By André Santos
Every year at this time, the athletes of Team SottoZero Trentino Zorzi Max get together for a training camp in the Val di Fiemme region. The Pro Team athletes enjoy the unique Italian landscapes and prepare for the upcoming season where the main goal is to keep the title of the best Italian Pro Team.
The Italian team is growing in size, and with new recruits their ambition grows as well. Last week, you were able to read an article on the Visma Ski Classics website about the three new female skiers who have just joined the outfit; Malin Börjesjö and Maja Eriksson from Sweden, and Annika Sjöström from Finland.
After finishing the last season classified as the best Italian Pro Team, the main goals of this year’s training camp were not only to have some quality sessions but also to spend some time together to strengthen team cohesion during a full week.
“We want to spend some time training together because the team is growing, and it is always important to have some time for team building. We are using this time to do some roller-ski testing and to check our shape with ProMotus, an Italian organization dedicated to sports medicine” says Francesco Ferrari, one of the most known Italian long-distance skiers.
The athletes present at this training camp were Francesco Ferrari, Mauro Brigadoi, Christian Lorenzi, Gabriel Khol, and they were joined by the trainers Mirko Filippi and Fabio Gabrieli. Also, Lorenzo Busin, who has just joined the team, had his first experience with his teammates.
The daily routine of the training camp was as follows:
- Monday: the Italian skiers performed a strength session in the morning and a roller-ski session in the afternoon
- Tuesday: there was a running test on the track in the morning and a roller-ski session in the afternoon
- Wednesday: the day was dedicated to a long bike ride
- Thursday: testing on roller-skis
- Friday: another strength session in the morning and a long run in the afternoon
- Saturday: a long roller-skiing session
- Sunday: the team enjoyed a long hike in the Trentino Mountains
Francesco is happy about the new girls on the team. He thinks that they will help the team to achieve the goal of being the best Italian team and to improve its results in the Pro Team competition.
“The girls come from Sweden and Finland, but they will spend a lot of time with us in Italy. I think they are very motivated, and we look forward to welcoming them to the Visma Ski Classics circuit”.
Francesco also shares that the team is feeling happy and motivated about the new events on the race calendar. Racing and traveling through new destinations feel motivating for the Italian skiers.
“We’ll take part in every event, and we will try to do our best. The new races on the calendar allow us to compete and discover new places. And competing in new places is always challenging and exciting. Moreover, three of the new events take place in Italy, and for us it is a pleasure to see more events in our country.”
