Mendez, Poor win XTERRA Denmark / Ruzafa, Poor win XTERRA European Tour

Press Release / 06.09.2016

­Mons Klint, Denmark (September 4, 2016) - Mauricio Mendez from Mexico and Brigitta Poor from Hungary captured the XTERRA European Tour finale at XTERRA Denmark in Mons Klint.

It’s the third win in five weeks for Mendez, who is just 20-years-old, and the second win of the season for Poor who also secured her first XTERRA European Tour title with the victory. A cold and wet day "aka Viking weather" didn’t dampen the spirits for the several hundred XTERRA Warriors who took part in the days’ event, held at one of the most stunning locations in Europe with its signature 497-steps down to the swim, up after the swim, and back up again at the end of the run. “It was a really hard race today for the athletes,” said XTERRA European Tour technical director Nicolas Lebrun.  “It was a tough swim with waves, and currents, then those crazy stairs and it was wet, muddy, and a lot of people fell it because it was so slippery all over.”

In the men’s race Mendez and Sam Osborne were the leaders out of the water, followed closely by Roger Serrano and Maxim Chane.  Once on the bike, however, Francois Carloni and Serrano took over with the best bike splits and took the lead heading into the run together. “Carloni told me that he was able to get back in the race on the bike not because he was pushing hard, but with a lot of skills,” said Lebrun.  “He said just to stay on his bike was faster than most people going hard in these muddy conditions.” Osborne, who could have won the tour with a win today in Denmark, gave everything on the run and passed Carloni and Serrano, but was then caught and passed by Mendez, who had the fastest run of the day and took the tape in 2:56:13, less than one-minute ahead of Osborne. “It was a really exciting race to watch, to see Sam leading, then Roger, then Francois, and finally Mauricio,” said Lebrun.

For Mendez, the win marked the end of a six-week European race-cation. “This trip was really successful, a fun mix of travel and holiday. I think I have to come back because I’ve never had such a great experience, and met so many good people,” said Mendez. “It was a really extreme adventure today,” he added.  “This was my first time in these kinds of conditions and it was hard to deal with.  I tried to stay calm and enjoy the experience, and when I started three-minutes down on the run I told myself to just enjoy it because it’s the last race of the trip.  Then, when I saw the three guys at the 8K mark I pushed hard and it worked.”

In the women’s race Poor dominated from start-to-finish, posting the fastest swim-bike-and-run times of the day for a winning time of 3:30:39. Carina Wasle finished in 2nd nearly seven-minutes back and Renata Bucher placed third. “Brigitta took all the excitement out of the women’s race early on,” said Lebrun.  “She led the swim, and after one loop on the bike she had a four-minute lead and it was done!  After that only a mechanical could stop her, but she managed it and did the job perfectly.” Wasle got kicked in the swim, lost some time, but was able to manage it “even with blue lips and maybe a broken tooth,” said Lebrun.  “She was not at her best, but consistent, and Renata was not 100% for sure.  She said the season started to be really long, and she did not have enough energy to fight hard in these conditions.”

Now it’s time for the best in Europe to get ready for Maui, and the ultimate showdown at the XTERRA World Championship on October 23.

Find pictures, videos, and more stories from XTERRA Denmark at : https://www.facebook.com/xterranordic / https://www.facebook.com/xterraeurope

ELITE RESULTS:
Pos     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Mauricio Mendez, MEX     2:56:13     100
2     Sam Osborne, NZL     2:57:09     90
3     Roger Serrano, ESP     2:57:50     82
4     Francois Carloni, FRA     3:01:48     75
5     Peter Lehmann, GER     3:03:22     69
6     Jan Pyott, SUI     3:07:53     63
7     Jan Kubicek, CZE     3:08:37     58
8     Maxim Chane, FRA     3:09:21     53
9     Kris Coddens, BEL     3:11:18     49
10     Theo Blignaut, RSA     3:12:39     45
11     Tim Van Daele, BEL     3:13:57     41
12     Anders Bregnhoj, DEN     3:16:08     37
13     Mark Hamersma, NED     3:17:26     34
14     Thomas Kerner, GER     3:21:24     31
15     Dominik Wychera, AUT     3:23:14     28
Also: Henrik Soeberg, Lars VanderEerden, Simone Calamai, Glenn Wesseling, Lars Kauffman, Serge Messens
    
Pos     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Brigitta Poor, HUN     3:30:39     100
2     Carina Wasle, AUT     3:37:08     90
3     Renata Bucher, SUI     3:47:17     82
4     Louise Fox, GBR     3:50:57     75
5     Maud Golsteyn, NED     4:10:59     69

RUZAFA, POOR WIN XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR

Ruben Ruzafa of Spain and Brigitta Poor from Hungary won the 2016 XTERRA European Tour titles.  It's the second time in three years Ruzafa, a three-time XTERRA World Champion, has won the XTERRA European Tour and the first time for Poor.  The top 10 men and women will share $20,000 USD Tour bonus (details).

Ruzafa finished 2nd to Roger Serrano at XTERRA Greece in the second race of the season then rattled off wins at XTERRA Portugal, XTERRA Switzerland, XTERRA France, and XTERRA Germany to rack up 442 points. Sam Osborne was 10 points and less than one-minute away from winning the Tour today.  He finished second at XTERRA Denmark, just 56-seconds behind Mauricio Mendez.  If he had won the race, he would've won the Tour.  Kris Coddens also had a shot at the Tour title today, had he finished 1st or 2nd, but ended up 9th on the day and settles for third in the final Euro Tour standings.  With the win today Mendez moves into the fourth position, and Francois Carloni rounds out the top five.

In the women's chase Brigitta Poor won the first race of the year in Malta, and the last race of the year today in Denmark.  In between she was 2nd at XTERRA Greece, 3rd at XTERRA Portugal, 6th at XTERRA Switzerland, 2nd at XTERRA Poland, and 3rd at XTERRA Germany. Renata Bucher, who won the tour four times between 2005 and 2009, had a remarkable year to finish in the runner-up position, Carina Wasle was steady in third, Helena Erbenova posted the most tour wins with five (but they were all silver races thus two didn't count towards her point total) to finish the season fourth in the standings, and rookie pro Morgane Riou was fifth.