XTERRA Lake Garda Showdown
Press Release / 03.06.2022
The third of 10 majors on the 2022 XTERRA European Tour takes place Saturday, June 4, in the charming Italian town of Toscolano-Maderno on the western shores of Lake Garda.
XTERRA Lake Garda, which combines a 1.5km swim with a 31km mountain bike and 11km trail run, has been described as one of the most difficult challenges on the world tour due to very steep climbs and technical descents on both the bike and run.
“I love the brutal course here,” said reigning XTERRA European Champion, Arthur Serrieres (FRA), who is fresh off his 15th career XTERRA World Tour win at Portugal two weeks ago. “I won here in Garda in 2018 and finished 2nd in 2019 and 2021 when it was just the Short Track race, and I really wanted to be here again this year.”
The Frenchman will also race at the World Triathlon Cross Championships on Wednesday, June 8, in Romania, allowing just three days rest between the two big events.
“I can be competitive at two or three races in a row, I’ve done it before and am ready for the challenge,” said Serrieres (pictured above).
The favorite will be up against three other elites in the top 10 of the XTERRA World Rankings, Sebastien Carabin (BEL), Maxim Chane (FRA), and Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen (DEN).
“With a wetsuit swim, hard bike and run courses, and warm weather, I'm quite confident, I just hope I recover totally from a small ear infection I’ve had,” said Carabin (pictured), who will also be racing in Romania on Wednesday. “I will do the whole race full gas, I used to do stage races and think I can recover well, but we will see.”
XTERRA Europe director Nico Lebrun expects Chane to come out of the water with a lead alongside Jens Roth, and then the race will be up for grabs.
“On paper, with such a hard course and lots of climbing on the bike and run, Carabin will have plenty of time to come back. Same for Jens Emil, although he’ll have to take lots of risks on the bike to stay in contention. For me, Chané will be the one most likely to push Arthur for the win, and because he will not race in Romania, can give it everything,” said Lebrun.
Chane, who won XTERRA France and XTERRA Lake Scanno last year, said he’s excited for the chance to race against Serrieres again.
“I feel 100%, made good progress this winter and I’ve seen that payoff at road races, now I want to validate it at XTERRA races. Arthur is the strongest in the sport right now, so it will be the perfect test. Even if he is racing in Romania after, I'm sure he will race to win because when you are trained like we are, this is more of a logistics issue than recovery,” said Chane.
Riou Defends Women's Title
In the women’s elite race Jindriska Zemanova from the Czech Republic will look to unseat 2019 XTERRA European Champion, Morgane Riou (FRA).
“I raced here in 2019 as an age grouper and last year for the Short Track, so I know it’s a very hard course with a lot of climbs. You need to perform at a high level to do well here, especially because it will also be quite hot,” said Zemanova, who won XTERRA Greece last season.
Riou won XTERRA Lake Garda and the Queen of the Valley crown that goes with it in 2019, and went on to win four straight after that, in what was her best season as an elite.
“Morgane made a big mental move winning here in front of Helena Karaskova-Erbenova that year and then won almost everything, so she told me she was very emotional to be back here on this course,” said Lebrun. “But she’s had to work a lot during Covid and still now, so I think this is more of a re-construction race for her, but I still expect her on the podium.”
Hana Odlova (CZE), who won the 25-29 XTERRA World Championship in Maui last December, will be racing as an elite for the first time, as will Camille Jobard (FRA) and Emma Briggs (GBR).
