Surget set for SBX night under Cortina lights
Mar 08, 2024·Snowboard Cross
For Snowboard Cross rider Merlin Surget (FRA), the timing of this weekend’s FIS World Cup race in Cortina d’Ampezzo could not be better.
Only days after securing the second World Cup victory of his career, the Frenchman is returning to the scene of his first. And with the Italian track again primed to host the only night race of the SBX season, there is every sign that the stars are beginning to align for a man hitting form at exactly the right time.
“The winning feeling is always such a special one,” Surget says of Sunday’s triumph in Sierra Nevada, when he beat overall FIS World Cup leader Eliot Grondin (CAN) into second place.
“That ride has been there since the beginning of the season – it’s just the head wasn’t ready for the win.
“I didn’t have any special mental preparations for this event, I just kept working the way I have been the past few years. I think it’s important to always try to work on the little details.”
The Big Final in southern Spain clearly showed how in Snowboard Cross, the small details can make all the difference. On a perfect day for racing, the top four riders were separated by less than one third of a second, with Surget finishing only five-hundredths ahead of Grondin.
During a season of few other highlights, the 24-year-old says the manner of his win was more significant than the margin.
“Battling with Eliot for the victory was tremendous - he is so strong this year. I hope to have more battles like that in the next races.”
Grondin has effectively nailed himself to the FIS World Cup men’s podium this season, featuring on all seven and standing tallest on four. With his nearest challenger, Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT), now 301 points adrift in the overall standings, few could begrudge Grondin some “chilled” time out this week.
“I’ll go to the beach in Malaga and rest for a few days before we get back to it in Italy,” the Canadian said after Sierra Nevada. “So it’ll be a few days a bit more chilled, and then we go full gas again until the end.”
As he rides his own purple patch of form, Surget hopes there is still more fuel left in the tank. In case any catalyst was needed, Saturday’s race under the lights in the Dolomites will return him to the scene of his maiden World Cup triumph in February 2023, when he beat Jake Vedder (USA) to first place.
Vedder is back but the difference this time is a shorter track - reduced to 600 metres by the conditions.
“Racing at night is always pretty cool (and) in Cortina it is such a good atmosphere,” Surget said. “I’m expecting a short race with some technical features, as last year. It should be tight racing with the boys, on some icy snow.”
Moioli seeks home snow boost
The girls, too, are no strangers to tight racing.
In the Big Final last Sunday, Michela Moioli (ITA) was able to steer clear of a titanic tussle between Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) and Charlotte Bankes (GBR) which brought both riders crashing down only centimetres from the line.
After collecting her first win of the season, the Italian is now hoping to make it back-to-back victories on home snow in Cortina, which is reachable in around four hours by car from her home base in Alzano Lombardo near Bergamo.
“Racing in Cortina is always amazing and super fun,” Moioli says during a break from her preparation this week. “The landscape there is really beautiful, and the crowd and the people are super funny. Plus I really have nice records there.”
Moioli finished eighth in Cortina last season but won the corresponding race in 2022, and she has fond memories of her European Cup victory at the start of her career in 2012.
“I like the course,” she says. “It’s my favourite because it is a little bit icy and the snow is a little bit older and harder, so it’s faster. The course usually suits me and even if it shorter, I hope that it is going to be tricky since this can make the difference between me and the other girls.”
Moioli will need to extract every millisecond of advantage if she is to reduce the 86-point gap to Trespeuch at the top of the overall standings. The French rider won in Cortina last year and has made every Big Final this season except Cervinia, where she finished sixth.
For her part, defending two-time Crystal Globe winner Bankes finished third in Italy last season and has rediscovered her own form of late after a sluggish start to the current season.
“I’m happy that Chloe and Charlotte are good and that nothing more happened to them,” Moioli, who helped Bankes off the course in Sierra Nevada, says.
“I wasn’t expecting to win (in Sierra Nevada), even if I knew that I am riding strong. It gave me a lot of energy and confidence, especially after three fourth places in a row.
“I know that my potential is higher. I won many times in qualification and on the training days this season, so I know that I am fast. My spirit and my confidence are back.
“I hope Cortina is going to be a big show and I hope to show myself in a good way. I cannot wait to race there to see what is going to happen in front of my family and friends.”
The action begins on Friday with qualifying races for the men at 14:10 CET and the women at 17:40 CET.
The World Cup races will then commence at 18:30 CET on Saturday.
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