Topeak Ergon’s Perfect Start To The Season

The weekend saw the perfect start to the season for Team Topeak Ergon. At the first race of the SwissPower Cup series in Buchs in Switzerland Irina Kalentieva got her first win of the Olympic season at her first race of the season. It was a seamless transition from last year. "I had been looking forward to the first race following the long break. I hadn't however thought that I was going to win", the World Champion admitted after crossing the finish line.

Kalentieva knew that she liked the course, and first showed it two years ago. Back then too, she mastered the technically demanding nature of it. This control was once again the key to her success. "I controlled the field from behind and waited to see what the other riders would do", explained ‘Ira', giving away her winning strategy. Even up until a couple of days before the race she hadn't been feeling in top condition and didn't want to push too hard straight away.

It was in the final lap that Irina made her move. The rest of the race the Russian spent moving up from sixth to second place. Her move gave her a 20 second cushion to win over Rusca Maroussia. "This win gives me more confidence for the next race in Muensingen, Germany". The German National Series race in two weeks is the last one before the first World Cup.

Excellent form was also on display from Wolfram Kurschat. The German National Champion finished amongst an extremely competitive field in second place. A deflective damper putting pay to a win for the Topeak Ergon rider. The bike being made unpredictable.

"I could have dropped out, or just made the most of it. I chose the second option", obviously ‘Wolfman' was taking it all in his stride. That was also the way that he rode his whole race - climbing effortlessly despite the broken damper. It was only downhill that he suffered with the problem. All the same his climbing allowed him to make up any time lost on the downhill.

His ride was impressive even if it didn't end in a win. "My training plan has worked really well. I have the fitness but also still have potential to improve. The damper problem was just bad luck. My focus though is on the World Cups. They are the ticket to the Olympics", Kurschat concluded.