A victory and a second place – that’s the result for GRENKE - Auto Eder at the race weekend in Soligo, northern Italy. After the junior team of the WorldTeam BORA - hansgrohe won the Gran Premio Eccellenze Valli del Soligo, a 17.6-kilomettr team time trial, on Saturday, the U19 riders also showed their best form at the Trofeo Dorigo one-day race on Sunday
After 134.7 kilometres, local hero Lorenzo Finn finished in second place, narrowly missing out in the sprint to Jakob Omrzel (Slovenia) by just a few centimetres. Additionally, two more GRENKE - Auto Eder riders, Noah Lindholm Møller Andersen (Denmark, fourth) and Patrick Casey (Ireland, seventh), made it into the top ten. Since both races were categorized as 1.1 races by the UCI, the GRENKE - Auto Eder athletes collected important points in the world rankings.
The outing in Italy wasn’t the only success story for the Upper Bavarian team last weekend. At the same time, Paul Fietzke competed in the German championships in the individual time trial. In his first race after a short injury break, the 18-year-old finished in third place, securing the bronze medal.
The next races for the GRENKE - Auto Eder riders are the national championships, which will take place in various countries in the coming days. After that, the team will head to the Grand Prix Général Patton, a two-day stage race in Luxembourg, on June 29th and 30th.
Quotes
“Alongside the top Italian teams, several teams from Slovenia and various national teams were also present at both races. Our goal was clear: to improve on last year’s second place in the team time trial and to compete for the win in the road race on Sunday. We achieved both, and we can be very satisfied with our performance. It was an almost perfect weekend, showing that we are in good form and giving us confidence for the upcoming races.” – Florian Wallner, Sports Director
“We delivered a really strong performance in the team time trial on Saturday. And, of course, I'm very satisfied with my performance on Sunday, even though I narrowly missed the win. Now, I'm looking forward to the national championships.” – Lorenzo Finn
Photo: Cyclingshoots - Stefano Colombo