SES_HEADER_Round_2

The second round of the Specialized SRAM Enduro Series has now gone into the history books – an event that was dominated by challenging weather conditions and rugged rock filled trails. In the end is was Nicolas Lau and Anneke Beerten who put down the fastest times on the technical trails of Riva del Garda.

Racers grew nervous as persistent rain fell during the days leading up to the race, all knowing that the rocky trails would be all the more challnging in the wet. However when the first practice day arrived, the trail paradise around Riva del Garda was bathed in sunshine, presenting the region at its best.

Am Trainingstag herrschten noch traumhafte Bedingungen auf den Stages rund um den Gardasee.
On training day fantastic conditions prevailed on the stages around the lake. Pictured: Fabian Scholtz of the Trail Focus team, who finished the race in 9th place.

Under bright sunshine more than 350 riders were able to complete all the 5 Stages in practice. And practice was certainly needed, the trails were formidable, rocky and technically demanding, you really had to hit the right line – typical Lake Garda! As many of the rock gardens and rock slabs were still damp from the rain of the previous days, the level of difficulty increased even further.

Den Prolog am Hafen von Riva konnte Michal Prokop für sich entscheiden. Der sprintstarke Tscheche profitiert hier sichtlich von seinem 4X Hintergrund.
The prologue at the port of Riva saw Michal Prokop dominate. The strong Czech profits here from his background 4X.

Kicking the event off was a one minute flat course where riders had to fight against the clock to show their pedaling strength. As at the stop before in Terlago, Michal Prokop (Specialized Racing) set the fastest time of the day and started 0.655 seconds ahead of second-placed Rene Wildhaber (Trek Factory Racing) and Nicolas Lau (Cube Action Team) for the race on Friday. In the women’s category Anneke Beerten (Specialized Factory Racing) repeated her victory and won the prologue in front of Ines Thoma (Canyon Enduro Factory Team) and Alba Wunderlin.

Fuß raus! René Wildhaber geht auf Nummer sicher.
full gas! René Wildhaber gets pinned.
Nico Lau auf dem Weg zum Sieg. Er kam an diesem Wochenende am besten mit den schwierigen Bedingungen zurecht und holt sich verdient den Tagessieg!
Nico Lau on the way to victory. He came to this weekend and was the best in the difficult conditions, rightly deserving the victory!
Die 1997 geborene Raphaela Richter bleibt wie auch im Vorjahr den großen Laufrädern treu, sie überzeugte in Riva mit einem sehr guten 3. Platz.
Born in 1997 Raphaela Richter remains true to the big wheels like last year, they won in Riva with a very good 3rd place.

On Raceday the weather showed no mercy and showered riders and tracks with constant heavy rain. The weather conditions also ensured that in addition to the already pre-closed fourth stage, the third stage was also closed for female starters on the race day. However, the remaining four or five stages provided plenty of opportunity for exciting racing:

With short timed stages, even a small mistake could cost places – so intense concentration was needed. The racing was spectacular for the spectators, who braved the weather in great numbers, especially on Stage 6. The bike control on show by some riders, who nailed down rock sections that were even hard to walk down, caused a series of open mouths for the watching crowds.

Podium Pro Men: Nico Lau siegt vor Ludo May und René Wildhaber
Podium Pro Men: Nico Lau (Cube) Ludo May (Canyon) and René Wildhaber (Trek).

Where we speak about bike control, the name Nico Lau is usually not far from thought: The young Frenchman handled the wet and slippery conditions best.
With a total time of 7:23:42 he beat Ludovic May (Canyon Enduro Factory) to the second place with a 5 second gap. René Wildhaber was in third position. The fastest woman of the day was Anneke Beerten again, she placed first with a total time of 8:11:42 in front of Ines Thoma (+10.95) and Raphaela Richter (+1:16.48).
In the Masters category was Remo Heutschi (gravityunion.ch) was the first and extend his overall lead to Andre Kleindienst (Bergamont Hayes Factory) and Walter Martinschitz (mountainbiker.at).

Bei den Damen siegte wie bereits in Terlago Anneke Beerten, diesmal jedoch vor Ines Thoma und Raphaela Richter.
Womans Podium, Anneke Beerten (Specialized), Ines Thoma (Canyon) and Raphaela Richter (Radon).

The Specialized Enduro Series SRAM continues – in three weeks in Samerberg – with hopefully better weather:

Results Specialized SRAM Enduro Series #2 Riva del Garda by Christoph Bayer

Bilder: Axel Brunst


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