And I guess that brings us back to the frequent discussion about whether riders sometimes should be excluded from doing U23 races, despite technically being young enough. I'd say having done a whole GT (twice, in Zana's case) is definitely on the limit of when it's reasonable to do a U23 race right afterwards.
Indeed; great performance of Zana; he managed to beat the 2 year younger Toon Clynhens who is in his 2th year of a master in engineering. Toon has so far had 2 racing days this year. He had planned exams in June but suddenly got picked up for these races.
It is Toon first ever 2th place... so far his best in any race is a 3th place (he actually came from cyclocross).
It is the difference between the Belgian and Italian approach.
For the Belgians these NCup races are about bringing new talent. For the Italians it seems more about... (I have no idea what they are about; but there is this rule that, the better a country performs in Ncup, the more riders they can sent to the WC in U23).
Actually it is more telling how bad/little talented Zana is if he as full time pro can only beat the student Toon by 1 minute.
It there no talent to be spot in Italy?
Who do you want in your team in 3 years; Clynhens or Zana?
Walter