Internazionali d’Italia Series unveils 2018 calendar

Four stages and several novelties for the Italian Cross-Country MTB circuit, whose 2018 season will be opened in Nals on April 15th. Conclusion in Chies d’Alpago on June 30th

Top-class international mountain bike will be back to Italy again in 2018 with Internazionali d’Italia Series. The most important Italian MTB circuit, backed by the Italian Cycling Federation and the International Cycling Union, presented its new calendar, featuring several novelties. With the new edition, Internazionali d’Italia Series hopes to continue the upward trend of the last few seasons, both from an organizational and technical level.

Four stages will determine who the successors of Marco Aurelio Fontana and Serena Calvetti – 2017 winners in the Men’s Open and Women’s Open categories – will be. The programme will open on Sunday April 15th in Nals (Bozen), with the classic Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race, now back to the HC category. A star-loaded field is expected to show up and put on an exciting race on the renowned and demanding course in Südtirol. Last year, Marco Aurelio Fontana and legendary Gunn-Rita Dahle.

After Nals, two events will make their debut in the national circuit. On April 22nd, Internazionali d’Italia Series will reach San Marino for “Titano XCO”, on the same course that staged the MTB race of the Games of the Small States of Europe in 2017. The third stage, Apritium Race, will take place on June 10th in Central Italy, in Pineto (Teramo).

Finally, on June 30th, the new Internazionali d’Italia Series’ winners will be crowned after the last race, the Alpago MTB Trophy in Lamosano di Chies d’Alpago (Belluno): this will mark the return of an Italian MTB classic in the Internazionali d’Italia Series calendar. After staging the 2015 European Cross Country Championship, Alpago will also host the Italian MTB Youth Championships in 2018.

Here is the 2018 Internazionali d’Italia Series calendar:

April 15th: Marlene Südtirol Sunshine Race – Nalles (BZ) – Cat. HC
April 22nd: Titano XCO – San Marino (SMR) – Cat. C2
June 10th: Aprutium Race – Pineto (TE) – Cat. C2
June 30th: Alpago MTB Trophy – Lamosano di Chies d’Alpago (BL) – Cat. C1

“After the progression and all the positive feedbacks we had in 2017, we expect Internazionali d’Italia Series to take another step forward in 2018” – Luca Carton stated. “Over these months, many locations and brands have contacted us to enquire about the circuit and related opportunities: that gives us a very promising perspective, even beyond 2018.”

“We are happy to have managed to feature San Marino and Pineto in the calendar this year,” said Michele Mondini, “as they showed great determination to be part of the Internazionali d’Italia Series project, and also bring us in areas where Internazionali d’Italia has never been in the last few years. Nals is a great classic event, whilst Alpago will provide the ideal setting to close in style. We were very close to adding a fifth stage, to be held in Tuscany: due to the timing needed to create a new event from scratch, we hope to finalize such project in 2019.”

The new adventure of Internazionali d’Italia Series has found consensus and support from significant cycling brands, whose partnership for the 2018 will be presented in the upcoming weeks.

Verona (Italy), January 12th, 2018