Italian surprise – Matteo Grattarola added to the line up

World number four Matteo Grattarola is a late and surprise addition to the rider line up for the first ever DL 12 Indoor Trial later today with Italian supremo having recently signed for the Vertigo factory.

The thirty-four-year-old from Bellano on the shores of Lake Como was a mainstay of the top-flight TrialGP class from 2010 to 2014, achieving a season-best ranking of seventh in 2013.

He did not compete at World level in 2015 but returned to action the following year for a couple of seasons and then dropped down to Trial2 for three years, sandwiching a runner-up finish in 2019 between title-winning campaigns in 2018 and 2020.

In 2021 he returned revitalised to the premier class and made an immediate impact with a career-first podium at the opening round, backing this up with two further podiums on his way to fourth in the championship.

Last season he replicated this World ranking, although was arguably even more successful with five podium finishes including a career-first TrialGP victory on the opening day of the final round on home ground.

His resurgence has not just happened in the great outdoors and in the FIM X-Trial World Championship his form over the past two seasons has been equally impressive.

In 2021 he ended the X-Trial series in a career-best fifth and last year he improved this to a fantastic fourth, in the process scoring his first-ever podiums with third-placed finishes in Nice and Barcelona that marked his arrival as a genuine top-three threat inside and out and a real contender for a podium place if not higher tonight.