The headquarters of Merida Italy hosted the official presentation of the Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team preparing to face the 2025 competitive season. For Merida, which will be alongside the Team as a technical sponsor for the next two years, this represents an important return to the world of mountain bike marathon competitions, after having written historic pages in the discipline.
MERIDA: A NEW PARTNER TO AIM HIGH
As anticipated, the biggest novelty for 2025 in the Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team is the agreement with Merida: the Italian headquarters of the Taiwanese brand will provide the team's athletes with the iconic hardtail BIG.NINE, the model that conquered World Championships, World Cups, and Olympic medals in the first two decades of the 2000s. For the most challenging and rough tracks, athletes will also be able to rely on the full-suspension NINETY-SIX model. Both bicycles were unveiled to the press during the Team's official presentation and immediately stood out for their livery elegantly combining the Team's institutional colors, matte gray and bright blue.
"This partnership, which unites Merida mountain bike technology and the Metallurgica Veneta Team's approach, will allow us to return to international marathon competition," declared Merida Italy President Paolo Fornaciari. "It's a project we're betting on, and we're certain that with the athletes' athletic qualities and their enthusiasm, we'll make ourselves noticed."
A COMPETITIVE ROSTER WITH TWO NEW ADDITIONS
2025 for Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team represents a year of change in team composition, welcoming two new athletes. Of absolute significance is the signing of Colombian Diego Arias Cuervo, among the top international marathon riders, whose extraordinary palmares includes a silver medal at the 2021 World Marathon Championships. The second novelty is twenty-two-year-old Treviso native Andrea Candeago, a promising Italian off-road talent. The two will join the four athletes confirmed from the previous season: Jacopo Billi, Massimo Rosa, Nicola Taffarel, and Maria Zarantonello, who in 2024 achieved 11 victories, including the prestigious 4 Islands MTB Croatia, along with 27 podiums and 34 top-10 placements.
Martino Tronconi continues to lead the Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team, the true deus ex machina of the project: "We are happy to officially kick off the new season here at Merida Italy's home, it's a great opportunity to represent a brand of this importance and be part of such a cohesive and motivated team," said the Team Principal of Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team, "and now we are ready to face the challenges ahead together, aware that we have a high-caliber partner on our side."
A PACKED INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE
The 2025 season of Metallurgica Veneta MTB Pro Team will be characterized by a packed schedule of high-level competitions, with the goal of being protagonists in major international events starting with the newly formed HERO UCI Marathon World Cup with 5 significant stages, in addition to the UCI European and World Championships in the marathon distance. The team's agenda includes stage competitions that test both athletes' strength and equipment resistance, and among these we mention the Andalucia Bike Race (seasonal debut, March 2025), the 4 Islands MTB Stage Race in Croatia, and the Spar Swiss Epic (both part of the prestigious Epic Race circuit) and the Appenninica Stage Race.
With a renewed squad, the support of the new technical partner Merida, and a highly selected race calendar, Metallurgica Veneta MTB Professional Team prepares for a challenging season with the certainty of being able to compete at the highest levels in the international mountain bike marathon landscape.
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