The rain finally came down saturday night and did not only make the race course greasy and slippery, but also damaged some of the team tents. Luckily, the SCOTT11 stayed strong in the storm that woke up most of the athletes in the middle of the night.
Once again, it was a challenge for the women to clear all the jumps, and it was only in the final when 4 of them jumped the gap into the finish.
SCOTT11′s Floriane Pugin managed to race onto 2nd place on a track that she was struggling on all week! Floriane was very happy about that and so was the french crowd, which might have been the biggest one of the season.
The rest of the SCOTT11 athletes were not able to adapt their riding style to the track in La Bresse. Emilie Siegenthaler crashed and finished 14th, Fabien Pedemanaud and Nick Beer struggled and came in 36th and 55th.
Nick, Fabien and the Crew are heading to Innsbruck for the “Nordkette Downhill”. The full SCOTT11 team will meet again in 10 days for the world cup finals in Val di Sole, Italy, where the racers can show if they’re ready for the worlds in Champéry or not.
All of Sven Martin’s photos, as well as two new freecaster videos on www.scott11racing.com
Nick Beer and Emilie Siegenthaler both defended their swiss champion’s title, while Floriane Pugin and Fabien Pedemanaud were slowed down by mechanical problems at the french championships.
The swiss championships were held in Wiriehorn on saturday, while the sun was still out. The pressure was on, as Emilie and Nick were fighting against the jetlag from Windham as well as the rest of Switzerland’s downhill racers who were trying to take their titles. Though, Nick and Emilie managed to win their race with a lead of over 3 seconds, making sure they keep wearing the swiss cross. Just before racing the swiss championships, they won the qualifier for sunday’s IXS Swiss Downhill Cup on the same track. One day later, the race was canceled because of almost impossible weather conditions, and saturdays qualifier counted for the IXS Cup, which means that Nick and Emilie each won 2 races within a few hours.
The french championships were not as positive for SCOTT11: Floriane Pugin and Fabien Pedemanaud liked the wet and muddy conditions that were even worse than the ones at Wiriehorn. The track was just what they ride best on, but they both had mechanical problems and couldn’t finish the race in a top spot.
It’s now time for a little brake and a little shape polishing before the season continues with the season’s most important races: World Cup La Bresse, France, on august 7, World Cup Finals Val di Sole, Italy, on august 21, and the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CHAMPERY, SWITZERLAND, ON SEPTEMBER 4!
While the SCOTT11 athletes were fighting for medals, team manager Caluori was building Switzerland’s next pumptrack in Mendrisio, near Italy. Mechanical problems, weather and jetlag also slowed things down, but the fun kept everybody going.
Pictures by Thomas Dietze and Hansueli Spitznagel.
Floriane Pugin and Emilie Siegenthaler did it for SCOTT11 at the world cup in Windham:
Floriane had some problems getting into the rhythm at the start and lost almost 4 seconds on winner Rachel Atherton to the first split time. But then she found the turbo button, making up 3 of those 4 seconds, placing 2nd, in front of world champion Tracey Moseley.
Emilie Siegenthaler finally did it and stepped on a world cup podium for the first time in her life!
With Emilie in 5th place, there was a lot of yellow at the womens podium ceremony.
Nick Beer and Fabien Pedemanaud were not able to find their speed on the Windham track this year. They will use the national championships next weekend, as well as the next 2 race-free weekends to find it for the world cup in La Bresse, France, that will be held beginning august.
SCOTT11 left to Canada for the oldest world cup on the circuit: Mont Sainte Anne!
Mont Sainte Anne is known for its popular track, the favorite of many riders, and for its perfect organization by Gestev. It’s also known for its very aggressive black flys that were enjoying the team as a meal yesterday.
After arriving late last night, the track had to be inspected on foot today, and it was a welcome change to the tracks they had so far. Wide open and very fast is the best description of the race course, but it doesn’t miss gnarly technical rock sections. This week is going to challenge the athletes as well as the bikes.
Training starts tomorrow. Freecaster.tv will bring the weekends racing live to your living room on www.mtbworldcup.com
One week after Floriane Pugin’s sensational first world cup victory in Leogang, Emilie Siegenthaler took the win at the IXS European Cup on the same track.
Weather conditions were more than nasty and the track was destroyed. The men’s qualifier had to be postponed to sunday because of a storm on saturday. Emilie managed to stay focussed and on her bike and took home the win.
She finally did it! Floriane Pugin took the win at the world cup in Leogang, Austria! It is her first ever world cup victory and also the first ever for SCOTT11!
