U.S. Cycling Team Ready For Uci Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships Sunday
source USA Cycling
posted 2006-08-11

14 Riders to Compete in 62-mile Ultra-Endurance Event for Title of World Champion

Colorado Springs, Colo. (August 11, 2006)—The U.S. National Cycling Team is in Oisans, France this weekend as the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships will decide the best ultra-endurance off-road cyclists in the world.

Scheduled for Sunday, August 13, the 62-mile race will feature 14 Americans as they compete for the title of world champion in the latest world-championship discipline of mountain biking.

The seven-member men’s squad will feature current national champion, Travis Brown (Durango, Colo./Trek-FRS), Clint Muhlfeld (Whitefish, Mont./Sportsman Ski), Evan Plews (Dallas, Ore./Santiam Bicycles), Chris Eatough (Ellicott City, Md./Trek-Volkswagen), Jay Henry (Avon, Colo./3D Hillenbrand), Michael Lee (Mission Viejo, Calif./Trek-Volkswagen), and Michael Janelle (Avon, Colo.Tokyo Joe’s).

The seven-member women’s team will feature reigning national champion, Melissa Thomas (Boulder, Colo./Rocky Mounts), Josie Beggs (Capitola, Calif./Starbucks-Double), Mandy Eakins (Newport Beach, Calif./Content Works), Kyia Malenkovich (St. Cloud, Minn./Headmethod.com), Monique Sawicki (Mililani, Haiwaii/Team Mata), Louise Kobin (San Jose, Calif./Unattached) and Kristy Lanier-Mantz (Marlinton, W. Va./Dirt Bean).

Contested between the Alpine towns of Les 2 Alpes and Bourg d’Oisans, the event will feature 129 men and 46 women representing 24 countries and will traverse a course that includes a total of 9,500 feet of climbing and another 12,400 feet of descending. France’s most famous Alpine peak – the legendary Alpe d’Huez – marks the halfway point.

Eatough’s name is synonymous with endurance mountain biking in America. With six solo 24-hour mountain bike world titles and three national championships to his credit, Eatough finished the national mountain bike series in 10th place in the marathon standings this season with two second-place efforts.

Plews won the four-race national series by a mere four points over Lee while Brown and Muhlfeld finished in third and fourth respectively. Of the U.S. riders on the world championship team, Brown was the only rider to win a national series event this year, winning the third edition in Brian Head, Utah last weekend. Henry and Janelle placed sixth and seventh respectively in the national series standings.

The women’s team is peppered with national-caliber talent as Eakins closed out the national series in second place with consistent performances throughout the year. With the exception of Thomas’ national title, Beggs is the only rider on the women’s squad to claim a win on the national circuit this year, with a first-place effort in round three in Park City, Utah.

The annual flagship event of the largely Eurocentric sport of competitive ultra-endurance mountain biking will feature several top European competitors including defending world champions Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa of Norway and Thomas Frischknecht of Switzerland.

Other international competitors to watch in the men’s event are the number-one ranked rider in the world and current world cup champion, Hector Leonardo Paez Leon of Columbia, Alban Lakata of Austria, Roland Stauder and Yader Zoli of Italy, Peter Riis Andersen of Denmark and Thomas Dietsch of France. With two world cup victories to his credit this year, Paez Leon may be the favorite on paper, but Lakata has also won a world cup this year. Stauder, Zoli and Andersen have all ridden to silver medals in world cups this season and are also considered threats to claim the rainbow jersey indicative of a world champion. Dietsch, the second-ranked rider in both the world rankings and the final 2006 UCI World Cup Standings, will have the motivation of competing for the host nation behind him.

On the women’s side, Dahle-Flesjaa is a threat to any mountain bike race she enters regardless of distance or altitude. Women’s world cup champion Pia Sundstedt of Finland has won two world cups this season and will also be a threat as will the other two world cup winners from this year, Esther Suss and Daniela Louis of Switzerland. Sundstedt and Suss represent the top-two ranked riders in the world respectively while third-ranked Elena Giacomuzzi of Italy will also be a factor.

For comparison, Beggs was the highest-placed American in the four-race world cup series this year, finishing in 16th place after an 8th-place finish at the second round in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec in June. Beggs is also the highest-ranked American in the world, ranked 19th.

On the men’s side, Brown is the top-ranked American in the world in 37th place, while Muhlfeld finished the world cup series in 48th place as the best American after a 16th-place effort in Mont-Sainte-Anne.

The women’s event is scheduled to start at 11:45am Sunday local time in Oisans (5:45am EST), while the men’s event is set to begin at 12:30pm (6:30am EST).

For complete coverage and a post-race report, visit www.usacycling.org.

About USA Cycling
Recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale, USA Cycling promotes American cycling through its 56,000 members and 2,000 annual events. USA Cycling associations include the BMX Association (BMX), National Off-Road Bicycle Association (mountain bike), U.S. Cycling Federation (road/track), the National Collegiate Cycling Association and the U.S. Professional Racing Organization (professional men’s road). For more information visit www.usacycling.org or contact, USA Cycling Director of Marketing and Communications, Andy Lee at 719-866-4867.