You may or may not remember the February 28th Soiled Chamois post In Search of Ira, where I contemplated the whereabouts of pint-sized, Russian XC racing badass Irina Kalentieva. Well I am happy to say that today, for those race fans who may care, I received official word of her whereabouts (thankfully not in a Siberian gulag) and a hint of her 2014 race plans.
The Absa Cape Epic is another one of those races to make my list of things that “would be neat to do.” The conditions this year seem to be a bit wetter and a bit more “epic” than we are used to seeing from the legendary South African stage race. One thing that is not unusual is the quality of the images and video coming from the race, including the photo above of Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans during today’s wet and muddy stage 2 captured by Samp Clark of Sportzpics.
I have to say I do miss posting the updates, photos and video each day from the Cape Epic on xxcmag.com, but they are still out there for those of us who dig seeing it. I recommend checking out the Cape Epic’s video channel, for stage highlights and recaps. Amazing stuff as always.
Photo © Sam Clark/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.
As you can see from the bike carnage above, junior racer Denisa Bartizalová (Kona Cycling Team) of the Czech Republic took quite a spill during Stage 3 of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup. The story on mtbs.cz reports that she suffered some bruising and scratches and needed a few stitches. I suppose it could have been WAY worse given the state her bike is in.
Photo by Michal Červený, mtbs.cz.
I totally dig this photo of Jolanda Neff (Giant Pro XC Team). She appears to be in early season beast mode as she blazes down the descent on her way to winning the GC at the 2014 Cyprus Sunshine Cup.
A month or two back, like many of you who also follow pro mountain bike racing, I read the news that Topeak/Ergon was cutting their Pro XCO team and focusing their sponsorship dollars on marathon racing. With the popularity of endurance, marathon and stage races these days and the financial and logistical stresses of having two elite teams racing all over the world, that seems like a pretty logical move (some have argued in the past that you lose a fair amount of spectator eyeballs on sponsor logos and products with marathon format races, but that’s debatable).
However logical and/or amicable the decision by Ergon was, it still meant that after seven years, two-time World Champion, 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist and consistent XCO podium finisher Irina Kalentieva was without a team. The official press release said “Ergon will continue to work with Kalentieva and remain[s] committed and grateful to her” but after that, I hadn’t read much. I needed more…
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå has won more Olympic and World Championship medals than most people have entered races. It’s no wonder that she has a loyal following of “viking” tifosi wherever she races. One look at her career results and it’s easy to see that she just might be the best female mountain bike racer in history. From the looks of it, at 41 years old, she’s coming back for more podium pillages in 2014. Should be fun to watch.
Below is Part 1 of an excellent three part video interview with Gunn-Rita Flesjå conducted by Tomek Hoppe in October 2013.
2012 Olympic XC Gold Medal winner and 2012 and 2013 XCO World Champion Julie Bresset (Team BH Suntour KMC) of France enjoys the attention of her fans at the 2013 XCO race in Vallnord, Andorra… Another example of the MTB Tifosi in action.
Photo: Union Cycliste Internationale (www.uci.ch)
You know.. just Jolanda Neff (Giant Pro XC Team), hangin’ out, in a dress, showing off her tan lines, epic hair and badass Jolanda Neffness.
Photo: by Susanne Litscher
Source: Jolanda Neff’s, Facebook page.
Follow Jolanda Neff on Twitter @jolandaneff
Road racing has the long climbs strewn with screaming “tifosi,” and cross racing has throngs of drunken hecklers in muddy Wellington’s but sadly most mountain bike races are often void of such passionate supporters. So seeing these photos from the 2013 Roc d’Azur in France with thousands of spectators along the climb was pretty cool. I’m content to get a “nice job” from a lone spectator at the top of a climb, so I really can’t fathom making my way up an ascent with literally thousands of people screaming at me.
The countdown begins until he UN follows me.
