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After 4 days of racing our Black Team (Vincent Langer, Maciek Rutkowski, Bora Kozanoglu, Moritz Bochina, Andrea Cucchi), obtained great success at the first Eurocup Slalom event in Torbole.
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The Eurocup is back with the slalom discipline, and 5 races were managed to be run at this first appointment. Winds from 7.2 to 9.7 were gusting for the whole long weekend. Vincent Langer after holding the first place till second last race, finished in second position overall. Maciek Rutkowski was constant all week, finishing fourth, with a lot of fourth places in the single races. Our Turkish movie star Bora, was able to finish in top 10. Great single results for Moritz Bochina, our young rider who managed to get into finals. Moritz had great speed, and it seems that training with Vincent is bringing him to a new level of performance. Our boss, Andrea Cucchi, won the first race of the event, but than after missing few heats, decided to take time to go testing the new final AC-K 2016 sails, before taking off to PWA Korea.
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The Eurocup Slalom is one new great initiative which gives the chance for great racing, with prize money, before making the next jump to PWA racing. A great chance for young riders to show their talent.
Andrea Cucchi, team manager
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VINCENT LANGER
How did you finish? At the end I got second.
How was this first experience at the Eurocup? It was nice to be back on Garda after 5 years and meet friends from the P 7 Team. The Euro Cup is a new series of events. The Winner will be european champion at the end of the year. I was happy to compete, but honestly there are some points they really have to work on, to make it professional.
What went wrong and what went good? The Wind was amazing and were close to 50 competitors. That was amazing. On the other side was the organization. There they have to improve.
Will you do other Eurocup events? Yes, I will do Sylt and Silvaplana in august.
Who do you recommend the Eurocup to? The level of the top guys is very high. On there other hand I saw a lot of people with just a little bit of racing experience. I think it is fun for more or less every ambitious racer.
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MACIEK RUTKOWSKI
How did you finish? 5th
How was this first experience at the Eurocup? Pretty good if you take everything into consideration 😉
What went wrong and what went good? The boss and I counted the heats wrong and were both late for the start like a bunch of amateurs. There was also a lot of big flaws in the organisation and judging, but I’ve decided to let it go and focus on Korea, so excuse me, but I will not discuss them too much… On the positive side I did a lot of final detail tuning, got the shakiness out of the way and proved to myself that I know how to do it, leading a final with a huge gap over the 2nd guy, before it got abandoned.
Will you do other Eurocup events? That’s the plan. Sylt in July will probably not be possible, as it’s 1 day before Fuerte and Silvaplana could be hard, as it’s close to PWA Turkey, but the rest I’ll do for sure.
Who do you recommend the Eurocup to? Everyone who’s already proven oneself on the national circuit and wants to take a step forward towards the PWA. It’s a good bridge over the huge gap that’s between the national tour and world cup.
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BORA KOZANOGLU
How did you finish? Finished 8 th
How was this first experience at the Eurocup? This winter I couldn’t train at all because of my acting career. Now I’m slowly coming back..plus I just tested and got my new new boards and Point 7 sails here at the event.. besides all was a good training for me and with the team on Garda few days before the race. I got good feedback about tuning… the courses were way too long for a slalom race… I hope next time they do more proper courses which shows the starting and gybing ability of the racers more as it has to be in slalom category.
What went wrong and what went good? I could rarely use the right sail and board size because the start was way upwind and the conditions were changing…one final it was light and I was with small gear and the other final it was like a hurricane and I was punished with my big gear 🙂 the only time I could use the right gear I was third in the final.
Will you do other Eurocup events? Yea but for sure with a caddy coming to the start with my other gear 🙂
Who do you recommend the Eurocup to? Anyone who has will for slalom …
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ANDREA CUCCHI
How did you finish? I did not finish.
How was this first experience at the Eurocup? I had a strong feeling when I passed the finish line of the first final. I had won the first race of the event on overpowered 7.9. I did my last race in September and this was the first this year. I did not practice and train much on the water this year, after Alberto left us. I was only testing sails, so it was a surprise, and my thoughts went to Alberto, and I had tears in my eyes all the way till I got to the beach.
Eurocup is something that was missing. I see it as the B circuit of the PWA. The training camp to than go to the PWA events, with international experience, and a chance to do good… specially for young talents. I hope it will grow and that there will be more connections between the PWA and Eurocups. I’m also a big fan of the Eurocup as 10-15 years ago, it was existing for Formula Windsurfing and was the time of my top career as a full pro windsurfer, and gave us ‘food to eat’ and the opportunity of a great lifestyle.
What went wrong and what went good? Wind was there so 50% of the job is done. I quit the event after I missed twice my heat. Once my fault as I got confused together with Maciek on which heat was running, the second time because I was told we could go to change our gear, as the wind was often changing, and as I did that, they anyway started the final, so I missed it, and I had lost interest to accept a re-dress result. I believe the best will be when there will be the same judge going to all the events, making sure that the racing standard, and quality is similar. It will help all of it to be more professional, instead of using each time different local judges who have different experiences.
Will you do other Eurocup events? Yes, I will, for sure. I’m sure the Eurocup organizers will have a lot of great feedback from the riders, and will improve and make the circuit more and more interesting for more windsurfers.
Who do you recommend the Eurocup to? For those who want to experience a higher level than national racing, but still with not enough experience to join the PWA pro riders.
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© photo by MOAN – Circolo Surf Torbole
