Swiss Bike Cup Granichen
Top Elite Rennen (UCI E1).
01 Elite Herren 70 Klassierte
1. Ravanel Cédric, 78, F-Montauroux 1:26.37,9 (5)
2. Sauser Christoph, 76, Sigriswil 1:26.49,4 (2)
3. Leuchs Kashi, 78, NZL 1:28.14,7 (7)
4. N?f Ralph, 80, Andwil 1:28.39,3 (8)
5. Absalon Julien, 80, F-Raon aux Bois 1:29.20,7 (1)
6. Tavell Philip, 75, S-Uppsala 1:29.47,9 (84)
7. Craig Adam, 81, USA-Corinth ME 1:31.27,1 (18)
8. Vogel Florian, 82, Kalliken 1:31.31,3 (10)
9. Kessiokoff Fredrik, 80, S-Saltsjabaden 1:32.27,9 (92)
10. Soler Daniel, 74, Chur 1:32.34,1 (21)

SWISS CUP, La Chaux-de-Fonds 1st !!!!! New images here
What a great feeling! My legs were feeling perfect today, and I knew from the start that I was in for a good ride. So far this year I have been having all sorts of trouble holding the tempo during the first 10 min, but today, no problem. I stayed comfortably in 2nd or 3rd place until near the top of the biggest climb, where I accelerated so that I could have the clear track on the down hill. I was amazed, because I immediately put a 10sec gap on everyone except Thomas Frischknecht, who I dropped on the descent. I thought, cool, I can come through 1st after lap 1, something I have never achieved before.
But my legs continued to feel great. I continued to tell myself to relax, ride smooth, clear head and all that... and I managed to increase my lead to the chasing group, which included the #1 and 2 riders in the current world cup rankings, Julian Absalon and Christoph Sauser.
During the 3rd lap (of 4), Julian Absalon attacked the group and came within 20 sec of catching me. But I managed to pull out a strong final lap, and ended up winning by 53sec, which for me, was a huge breakthrough. In the past I have always had a lot of difficulty when someone puts pressure on me so late in the race.

I've been dreaming of winning a Swiss Cup since 1997, when Laurence and I traveled around and got our asses kicked. Now 7 years later I finally got one!

1. Leuchs Kashi, 78, NZL 1:48.00,2 (7)
2. Absalon Julien, 80, F-Raon aux Bois 1:48.52,9 (3)
3. Sauser Christoph, 76, Sigriswil 1:49.46,9 (2)
4. Karczynski Marcin, 78, PL-Polen 1:50.19,4 (8)
5. Ravanel Cédric, 78, F-Montauroux 1:51.05,4 (1)
6. Frischknecht Thomas, 70, Feldbach 1:52.09,2 (5)
7. Frech Frederic, 76, F-Chatenois 1:52.53,5 (4)
8. Péraud Jean-Christophe, 77, F-Cornebarrieu 1:54.02,2 (6)
9. Weber Balz, 81, Bachenbülach 1:54.27,1 (11)
10. Näf Ralph, 80, Andwil 1:55.54,3 (74)

Articles:
http://www.move.ch/website/news.php?id=827
http://www.swissbikecup.ch


Photo: from www.swissbikecup.ch

Grimpée du col de la Colombière, Roadrace - 1st !

Its always a nice feeling to finally take a win after a long dry period like this one!
The race was a mass start from the ski station, Le Grand Bernard, which is just 30min drive up into the mountains from my place. From there, the race was 12km to the top of le col de la Colombiere, one of the passes used ofter in the tour de France.
I managed to break free from the group after 4km, and rode together with one of my ex team-mates from the Annemasse cycling club, Raphael Blanchard. The final 2km were the steepest, and I managed to pick up the tempo and ended up winning by 25sec, also breaking the course record in a time of 28min 35sec.
Its a nice sign that things are on the way up, which is good with just 4 weeks left till World Champs!

