One of the most powerful teams from the past few years is even stronger in 2019. With the addition of World Champion Kate Courtney and European Champion Lars Forster, SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing heads into another promising XC World Cup season. Team director Thomas Frischknecht alongside team captain Nino Schurter, Andri Frischknecht and the crew have met for the […]
The rider behind the Mitas 4 Islands MTB Race
The Mitas 4 Islands MTB Race has been quick to find fans around the world. And what’s not to like? The 4-day mountain bike stage race explores trails on four islands in Croatia, with the racers transported by boats. It’s a pairs race that is early in the season – offering great trails, good racing […]
Everything you need to know about the Appenninica Stage Race
Related Event: Apenninica MTB Stage Race
There’s a new kid on the block in the world of mountain bike stage races. This new 8 day stage race is held within the beautiful Emilia Romagna region in Italy. Running from 20-27 July, the race will cover 550km and 20000m of climbing. If you are familiar with other major mountain bike stage races […]
7 things you should know about the Otway Odyssey
Related Event: Otway Odyssey
In a time when Australia is losing some classic marathon races, our National Championship is a glorified XC race run on laps in a bikepark, and there is increasingly less focus on elite athlete development from the governing body – it’s worth giving credit where credit is due. One part of that is appreciating how […]
Platt and Lakata team up for 2019 Absa Cape Epic
Incase you missed the news, Alban Lakata revealed that he has found a new team, and the Austrian powerhouse moves to Team Bulls for 2019. This means that Bull’s roster is stacked with talent – even with plenty of young Bulls in the wings (although to be fair, not a whole lot of women on […]
One year on Nextie NXT29AS30 carbon wheels
Last November we previewed the build of some Nextie NXT29AS30 rims that would be the new race wheels for MarathonMTB.com Team racer Imogen Smith. Having raced on NoTubes Valor rims for over three seasons, then spent some time on an earlier generation of 30mm Nextie rims, Imogen knew she wanted something wider than the Valors, […]
Are you a marathon man (person)?
Five of the top events in Germany, Italy, Austria and Czech Republic are again part of the popular international 2019 Mountain Bike Series. Some of the races have already more than 20 years experience and are an annual fixture for many mountain bikers. Once again more than 11.000 contestants are expected to be participating at […]
Ramses Bekkenk wins The Munga
On Wednesday morning at 12.00 local time in South Africa, Ramses Bekkenk started The Munga in Bloemfontein and then finished on Friday at 14:30 as winner in Wellington. The race conditions mainly had a headwind over 1070 kilometres through South Africa. The route has to be ridden within five days and Bekkenk succeeded more than […]
“That’s one of my hardest days on the bike” – midweek at The Pioneer
Related Event: The Pioneer
Today’s stage from Alexandra to Bannockburn looked a little innocuous on paper. 79km, with a couple of big climbs – but all farm track. That’s over 20km shorter than Stage 2, but similar climbing, but no singletrack – so it should be faster. And I think for many people, they probably liked it. And deep […]
Queenstown rocks The Pioneer’s first stage
Related Event: The Pioneer
Sure, we all raced a prologue yesterday. We did 20km, got a bit muddy and had some fun. And while it gave us our start position, and settled some nerves, it was but a drop in the ocean for what lay ahead. All that would start this morning. My pet hate at any stage race […]