SCOTT News | Bike | Maremma-Cup

Source from Scott-Swisspower

The SRAM XX Maremma Cup had with its second weekend of racing a successful continuation. The same is for the SCOTT-Swisspower Mountain Bike Team who started of the season with a strong showing. With Florian Vogel in second and Nino Schurter in third we had two guys on the podium, tough the victory went to the Italian champion Marco Aurelio Fontana (Cannondale). With Patrik Gallati in the U23 and Roger Walder in the junior’s race we still had two wins to celebrate. With 17 nations at the start the Sundays XC race saw a mini edition of a world cup race. The first row at the start line look like the “who is who” of mountain bike racing. Italian champion Marco Aurelio Fontana – European champion Ralph Näf – Olympic champion Julien Absalon – Spanish champion Jose Antonio Hermida – Moritz Milatz (who crashed badly and ended up in the hospital with a broken nose) – and Swiss champion Florian Vogel – all lined up in front of another 100 riders including the two Olympic champions Bart Brentjens and Miguel Martinez.
A trio with Fontana-Vogel and Näf escaped already in first lap. Followed by the Orbea Team with Absalon and the two Spaniards Ruzafa and Lejaretta. Nino Schurter who had not the best start also jumped on the Orbea train. Half way trough Näf dropped back. The battle between Fontana and Vogel had to decide about the winner. In second last lap Florian dropped his chain, which Fontana right away turned into a 15 second, lead that he kept to the finish line.

Still, Flo can be proud of his second place. With his strong performance he let his rivals know they can count on him in 2010. A bit more than just a fight for the third podium spot was the duel of Schurter and Absalon. Like at last year’s worlds, they where battling head to head the last lap. And again it was Nino who had the better end. Just a little taste of what is to come in 2010.

We also saw a great race of Patrik Gallati. In the middle of world-class riders he finished in 9th and won the U23 race. Roger Walder had to battle it out with two other competitors on last lap and also was in front at the end. Not enough, Marcel Wildhaber in 26th and Matthias Rupp in 34th made up for a great team performance. Next week we head to South Africa for the 8-day Cape Epic. Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel jump into this adventure for the first time.
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