On Sunday, rivals will line up for the Dirt Works 100km NSW and Round 2 of the Real Insurance XCM Series, powered by CycleNation.
Current women’s series leader Jenny Fay will wear the Purple leader’s jersey and will be racing to defend her lead in the Real Insurance XCM Series. Fay is hoping she has more luck than when she raced at last year’s Dirt Works 100km NSW.
“I am delighted to race in the leader’s jersey this coming weekend!” Fay said. “The Real Insurance XCM Series is doing such a great job in keeping me on my race-fitness toes in my motivation to retain the jersey for the series….I was unfortunate in last year’s event, where I crashed midway with a 5 min lead, so there are plenty of driving forces pulling me to the finish line in an upright position and with the jersey on my back for the Husky Enduro 100ker in June!”
In the Men’s category Tasmanian cyclist Ben Mather will be the one to beat after stepping up to take the purple leaders jersey from Dylan Cooper after he forfeited due to prior international travel commitments.
Last year’s Dirt Works 100km NSW winner Peter Hatton has decided not to race because he doesn’t like the course, despite completing the 2010 event in less than 4 hours. Not competing this weekend will make it difficult for Hatton to hold onto his 2nd place ranking in the series, especially with riders like Jason English, the newly crowned Australian XCM Champion, making his debut in the Series on Sunday.
The KOM and QOM competition is still anyone’s game with Sue Thompson hoping to hold onto the green QOM jersey. Unfortunately the Real Insurance XCM Series King of the Mountain, Craig Gordon, had to pull out of the Dirt Works 100km NSW yesterday after breaking his collarbone in an accident. Not racing on Sunday means that the KOM jersey will almost certainly be on someone else’s back for the next event, the Husky Enduro 100ker.
But it’s not just the current leaders that need to race to win on Sunday because the best 3 results out of 5 count towards the final Real Insurance XCM Series ranking.
The ranking system used for the series not only ranks riders on their overall race position but also allocates points based on the riders category position and size of the category field.
Each race performance will be ranked against other riders across the series events, regardless of if you ride for the podium or simply for bragging rights. Register and create a profile at www.cyclenation.com.au to claim your results and see where you stand after Round 1 – the Capital Punishment.
Ranking and results from the 2011 Capital Punishment are now available at www.cyclenation.com.au. The 2011 Dirt Works 100km NSW as well as the rankings will be available on CycleNation soon after the event.
A number of other events count toward overall rankings include a wide variety of mountain bike, road and triathlon results are available to claim on CycleNation.
For more information about the Real Insurance XCM Series and to register and claim your results visit www.cyclenation.com.au
The course is likely to have suffered from recent weather, here are two appraisals from Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi3_rgiNIwU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XFFAg4ToJw