Absalon e Schurter

Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) and Julien Absalon (Orbea) have given the Sidi Sport colours a magical double win in the first test of World Cup mountain biking that took place on Sunday, April 25th in Great Britain. The race was quite spectacular, dominated from start to finish by the two Sidi aces. It was held on the thrilling circuit in the Dolby Forest in Yorkshire, a new entry in the World Cup stage locations. This is the forest made famous by the legendary adventures of Robin Hood, the gentleman outlaw who “stole from the rich to give to the poor”. It was a clash between two giants who both belong to the “fat tyre” stables of Sidi Sport. Defending World Champion Nino Schurter beat Olympic Champion Julien Absalon over the finish line in the final sprint. And with them on the highest steps of the podium were their MTB Dragon 2 Carbon Srs shoes, the top of the line shoes from the 2010 Sidi off road collection. This shoe has confirmed itself as a veritable “dragon” in off road terrain. It’s strong features include the light, resistant and high performance MTB Srs Carbon Sole, the unmistakable Sidi closure system made up of the micrometric Caliper lever, the Tecno II System micrometric front closure, the High Security Velcro strap and the adjustable technical heel that reinforces the back part of the shoe.

Attached: photo of Nino Schurter and Julien Absalon on the finish line and details from the Sidi MTB Dragon 2 Carbon Srs model.

Maeramma

The SCOTT-Swisspower Mountain Bike Racing Team had a successful second round of the 2010 Maremma Cup in Massa Marittima, Tuscany with Florian Vogel and Nino Schurter earning second and third spots on the podium respectively.

As a stop on the World Cup calendar this year, Maremma attracted the world’s elite riders including Italian Champion Marco Aurelio Fontana, European Champion Ralph Näf, Olympic Champion Julien Absalon, Spanish Champion Jose Antonio Hermida, World Champion Nino Schurter, and Swiss Champion Florian Vogel.

A lead group containing Fontana, Näf and Vogel formed early in the race. The trio had soon managed to build an eighteen second advantage over their pursuers. Not far behind, Schurter kept the pressure on trying to bridge his way up to the leaders. Despite his best efforts he was neither able to cross the gap to the leaders, nor drop his chase companions, including perennial strongman Absalon.

The blistering pace set by Vogel and Fontana left Näf struggling to maintain contact before he eventually faded back into the pack. Seeing the revitalized potential for a podium finish, Schurter renewed his attacking strategy. The fight for third place turned into a reenactment of the 2009 XC World Championship in Canberra with Absalon and Schurter going head to head.

Out front, the two protagonists seemed evenly matched until Vogel started experiencing mechanical problems. Fontana took full advantage by attacking and stealing the victory. In spite of the technical difficulties, Vogel finished a solid second place, less than thirty seconds, back and showed that he will indeed be a force with which to be reckoned for the 2010 season. Schurter crossed the line in third, having again out battled Absalon.

Ranking Open Men

1) FONTANA Marco Aurelio (CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING) 1.43.35

2) VOGEL Florian (SCOTT-SWISSPOWER MTB-Racing) 1.44.04

3) SCHURTER Nino (SCOTT-SWISSPOWER MTB-Racing) 1.44.37

Scott urgenepal_1.1

Last year saw the completion of the first in a series of invitational rides. The premise entailed uniting a handful of riders from all walks of life, from all over the world, and sending them off to an unknown destination. The event’s aim would be for the participants to hurtle down some of the world’s most beautiful mountains, without any advance reconnaissance.

The first event, Urge Kenya, caught the attention of French rider Sam Peridy. Sam was excited to embark on the African journey, but feared that he would never make the ten rider cut. In November 2008, however, Peridy received word that he was officially invited to take part in this remarkable challenge.

Scott urgenepal_1.1

There was a unique humanitarian twist to this already singular athletic endeavor. To take part, each rider needed to donate a sum of money for charity. While a financial contribution was the intention, Peridy thought that he could do even more to help underprivileged populations. He had the idea of designing a special bike for the event, which could then be sold and the additional proceeds donated to the affected associations.

Sam told Pascal Ducrot, Vice President of Scott, about his idea. Ducrot agreed to collaborate on the project and commissioned a specially painted Ransom for Peridy to ride in the Urge Kenya. Peridy went on to finish fourth in the inaugural event and raised in excess of three thousand Euros by auctioning his Urge Kenya Ransom.

For this second edition, riders will travel to the roof of the world, the Himalaya in Nepal. Home to Mount Everest, this small country has long played host to the world’s elite mountaineers. In March of this year, Sam and another handful of mountain bikers will pursue their trade in this majestically mountainous country. Again the aim of the trip is to benefit impoverished people of the region. Peridy knows well the hardships which many Nepalese endure. He adopted his son Aassish, now Tony, there just three years ago.

Amy Dombroski from the US has signed with the Luna Pro Team for the 2010 season. This comes after a third place at the elite women’s US Cyclo-Cross National Championships this weekend in Bend, Oregon, she is looking forward to a mix of mostly off-road racing next year.

“I’ll be doing mostly mountain bike races with a few road races here and there. Then we’ll be hitting cyclo-cross really hard again,” said the current Under 23 women’s cross country national champion to Cyclingnews. She is also a three-time Under 23 Cyclo-cross national champion and the Under 23 road race national champion.

She will join up with some new teammates who are accomplished international riders like American Georgia Gould, Czech Katerina Nash and Canadian Catharine Pendrel on the racing circuit. “I’m so excited to be racing with them.”

“My focus will be more domestic. I think Catharine and Georgia will be doing full mountain bike UCI World Cup schedule. Katerina and I will do a few road events, too. With mountain biking, I’ll be trying to get my foot in the door.”

Despite being a current mountain bike national champion, Dombroski doesn’t have that much experience racing her mountain bike. “My experience was mostly just dabbling. I was riding [as a professional road racer] for Webcor, and that was my first pro team experience. When I was feeling burned out on the road, I’d get on my mountain bike. Before this summer, I had only done a handful of mountain bike race, but every time I did it, I’d have a big grin on my face.”

“I thought, ‘If I’m having this much fun racing my mountain bike, ..Continue reading..