The first European round of the UCI marathon series is less than a month away. While the series has already kicked off for 2013, with the Sabie Classic in South Africa at the end of February, European racers are still battling through blizzards and freezing temperatures to complete their winter training.
As with 2012, the Roc Laissagais is the first of the European events. In 2012, the race was run in single-figure temperatures, plenty of mud but some sunshine. The men’s race was won by eventual world champion Periklis Ilias of Greece from Soren Nissen and Mike Felderer, with the women’s event won by Russian Ekaterina Anoshina.
The race is run on a real mountain biker’s course – it’s in the beautiful Aveyron area of central southern France, just south of the Massif Central. The organisers manage to pack an 80+k course into a surprisingly small area, with almost 3,000m of climbing. No big bergs, just endless short pitches – scarcely a flat metre in the route. What there is is plenty of singletrack, especially for a marathon course.
Ilias returns in 2013 to defend his title, to be challenged by others such as Hannes Genze or Jochen Kaess, and no doubt more to come as sign-ups continue in the remaining three weeks before the race. Anoshina isn’t on the start list yet; will she return to try and defend her no. 1 spot? Apart from her, tough Brit Cath Williamson looks like a good bet for a high position.
Team Subaru-MarathonMTB,.com had three riders in the race in 2012 – but one had a cold and two had only had six days to recover from the Absa Cape Epic, so suffice to say none of the three had the day they hoped for… two of them are back for 2013, and will be reporting from the race, hopefully with better tales to tell.
Visit the website to sign up or for more information.