Schurter Dominates Absalon, Kabush Beats Kulhavy
Nino Schurter stays on top to make it back to back to back wins to start the season! At the "hors category " race in Heubach, Germany, he beat the two time Olympic champion Julien Absalon again.
No less exciting was Florian Vogel's third place finish in front of European champion Moritz Milatz, Rudy Van Houts and Manuel Fumic. Bad weather made the very selective track with its heavy climbs a tough challenge for both athletes and mechanics. In the end, the right choice of equipment made the difference. The special conditions did not seem to affect the world champion. He proved that he is the best at the moment, even in the severe conditions that were seen in Heubach. He was able to overtake Julien Absalon again to win his third race in only one month.
"At first it looked like a tough battle with Julien again. But today, his choice of equipment was not as fortunate as mine. I had not only the better tires but also, compared to him, no shifting problems with my SRAM XX1. This made it quite easy to control the race. Though, the race itself was not easy at all. Thanks to the excited German crowd, I found the motivation to suffer through this hard race."
To see Florian Vogel racing so well was another highlight of the day. After having had problems ever since Cape Epic, he finally is returning to where he belongs- on the podium. He is happy about the outcome of the race too, "Last weekend I felt a lot better already. But it was very important to me to prove myself again here in Heubach. With only having Nino and Julien in front of me, I'm very happy. I have to say that Nino and me had a great advantage over the others today. While most of our rivals had lots of troubles with their traction, my DUGAST Rhino Collè's where giving me great grip on the descents. This gave me a lot of well needed confidence.“
For his first time ever Andri Frischknecht started in a international U23 race. As a freshman not having any world ranking points, he had to start at the very back of the 100 rider field. With a very strong performance he made his way trough the field to move all the way up to 10th place. The time he lost to winner Cooper (the junior world champion of New Zealand) was mainly lost in the first two laps, while trying to pass riders. To start in the back is something Frischi JR. has to get used to for the coming season. But the points he won in Heubach will certainly help to move him up in the the ranking.
The next event for SCOTT Swisspower will be the Bike Days in Solothurn/Switzerland May 3rd-5th. Over 20'000 visitors are expected. Not only is it worth a visit to watch the racing, but also to check out SCOTT's new racing bikes.
Meanwhile, SCOTT racer Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox) won the short track event at the Sea Otter Classic on Friday in Monterey, California. The Canadian, a veteran of the short track discipline, beat Swiss rider Lukas Flueckiger, Swede Emil Lindgren and Jarolsav Kulhavy.
