Rain was the undisputed protagonist on the final day of racing at Mona Yong Pyong, host of the historic first stage of the MTB World Series in Asia. And in these dire conditions, with snow expected to blanket the slopes of the Korean ski resort tomorrow, the two Trinx Factory Team riders, elite Lucia Bramati and Under 23 Laura Squarise, delivered two generous and courageous performances that earned them prestigious placings.

Lucia, competing in her first World Cup weekend among the Elite, found a perfect connection with a track that was almost unrideable, with some sections requiring walking. In short, it was a cyclocross race on a mountain bike that thrilled the young Italian, who finished 25th and was the best athlete born in 2003 to cross the finish line. Her lap times also leave us optimistic: the start was excellent, as were the middle sector of the competition; the physiological decline in the fourth of the five laps is a natural price to pay for a young woman still getting used to the new category and races lasting nearly an hour and forty minutes.

Laura, meanwhile, repeated her short track performance on Friday, crossing the finish line in fourteenth place in the Olympic Cross Country event. The Under 23s' performance was more unusual, with only nine athletes competing at full speed, demonstrating just how challenging the race conditions were. However, the Alessandria native's double top-15 finish attests to her progress: before the trip to Korea, Laura's best World Cup finish had been two 30th-place finishes in Lake Placid and Mont Sainte Anne in the final stretch of the 2025 season.

Two results that repay the efforts of the entire technical staff, called upon to work overtime to fix the bikes, team manager Elena Merenti, who celebrated her birthday, and the Trinx executives who traveled to South Korea to experience the historic World Cup event.

In addition to the excitement of the three-day World Cup, gifts also arrived from Italy for Merenti's manager. Under 23 Pietro Cao won the 37th edition of the Misquil Bike, a race held in Cassanego di Borso and counting towards the 2026 Veneto Cup XCO circuit.

Cao, a first-year athlete in the category and already a winner this year in the opening stage of the Eliminator Tour, enjoyed a solo finish, edging out Giovanni Zago by 40 seconds. This continues the growth of the athlete, now in his second season with the Trinx Factory Team, who also impressed last week by finishing fifth in the international race in Stevenà di Caneva.

At the same event, brilliant performance by Thobias Del Ponte, who earned the second place in the U19 race. For the biker from Treviso, in his first year in the category, it was another day to end with a smile, following May 1st, when he finished second in Farra di Soligo behind teammate Flavio Dispensa, who was forced to withdraw today.