This year Oakley moved their Criterium from the airport to the city, to Città di Carpi, to be exact, a beautiful city near Modena. Being an old city meant that the circuit was very technical with tight corners and cobble stone streets, complete with a spectacular view of a very long brickstones finish line where in 2008 Daniele Bennati won the Giro d’Italia.
Text & Photography: Chris Leustean
Women’s Race
The women’s race was controlled mostly by Paola Panzeri, Carmela Cipriani and Carla Nafria. During their race it started to rain and that caused a crash in which Carla was involved, but she was strong and quickly got back on the bike making up for time lost and climbing up in position until the last turn she overtook Paola Panzeri and even managed to win the race, with Panzeri and Cipriani coming 2nd and 3rd.
Men’s Race
The men’s race was delayed by a few minutes because team Critlife had a little problem with their bike but it was quickly resolved. It was a fast pace race and it quickly split in 2 major groups. The 1st group chasing Eamon Lucas, who was setting up an impressive solo attack, composed by Eamon’s team mate Ilesic, Poccianti, Poli, Chicchi and Moser. Eamon showed his performance with a solo break-away for 19 laps and he managed to win the race with his teammate Aldo Ilesic coming 2nd followed by Martino Poccianti who completed the podium.
Aldo Ilesic on the great team performance “I can only say, we raced smart. First attack from Eamon made it. I just had to control and put the Cherry on top. Carla crashed during the race when it started raining, but jumped back on the bike immediately and attacked the field in the beginning of the last lap. Team Critlife is super happy!”
Top 3 Women’s:
1. Carla Nafria
2. Paola Panzeri
3.Carmela Cipriani
Top 3 Men’s:
1. Eamon Lucas
2. Aldo Ino Ilesic
3. Martino Poccianti
Entertainment
Between the races you could see Alessandro Cassinari also known as #LEXCASSI, he’s an young man who does fixed-gear freestyle while switching from classy clothes to sportswear ones. He kept the public entertained with his good skills!