BIKE ATTACK FREE RIDE MARATHON, Rothorn, Switzerland - 76th
This was one crazy fun event! 500 riders, all starting together from the peak of the Rothorn, 3500m elevation, descending to Chur 1000m. Thankfully I had a good starting position, but looking around at all the full face helmets and full body Armor. The only thing I had on different was DH shorts, a Rockshox Psylo fork, and bigger Maxxis tires on my XC race bike (a full suspension Trek Fuel).
The top section was really rocky, and at the gun everyone fought it out for a single line into the first corner. But I didn't realize there were 2 lines, and after taking the long way round someone charged straight into me knocking me clean off the bike! Once I re-gathered myself (and about 10 riders had ridden over my bike!), I continued to let loose and hang on over some amazing tracks. We were flying down the mountain, and I managed to bring back a few riders on the flatter sections, but then after about 15min, I punctured.
This I decided was my cue to stop racing, and enjoy the ride! So, once I fixed the flat at one of the pit stations, I continued my way down and down and down... there was actually a 15-20min section of slight climbing midway, which made me realize how unpractical all these huge bikes can be... many of the riders were walking up tiny climbs, and I just rode past hardly breathing at all. At the end of the day, I would have to say that the Fuel was almost the perfect bike for this kind of riding... apart from the huge rocks at the top, there was plenty enough suspension, especially with the 125mm Psylo fork and big Maxxis tires!
By the time I got to the bottom, I had been on the bike 1hr 16min... the winner, Rene Wildhaber (who also raced the Redbull TimeOut earlier this year with me!) finished in 56min, but Silvio made us XC riders proud, finishing 2nd just 15sec behind.. yea Silvo!





You can see me at the top of the photo, in Orange!

SWISS POWER CUP, Savognin - 2nd
It was a good feeling to actually finish a race, and have good legs the same day! While I didn't manage the win, 2nd place on this day was probably my best effort ever in a Swiss Event. The race was attended by the entire Italian team, as they were in World Champs preparation nearby. They were very strong, with 4 riders in the top 8 during the first few laps. The heat was the biggest killer, as we were well into the mid 30s, and a long climb slowly thinned out the main group. Coming into the final lap we were still 5 riders, but the Italians made a good tactical move sending Dario Acquaroli off the front, while Johann Pallhuber was in 2nd place, and held up the group. It all split up on the final climb, and I would have been 3rd if Johann had not missed a corner just a few kilometers from the finish... oh well, my turn for some luck now!

SWISS POWER CUP 9-8-03

1 Dario Acquaroli Italia 75 1:38:25 100
2 Kashi Leuchs Neuseeland 78 1:39:06 80
3 Ralph Näf Andwil 80 1:39:21 70
4 Thomas Frischknecht Feldbach 70 1:39:40 65
5 Johann Pallhuber Italien 74 1:39:52 62
6 Marc Hanisch Deutschland 74 1:40:52 60
7 Andreas Dilger 78 1:41:32 59
8 Daniel Solèr Chur 74 1:41:54 58
9 Silvio Bundi Chur 78 1:41:56 57
10 Karl Markt Austria 80 1:42:39

http://www.swisspowercup.ch

Everyone's talking about it, and its hard to avoid... we are having the hottest summer ever! Since returning to Europe we've had nothing but 34-40dC everyday. During weather like this you have to change the daily routines a lot, and train early in the morning. But you can't change the time of a race just because its hot, so we've been sweating a lot these past few weeks!

Aug 1-3 - O TOUR, Switzerland - 11th
Two days after getting back to Europe, I left again to Switzerland for the O Tour. This is a new race on the UCI calendar, and carries D2 points, and therefore many top riders were there including Christoph Sauser and Bart Brentjens. We did a fatboy crit to start off, and I really surprised myself to finish 2nd! I'm not normally a great sprinter, but this was much more about tactics and positioning. Day 2 was the XC, and a fast one. I finished 5th. Day 3 was the marathon, and a long one! 80km with 3000m climbing! I felt awful, but stuck with it and finished 12th... man was it hot though! The final GC was all based on the marathon, because of the big time differences... so I ended up 11th. A good race though.

July 27 - NORBA, Schwitzer Mtn, Idaho, USA
US races are becoming a bit of a bore these days, with super long courses taking us out into the whop whops, where no spectators would ever venture. The course had the most dust I had ever seen, and for the first time in my life I used a dust mask. It was a life saver! My legs were nothing to speak about.. just one of those flat days I guess. I struggled to climb at snails pace, but before the start Pat told me that all he wants me to do today was finish, so I just tried to do that! Roland cleaned up the men's side again... amazing how he does it! The STXC the day after was a great event, but without much passing. I had a bad start position, which counted me out from the begging.. otherwise I actually felt pretty good. The highlight for me was Alison Syders win in the woman's race in an awesome sprint together with Chrisy Reddin. Go girls!

July 14-24 - Whistler, CANADA
Time off the serious stuff in life, and time to enjoy probably the worlds best free-ride parks, and a huge MTB gravity festival. Everyone was in town, and taking 5 days off the bike meant some extra energy for the night clubs! Then during the day I made the most of free lift passes, and went free-riding on some of the sickest trails you can imagine. This is a cool spot, but be prepared for non-stop action!


I did a fun Fatboy Crit on the Friday night, and with 3 laps to go, made a strong attack and got a gap... but I was going to fast, and my tires just slid out, so I got some more lovely road rash sticking to me sheets!