2010 UCI World Mountain Bike Champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jaroslav Kulhavý is back on the bike training and racing after breaking his kneecap this past February when he fell on ice (walking).
Tag Archives | UCI XCO
Ira Found
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.
More Jolanda Neffness
Brrrrrrrrap…
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.
In Search of Ira
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…
Viking Tifosi
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.
The Pass
