The final act of the Sudety MTB Challenge 2015 has been played. The longest stage of this race led the riders back to the starting point – Stronie Śląskie. Like each stage before – this one was also accompanied by beautiful weather.
Racing kicked off in Duszniki Zdrój – a well-known Polish spa town. However Bartosz Janowski of Romet Racing Team didn’t feel like relaxing, so he pushed the tempo from the very beginning. He broke away from the main pack and soloed for more than 60 kilometers looking for a stage win. The gap never exceeded 2 minutes and the Pole was eventually caught by the chasing group (Kanera, Lloreda, Sherlock) on the top of climb to Śnieżnik pass. Joan Llordella Prat of Buff Pro Team had the final word in the men’s competition and went for the solo win.
Second came the overall winner of the race – Michal Kanera of Ghost-Mitas Racing Team, who arrived 1:30 minutes behind the Spaniard. Third for the Irish national champ – Ryan Sherlock, outsprinted by the Czech rider by 9 seconds. By winning the final stage, Llordella took over second place in the GC. After 7 days of racing the gap between him and Mikhail Utkin (Muntainpeks.ru) was only 17 seconds!
We got used to Melanie Spath dominating the women’s race. Today was no different as she gained 12 minutes over her rival – Ivonne Kraft and 22 minutes over third Magda Hałajczak. Obviously, the GC didn’t even flinch, as Spath takes home a well-deserved win.
Colex Racing Team (Czerniak/Urbaniak) defended the Polish honor and kept their lead in the teams competition. They controlled the situation on the course and sealed a victory with a troublefree stage win. Second for French side OKLM (Favario/Malzac) and third for the Dutch GAS OP DIE LOLLIE – MTB ARNHEM (Molenaar/ Van Den Heuvel). The GC goes to the Poles, second place for the team from Holland, third place for PRONGHORN RACING 27,5/AARHUS MTB (Lindby/Aagard) of Denmark.
The Portuguese BTT LOULE/BPI / BERG / GARLAND (Carpinteiro/Caetano) repeated their result from each and every stage of the race in Mixed category. This obviously meant winning the final stage and the whole race. Second place for the Polish side TWOMARK SPORT SPECIALIZED & TWOMARK (Borycki/Galewicz) and third for the Russians from PNPPK PERM (Makii/Shershneva).
That’s it. The 11th edition of Sudety MTB Challenge goes down to history. Now it’s time for the final award ceremony and a banquet. We are preparing something really exciting for next year. Even if you’re a seasoned “challenger” you will be surprised. Thank you and stay tuned!