Weiss, Poor Win XTERRA European Championship Race
Press Release / 03.09.2017
Bradley Weiss from South Africa and Brigitta Poor from Hungary won the XTERRA European Championship elite race titles on a beautiful day in Mons Klint, Denmark this afternoon.
It’s the second win of the season for Weiss and the highest profile victory of his XTERRA career. For Poor, it’s her sixth win this season and third in a row on the XTERRA European Tour.
In the men’s race Jens Roth was the first man out of the choppy water and up the famous 497 stairs from the Baltic Sea to the bike-to-run transition, followed by Sam Osborne, Roger Serrano, Maxim Chane, Hannes Wolpert, Doug Hall, and Bradley Weiss about 1:20 back.
The mountain bike course featured four 7.5km loops on single track through the forest of the Geo Center, and by the end of the first lap Weiss had caught and passed Hall, Wolpert, Chane, and Roth. At the end of the second lap he caught Osborne and Serrano, who were riding together, then attacked and broke away.
“I put my head down and rode really well after that,” said Weiss. “Over the past couple of years I’ve really developed my biking, so my biking is my strength and that’s where I won the race today.”
Weiss posted the fastest split of the day in 1:21:58, followed by Xavier Dafflon (1:22:39) and three-time XTERRA World Champ Ruben Ruzafa (1:23:45) and put just over one-minute on Osborne and Serrano heading out on to the run.
“I thought that probably wasn’t going to be enough of a gap because Sam is such a strong runner,” said Weiss, whose concerns were realized by the end of the first lap when Osborne caught and passed him into the lead.
“I heard him coming but never gave up, because I knew everyone would be tired as we went so hard on the bike,” said Weiss. “Then on the second lap he started cramping up and I took back the lead, dug in, and was able to finish it.”
While Weiss has won a bunch of XTERRA majors around the world, including a rewarding one on his home course in South Africa two years ago, this one came against a deep and stacked field that included Ruzafa and all of the top 10 ranked men in the Euro Tour.
“I’ve been racing XTERRA for five years now professionally, so it’s about time I won one of these big races,” said Weiss, who had to overcome a broken wrist he suffered in January. “In the big races, I’ve been struggling and making small errors so to finally pull off a big win means so much to me. This course suited me well, and the riding at the Geo Center here in Mons Klint is unbelievable and so fun. I think it’s one of the best courses I’ve ever raced, and I loved this pro-only format.”
In the end Weiss posted the second-best run split (Danish elite Anders Lund Hansen went two seconds faster) and took the tape in 2:32:20, more than one-minute ahead of Osborne.
“It’s been a while since I’ve won a race,” he said. “It’s special because you can’t guarantee these and the field was super strong. I’m very happy, and confident now going into the XTERRA Pan American Championship in two weeks. From here I’m headed to training in Boulder, Colorado with Sam, so the world better watch out for the two of us come Maui.”
Osborne, who led the majority of the first two laps on the bike, said “when Brad caught us on the bike at the start of the third lap he put on a massive attack and we never got him back, but coming out of transition I had amazing legs and was able to catch him super quick. I got him but then my quads started cramping, and he caught back up and attacked and I couldn’t respond.”
Serrano came into the bike-to-run transition with Osborne but lost 15-seconds during the changeover and never got back in the mix up front.
“I really have to stop making those mistakes in T2,” said Serrano, who held strong on the run to secure third-place and the title of XTERRA European Champion as the top European elite finisher in the race.
“The level of this race was so high. I’ve been racing with Sam the last four weeks and we know each other, and work really well together on the bike. It’s amazing going four times the same lap, you get to feel confident in the corners. Also on the run, everyone is cheering. It’s amazing this format.”
Ruzafa held off Yeray Luxem to finish fourth, Luxem was fifth, Mark Hamersma had his best career finish in sixth, and Maxim Chane placed seventh.
