Ruzafa, Karaskova win XTERRA Italy - Scanno

Press Release / 22.07.2019

Ruben Ruzafa and Helena Karaskova captured the seventh annual XTERRA Italy - Scanno off-road triathlon elite titles on a beautiful day in the mountains of Abruzzo on Sunday, July 21, 2019.

For Ruzafa, who has won three XTERRA World Championship titles and four ITU Cross Tri World Titles, the win was his first of the season and 34th of his career.  For Karaskova, a four-time XTERRA European Tour Champion, the victory was the 32nd of her career and second this season after winning XTERRA Denmark in June.

In the men's elite race, Maxim Chane was first out of the water followed by Ruzafa together with Doug Hall 30 seconds back. Francois Carloni had a great swim and was just a further five seconds behind the duo with local favorite Filippo Rinaldi trailing 30 seconds behind Carloni.

Once on the bike Ruzafa took charge and was all by himself when they reached the beautiful village of Scanno for the second time before starting the infamous long climb up to the ski station. Chane was holding second 43 seconds back.  Rui Dolores had ridden up to the leaders to join Francois Carloni where the pair were 40 seconds behind Chane, and Rinaldi was losing time and had dropped to two minutes and 10 seconds behind Ruzafa. Fellow Italian Filippo Barazzuol had moved up to sixth place, one minute behind Rinaldi, and the big mover was mountain bike specialist Xavier Dafflon, already in 8th place, just four minutes behind the leader.

Ruzafa started the run with a strong pace but Dafflon was closing the gap at every kilometer and the gap was down to 60 seconds at the 5K mark. Barrazuol and Carloni were running together in third and fourth place, and Dolores was running in fifth.

Ruzafa was able to respond and held off Dafflon by 57 seconds to win the race with a time of 2:52:20. Barazzuol finished third, Carloni fourth, and Dolores finished fifth. Xavier Jove was sixth and Chane seventh. "Being close to the lead exiting the water makes my races a little bit easier," said Ruzafa. "I think Maxim didn't push too hard in the swim. I was only 30 seconds back and able to take the lead quickly. I felt strong and was able to manage my pace, but I was never confident of the win, especially when Xavier was less than two minutes behind me starting the run. I saw him not far behind in the long climb on the back of the village and knew I had a gap but had to keep pushing. Only during the last kilometer along the lake, I was able to relax knowing that I would win. After ITU worlds in Pontevedra I took some rest and now I'm happy to see that I'm back in good shape, just in time for the XTERRA European Championship in the Czech Republic in two weeks."

As for Dafflon, he said his runner-up performance felt like a win. "It was a tough race today, but I enjoyed the suffering," he said. "Finishing second behind Ruben is like a win for me. Everything went well for me today after mechanical problems in previous events. I pushed hard on the bike and came into transition second and I tried to close the gap on the run, however, Ruben is Ruben and he kept his position until the end."

And the top Italian Barazzuol was ecstatic with his performance, saying, "I knew that this race would be hard but it's the type of race I like. I come from a mountain bike and ski-mountaineering background so I am used to races of around three hours. I was not expecting to run so well as I am coming from an injury last month and didn't train a lot. This was my second ever XTERRA, after Garda, and I won't be able to race XTERRA anymore this year but I'm already looking forward to next season."

Elite Men Results
PL     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Ruben Ruzafa, ESP     2:52:21     75
2     Xavier Dafflon, SUI     2:53:18     67
3     Filippo Barazzuol, ITA     2:58:03     61
4     Francois Carloni, FRA     2:58:59     56
5     Rui Dolores, PRT     3:02:09     51
6     Xavier Jove Riart, ESP     3:03:22     47
7     Maxim Chane, FRA     3:05:53     43
8     Samuel Jud, CHE     3:08:49     39
9     Doug Hall, GBR         3:12:00     36
10     Joep Staps, NLD     3:15:25     33
11     Charly Sibille, FRA     3:18:43     30
12     Dominik Wychera, AUT     3:21:04     27
13     Will Kelsay, USA     3:32:21     25

In the women's elite race Maria Calleja from Spain was first out of the water with Pavlina Vargova in second place, some 48 seconds back. Italy's Sandra Mairhofer was third, a further 15 seconds back and one-minute after Mairhofer was a big group of contenders including Helena Karaskova, last year's winner Eva Garcia Gonzalez, Swiss Champion Ladina Buss, and Polish standout Ana Tomica.

Fifteen kilometers into the bike at the beautiful village of Scanno, Karaskova was in the lead and looking strong. Mairhofer and Buss were riding together in second/third, 1:10 behind the leader. Garcia and Calleja were two minutes back in fourth and fifth place with the young Italian Matilde Bolzan just 15 seconds behind.?

Starting the last downhill, Karaskova had built her lead to two minutes and 45 seconds over Mairhofer, who was riding alone in second place. Buss was in third almost five minutes behind the lead. Bolzan had moved up to fourth another minute back and Garcia had pulled away from her countrymate into fifth place. "I love this place, I love the people and the course," said Mairhofer. "I am very happy with my second place. I improved on last year when I was third, so this is great for me. I was able to ride my own race, keep my position and finish strong."

At the start of the run, Karaskova was more than three minutes ahead of Mairhofer while Bolzan had made use of her technical riding skills to make up a minute on the front of the race to enter transition in third. At the 5K mark of the run nothing changed for the first two places but Gonzalez was moving fast, passed Buss and had closed the gap to Bolzan to just 60 seconds. "It was a really hard day," said Karaskova. "I took the lead early on the bike and never looked back, just kept pushing all the way. I enjoyed the bike section, but the run was tough. I am very happy with my victory in Scanno."

Karaskova crossed the finish line first with a time of 3:24:26, five minutes ahead of a hard earned second place by Mairhofer. Gonzalez continued her fantastic run to finish third with Bolzan in fourth, Buss in fifth, Calleja sixth, and Tomica seventh. "I am very happy finishing third here today," said Garcia. "I lost some time during the big climb on the bike, but I am a fast runner and was able to catch those in front of me on the run and secure a place on the podium."

Elite Women
PL     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Helena Karaskova-Erbenova, CZE     3:24:27     100
2     Sandra Mairhofer, ITA     3:29:36     90
3     Eva Garcia Gonzalez, ESP     3:32:39     82
4     Matilde Bolzan, ITA     3:34:11     75
5     Ladina Buss, SUI     3:37:43     69
6     Maria Calleja Aguayo, ESP     3:45:36     63
7     Anna Tomica, POL     3:52:58     58
8     Angela Niklaus, SUI     3:53:53     53
9     Pavlina Vargova, CZE     4:07:25     49