News
Defending a Title
This last Saturday saw Alban Lakata (Austria) defending his title as the Austrian National Champion.
At the KitzAlpBike event, the National Marathon Championships was set to take place. The start in Kirchberg, saw Alban and the challengers ride over 88km, covering a staggering 3800m of climbing. It was like a well-designed punishment for mountain bikers! The course seemed to take in all of the locally renowned ski runs!
The serving champion started offensively, immediately making his mark on the race and putting the Topeak Ergon Racing jersey at the head of the pack. Talking about the way the race went for him, Lakata said “I wanted to make it clear that I intended retaining the title, and I wanted to ensure that should I have a mechanical, there would be a time cushion there to help me.”
The three laps were completed by the 31 year old in 4:15:28.50… Lakata led from start to finish and had a 15:47 minute lead on the second and third placed Verbnjak Heinz und Nimpf Jakob.
“I am very happy. For the third time in my career I have the national title. It is an amazing feeling. It wasn’t an easy race, but everything worked perfectly for me, the bike, my preparation – everything. It was a great day!”
