Race Report: Specialized SRAM Enduro Series #5 – Kirchberg
For its fifth stop, the Specialized-SRAM Enduro Series invited riders to Kirchberg in Tyrol. Despite the not-so-good weather forecasts, more than 250 starters followed the call and were rewarded with more than 1650 meters of descending on fun trails. At the end of the weekend it was André Wagenknecht and Anneke Beerten who had the fastest overall times.
As usual, practice was scheduled for Saturday. The perfect weather proved all forecasts wrong – providing perfect conditions for extensive practice on more than 13 kilometres of the areas finest trails, assisted by two lifts.
While the first three stages descended through countless berms, the last two descents were more technical, featuring off-camber corners, steep sections and lots of roots! These stages were the perfect challenge for both bikes and riders, and at about 6.5 minutes each, they were really physical.
The first times were set on the afternoon at the XS Power Drink Prologue, on the short, but intense track that crossed a small stream twice. Anneke Beerten (NED – Specialized Factory Racing) and André Wagenknecht (GER – Cube Action Team) had the fastest times of the day.
The race on Sunday started in dry conditions, but shortly after the first riders had left the starting area, it began to rain. The rain continued throughout the entire race and had a big impact on the trail conditions. Late starters had to deal with lot’s of mud and slippery roots.
In the end it was André Wagenknecht (GER – Cube Action Team) who found the most grip, and rode consistently to victory with a total time of 21:36.32 in front of Hayden Lee (NZL – Giant/Fox Gravity NZ) and Joseph Nation (NZL). Fabian Scholz (GER – Focus Trail Team) got fourth, followed by his team mate Markus Reiser (GER – Focus Trail Team).
With a time of 24:58.20, Anneke Beerten was fastest in the Pro Women category. Meggie Bichard (NZL – Specialized Racing) scored second place, separated by a 25-second gap with series-leader Raphaela Richter (GER – Radon Factory Enduro) in third, followed by Birgit Braumann (AUT – Trek Gravity Girls) and Kerstin Kögler (GER).
In the Masters category, Benjamin Herold (GER – NRG-FOES Racing) emerged as victor from his duel with Remo Heutschi (SUI – gravityunion.ch) by a small gap of 1.37 seconds. Walter Martinschitz (mountainbiker.at) got third.
The fastest Amateur was Leonhard Putzenlechner (GER – ENVE Composites), who pushed Bernd Tauderer (AUT – Giant Stattegg) and Thomas Wickles (GER) into the 2nd and 3rd place. Fastest Amateur Women was Stephanie Frankl (GER – WOMB girlsridetoo.de) who finished in front of Anja Düthmann (GER) and Manuela Drenska (BUL – www.balkanche.de).
The Specialized Enduro Series now takes a break for three months before reaching its final stop in Leogang, Austria at the end of September.
Words: Aaron Steinke Picturess: Boris Nachbauer
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