Floriane, aka the flying banana, enjoyed the whole week on the track in Leogang and was the fastest in training, qualifying and finals. She was 0.5 seconds behind Rachel Atherton at the last split time, but then managed to go 3 seconds faster in the last technical part of the track, winning the race 2.5 seconds ahead of the rest.
Emilie Siegenthaler and Fabien Pedemanaud both had some mistakes in their runs, finishing in 7th and 26th place.
The world cup continues in three weeks with it’s oldest venue in Mont Sainte Anne, Canada.
The wildest downhill world cup of all times saw SCOTT11′s Fabien Pedemanaud fighting his way back into the top 20 and Floriane Pugin flying onto the podium!
Huge crowds of spectators, a long and rough race track, an incredible atmosphere and athletes pumped to the max: This is what the world cup in Fort William has to offer. The racers seemed to push the limits even harder with the crowds cheering for each one of them. In fact, they were all riding at the edge of loosing control, and this is why almost none of them made it down the mountain without any major mistakes and spectacular saves.
One man who was in the middle of them all was Fabien Pedemanaud, who is on his way back to speed after a rather slow start of the season. A full attack in the rough part of the track as well as an impressive effort on the flat pedaling section at the end brought Fabien to the 18th place.
The women kept it a bit more in control, still going hard, and Floriane Pugin managed to get herself onto 3rd position. Emilie Siegenthaler rode consistent and finished the race on 10th place.
SCOTT11 is now driving the truck back through the scottish highlands, catching the ferry to Amsterdam, and then driving straight to the next world cup in Leogang, Austria, where Nick Beer will let the doctors have another look at his wrist and hopefully be able to compete again on the weekend.
It was about time for the downhill racing scene to return to one of the most popular racetracks in Europe, the classic downhill of Todtnau, Germany.
The one man who knows this track since its emergence, Marcus Klausmann, is probably still the fastest man on this mountain.
The other man, who spent half of his racing career training in Todtnau, is SCOTT11′s team manager Claudio Caluori, trying to push his athletes to be faster than Klausmann on his favorite track.
In qualification, it was Marcus Klausmann who rode away from his competitors with a lead of almost 6 sec. SCOTT11′s Nick Beer didn’t feel well but surprisingly came down in 5th position.
In sunday’s finals, Nick was able to step it up and ride 7 sec. faster than in the qualifier, while Marcus Klausmann had to give up the race because of technical problems on his bike. MS Evil’s Brook MacDonald was the man of the day, going another 1.8 sec. faster than Nick Beer, taking the win!
In the women’s race, SCOTT11′s Floriane Pugin and Emilie Siegenthaler dominated the competition. Floriane Pugin took the win with a lead of 11 sec. over her teammate Emilie Siegenthaler, who again was 4 sec. faster than the rest.
Next SCOTT11 action is the World Cup in Fort William, Scotland!
The dirt in Pietermaritzburg is known for being unrideable in the rain. This was proven last weekend, when a preparation race had to be cancelled because of heavy rain: the shuttle trucks were not able to get up the hill anymore. Also, the Pietermaritzburg track is known for its long and flat pedal section that make the athletes sweat even just thinking about it.
This is why the SCOTT11 athletes were anxious to see the race track at course inspection. What they got to see was way more than a long pedal section: A quite gnarly steep section on top is followed by some of the biggest jumps the world cup has seen so far. They seem to be shaped very nicely, so they should work fine, – as long as the weather stays dry. Generally, the track looks fast and different to anything else the world cup offers in Europe and America.
Nick Beer, – usually a rather slow season starter -, pedals onto 9th place at the 2011 world cup start in Pietermaritzburg! Floriane Pugin and Emilie Siegenthaler both fought as hard as they possibly could and ended up on 5th and 7th.
It was not Nick Beer’s favorite race track with the extremely long flat pedaling sections, and neither it was Floriane Pugin’s or Emilie Siegenthaler’s. The key was to stay focused, stay positive, and to find a way how to save enough energy through the top section to be able to sprint through the rest of the track.
Nick, Floriane and Emilie all managed to find the right mix of aggressiveness and coolness, – and their way into the top ten.
It was Nick Beer’s first race of the season. Starting the season with a 9th place makes us even more curious what he will pull out at the upcoming world cups!
Fabien Pedemanaud did not find the right rhythm on this track and placed , but will certainly be attacking in Fort William.
Nick Beer, Emilie Siegenthaler and Freddy Hunziker will be competing next weekend at the IXS European Cup at Monte Tamaro, Switzerland. Fabien Pedemanaud and Floriane Pugin will be racing in Lourdes, France.
