“Completely incomprehensible” - Lechner is missing from the European Championship squad

The European Championship squad for the European Cross Country Championships of the cycling “Azzurri” caused a huge surprise on Wednesday afternoon: Italy's by far best elite rider Eva Lechner was not considered for the squad. The woman from Eppan isn't injured, battered or completely out of shape - the 33-year-old doesn't understand why she isn't there.

In any case, Italy's national cross-country coach, Scotti Fausto, is voluntarily giving up what is probably the “Azzurre's” greatest hope for a medal. A decision that neither cycling experts, fans, South Tyrolean officials nor the athlete herself expected.

“Nomination already confirmed” “For me this is completely incomprehensible. Actually, the coach only confirmed to me a week ago that I would be nominated for the European Championships,” says Eva Lechner, completely disappointed. On Thursday she will compete in another race in Belgium, from there she would go directly to s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, where the women's European Championship elite race will take place on Sunday. She would have been looking forward to that. “Now I can book the return flight,” says Lechner.

Alice Maria Arzuffi and Rebecca Gariboldi start for Italy's elite women. In this year's cross-country season, they only took part in the third World Cup stage recently in Bern. Arzuffi still took 3th place, Gariboldi had to settle for 8rd place. For comparison: While Lechner also missed the top places in 23th place in a race in Bern that was botched for her, she was only a few seconds away from a podium place in 9th place in the second World Cup stage in the USA. And in general, the woman from Eppan has regularly been at the forefront of cross-country sports in recent years.

The fact that Lechner has been number 1 among women in Italy for years is also proven by a look at her successes at Italian championships: the woman from Eppan is the reigning Italian champion. In 2018 she won her 7th consecutive title, 9th overall. Jakob Dorigoni is there Jakob Dorigoni from Pfatten is also there. The 20-year-old will be competing in the U23 category on Sunday at 12 p.m. He finished the World Cup in Bern in 12th place.

A total of 12 “Azzurri” were nominated for the European Championships by Italy’s cross-country coach Scotti Fausto and are competing in the categories Elite Women, Elite Men, U23 Women, U23 Men and Juniors.

The squad of the Italian national cycling cross-country team: Alice Maria Arzuffi, Francesca Baroni, Gioele Bertolini, Sara Casasola, Jakob Dorigoni, Antonio Folcarelli, Rebecca Gariboldi, Emanuele Huez, Silvia Persico, Gaia Realini, Davide Toneatti, Alessandro Verre.

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“Completely incomprehensible” - Lechner is missing from the European Championship squad

The European Cross Country Championships are on the program in s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, on Sunday. Italy's best elite driver Eva Lechner is completely unexpectedly missing from the “Azzurri” squad.

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