There are only 50 days until the start of the 2016 Protective BIKE Four Peaks mountain bike stage race, which runs from June 15th to 18th in the Salzburg and Tyrolean countryside. It looks like we can expect a tight battle for the win after 2015 defending champion Juri Ragnoli (ITA) announced that he won’t be able to enter the event. As a result, racers from Germany and Austria are ready to fill out the blank spot of the odds-on favourites for the fourth edition of the four-day mountain bike stage race.
The most of them line up for two well-known mountain bike squads: Team Bulls and Craft-Rocky Mountain Factory.
Platt is a Marathon Meister
The Cologne based Team Bulls is led by Karl Platt, who might be 38-years of age already but is not tired of competing at all. Last year, the experienced pro finished in fifth position of the Four Peaks and also clinched the 2015 German Marathon championships.
The seven-time winner of the famous Transalp race will race alongside team mates Tim Boehme and Simon Stiebjahn.
Rocky Mountain, one of the biggest teams in the field, has also a trio to mix it at the top. The strongest of them is Uwe Hochenwarter who finished his first ever Four Peaks in third position last year. The Carinthian is now ready to step up his game during the stages leading through the mountain bike destinations of Saalfelden-Leogang and Kirchberg in Tirol.
His fellow countrymen Guido Thaler, who wrapped up things last year with rank seven and Lukas Ilsitzer, who missed the 2015 top-10 by the tiny mere of half a minute finally placing twelfth are also keen to capitalise on the home field advantage.
In addition, Team Texpa-Simplon racers might be good for a surprise, especially as Wolfgang Mayer brought home a ninth rank finish last year.
But the side from Franconia brought in a true powerhouse this season who could make the difference. Christoph Soukup, a multi-time Austrian champion and two-time Olympian who celebrated a sixth rank in the 2008 Olympic cross country event definitely has the skills for a top-3 finish.
New talent at Bike Four Peaks
However, the big field could also feature some up-and-coming talents who aren’t part of the inner circle of title aspirants yet. Gabriel Sindlinger who starts for Gonso-Simplon powered by MTB-News.de was one of the best U23 athletes of last year’s Transalp.
Martin Foeger, the 2015 Tyrolean Marathon champion pedalling for toMotion Racing by Black Tusk, set himself the ambitious goal of finishing in the top-15 of the men category.
In addition, there is still room for some more high class entries as the registration is still open on online-registration.de.
For further information about the race visit bike-fourpeaks.de.