iron
Horse Bicycles, UFO Plast, Kenda tires, Pila
MTB Planet, Funn, RMS Component Selection,
A-Class Wheels, e.thirteen, SRAM, Rock
Shox, Formula brakes and Insight
Productions.
Information and contacts:
Simon Cittati,
Road Manager
simon@ironhorsebikes.it
Cell. +39.338.4016142
ironhorsebikes.it
myspace.com/playbiker
