Urs Huber shines out at Rocky Mountain BIKE Marathon

News Release / 02.05.2016

Urs Huber (SUI) has claimed victory on the Ronda Extrema of the Rocky Mountain BIKE Marathon at the Ziener BIKE Festival Garda Trentino powered by MINI today. The Swiss pro repeated his 2014 victory over the 90.43 km long course at Lake Garda (3,838 m of climbing) in 4:17.03,3 hours. The Team Bulls racer therefore beat last year's best time by Kristian Hynek (CZE. Topeak Ergon), who finished eleventh today with a gap of 20 minutes, by six minutes.

Rank two and three went to Alexey Medvedev (RUS, Trek Selle San Marco, 4:18.15,5) and Hermann Pernsteiner (AUT, Centurion Vaude, 4:20.25,2) who had formed a break-away group with Huber over almost the whole distance.

The trio, together with former world champion Roel Paulissen (BEL, Torpedo Factory Team), had been able to distance the rest of the international strong and deep field, including reigning world champion Alban Lakata (AUT, Topeak Ergon) who finally finished the race in fourth position as well as 2012 Olympic champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE, Specialized Racing), in the first climb up to Calino by 45sec.

In the sequel, it was Huber who took over the lead and kept the pace high.

“I felt very good. In addition, the conditions couldn't have been any better than today. I was able to control the race from the first climb on and didn't get any physical problems. I also pushed it in the last climb. I'm very happy that my strategy worked out considering the strong field,” said Huber.

After Paulissen had to let go after half of the race and Pernsteiner lost contact in the last 500 metres climb to Bocca di Tovo, Huber threw off Medvedev, his final rival for victory, in the last long downhill via Treni, Volto di No and Varignano to Lake Garda.

“Medvedev seemed to be done in the last climb already. But it wouldn't have made any sense if I would have attacked. I decided to make sure to enter the descent as first, kept an eye on a clear line and brought home the victory this way,” explained Huber his tactic.

A manoeuvre which forced his Russian opponent to show his respect: “I'm super happy to place second. Urs was really, really strong and he totally deserved that win.”

And even Hermann Pernsteiner, fifth of last year's event, was pleased with today's result:

“It was brutal. The race was full on right from the start. I tried to keep up with the lead but noticed at one point that I had to pedal my own speed. Nevertheless, I'm more than happy that I managed to jump on the podium as third in such a strong field and therefore achieved my goal.”

Lithunian Triumphs in Women's Race

About 70 minutes after the fastest man, Katazina Sosna (LIT, Torpado Factory Team) completed the longest round of the Rocky Mountain BIKE Marathon in 5:28.00,5 being almost 28 minutes faster than last year's best time set by Katrin Schwing (GER, Trek Domatec) who came in third in a time of 5:45.26,5.

Hielke Elferink (NED, Craft – Rocky Mountain Factory, 5:33.39,0) took the runner-up spot spot.

Neff With Successful ECS Preparation

Whilst the marathon cracks mainly locked horns on the Ronda Extrema, some cross country stars took opportunity of the perfect course conditions competing on the shorter rounds.

One of them: Jolanda Neff (SUI, Stöckli Pro Team) who dominated the 74km long Ronda Grande after she had surprisingly entered the race on short notice.

The current leader of the cross country world ranking stated: “It was a great preparation for the up-coming cross country European championships. I also had a flat and did crash once but despite that it was a great race. It was fun to compete in a marathon.”

BOSCH eMTB Marathon Supported by Trek

25 minutes before 2,300 mountain bikers tackled the marathon event at the Ziener BIKE Festival Garda Trentino powered by MINI, it was time for the participants of the BOSCH eMTB Marathon supported by Trek to compete for the glory.

A huge interest and an extended course of 41.5 km for the second edition of the race which included some super steep ramps perfectly fitting the special needs of eMTB bikes underlined that the eMTB sport has definitely earned its place at Europe's biggest outdoor fair.

Full results can be viewed here.

­