Riders' News - 9th, April, 2011

News from Trek World Racing

9.4.2011     

Internal Newsletter For Sponsors and Family of Trek World Racing

With Absa Cape Epic done and dusted, the whole team has moved into Camp here in Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, at a great Lodge where the riders have been able to get in some quality training, testing and recovery, and even some impressive games of tennis! The menu at the Lodge has included Warthog, Springbok and Ostriche Lasagna, and the weather has been amazing.

In addition to the training and testing aspects, they have all been working with team photographer Gary Perkin to get some excellent shots which will feature in the team hero cards being produced in time for the first World Cup in 12 days. Above is a great team shot taken earlier this week.

The new team website, which will be found at www.trekworldracing.com, is to be launched on the eve of the World Cup, Fiday April 22nd. A worldwide press release, as well as notices on Twitter and Facebook, will let everyone know about this new and exciting site. Some of the features will include a media login for access to hi and lo res images, bike features, updated video library (including two new releases from season 2011, "Pre-Season In Iberia" and "Victory In Africa"), twiiter feeds fromthe team, the individual riders and staff.

Check out an interview with TWR DH rider Justin Leov on Spoke Magazine's website: http://www.spokemagazine.com/2011/03/frankly-thursday-justin-leov/#more-8573

Next Wednesday the team moves (together with more than 50 boxes of equipment) to Hilton near Pietermaritzburg, for the final phase of preparation for World Cup 1.

Follow these Twitter accounts if you're not already:
@trekworldracing @mathflueck @lukfluck @nekomulally @justinleov @willowkRocks @AaronGwin1 @captain23mw

Riders' News - 4th, April, 2011

The Flueckiger Brothers Win Final Stage of Absa Cape Epic

4.4.2011     

The Swiss brother team of Lukas and Mathias Flueckiger wrapped up their third Cape Epic campaign yesterday with a win on the final 65km stage into the Lourensford estate in Somerset West, just outside of Cape Town. In front of a huge crowd in perfect sunny conditions the brothers crossed the line on their Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL full suspension race machines, to be greeted soon after by team mates Willow Koerber and Neko Mulally, in town for the start of the team's training camp.


On Saturday, the day prior, the 128km stage took its toll on older brother Luk who really suffered in the last 5km of the stage and was completely out of gas at the finish, not even able to speak:
"It was the worst I've been. I was riding like a drunk man and could hardly hold my head up when I got off the bike - but my recovery was key to the win today". After the tough Saturday stage, Luk ate straight away with Isostar recovery drink, took a nap, then lunch, then a 3pm massage, followed by another nap, then later had dinner, then a good sleep. It worked well as both boys attacked from the start on the final stage. Their first attack on the first climb was to see how the peloton was reacting and when they saw they had a great chance to get away, attacked again and by 10km into the stage, were away and building a good lead. By the water station the Trek World Racing team had more than a 3 minute lead, and settled into a good rhythm. Closer to the finish they eased back a little to ensure they took the win, and eventually won in a time of 2hr 33min 18secs, 2min 19secs clear of 2nd place.
Full results: http://www.cape-epic.com/live/results2011.php
Mathias said: "This is always a tough race for me, coming out of the Swiss winter and my military service this time, it's my first race of the year, so it was very tough the first few days, but by the end I started to feel I was in good shape. It's with great pride that we cross the line here as brothers, and the crowd here is so amazing, it's makes the week very special."
The brothers have now won at least one stage each of the 3 times they've entered the event, a record not held by many other teams.
With the first round of the UCI World Cup in 3 weeks, in Pietermaritzburg, the brothers now join the rest of their team in a training camp and then head to Pietermaritzburg on April 13 for the National Race on the World Cup course.

Follow the team on Twitter @trekworldracing and contact info@23degrees-sports.com from hi-res images.

Riders' News - 28th, Mar., 2011

News from Trek World Racing

Tough start for the Flueckiger Brothers at the Cape Epic yesterday with 2 punctures in the event prologue, but both are looking forward to the racing this week. Math had a sore throat on arrival into South Africa, but has shaken that and is now feeling strong.
Follow daily tweets and images thanks to our other brothers on the team, the Parkins, who are part of the media caravan on the Cape Epic this year. Follow on Twitter: @trekworldracing
Neko took a lot away from his racing in Vigo yesterday. After qualifying solidly in 2nd place, behind last year's winner Bernat Guardia, and many seconds ahead of World Cup top talents like Brendan Fairclough, Josh Bryceland, Cedric Gracia and others, things were shaping up well. In the qualifier he had a bad start, so he knew he could go quicker.....but a small mistake in the first section of the wet/slippery course saw his hand come off the bars, and lose valuable time as he crashed and bent a front wheel. But it's clear the speed is there and he is a long way ahead of where he was this time last year.
Results: www.magmasports.es Thanks to Charles Robertson for the images.
Check out this interview with Willow Koerber on Pink Bike. http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Willow-Koerber-rider-perspective-2011.html
Finally, we welcome Jeff Cayley as an apprentice mechanic, joining the team for the 3 east coast US gravity events in May, as well as Mont-Sainte-Anne and Windham World Cups.
The Cape Epic runs all this week, team camp starts on April 4.

Internal Newsletter For Sponsors and Family of Trek World Racing                                28.3.2011

FUNN BOB 2011



Riders' News - 20th, Mar., 2011

Two Wins For Trek World Racing At Season Opener______20, Mar, 2011

Gouveia in Portugal is recognized by many as the unofficial season opener for international downhill racing, and Trek World Racing riders Tracy Moseley (GBR) and Neko Mulally (USA) decided to use the event as an important ramp up to the start of the World Cup season next month. Tracy took the win in the Women's category, proudly wearing the rainbow jersey of the reigning World Champ, and Neko won the Juniors and also took 2nd place overall in Scratch.

The track in Gouveia is notorious for the high speed rocky sections throughout, and during the week it claimed many riders, bikes and wheels. Tracy crashed in training yesterday when she had a front wheel wash out and she landed heavily on a large boulder, destroying her new custom painted helmet, but other than some soreness, was good to go for racing today. Neko survived a spectacular high speed crash on his final training run, after misjudging a landing slightly, and landed hard and fast onto a large pointed rock, destroying the rear wheel and sending him over the handlebars in a cloud of dust. He too destroyed a brand new custom helmet, but walked away from the crash with little more than bruising and scraping.

In qualifying, Tracy had to pass two slower riders before setting a time of 3m 19.13secs, which she promptly bettered in the finals, posting a 3m 16.15secs and putting a margin of 18secs between herself and 2nd place. Shortly after the podium, Tracy was in a car on the way to the airport to connect with her flight tomorrow down to South Africa where she'll be racing in the Cape Epic for charity. www.worldbicyclerelief.org

Neko's qualifying run time of 2m 54.103secs put him nearly 10secs ahead of the next junior, but also into an impressive 2nd place overall, behind a flying Danny Hart (GBR). In the final Neko took more than 2.5secs off his time to consolidate the category win, and to take 2nd to Danny Hart in scratch, scoring big UCI points and a nice pay check.

Tracy said: "Job done. I came here wanting to get more comfortable on the DH bike after a long winter, and even though I did some sections better in practice than in the race, it felt good to be back on the bike in the sun! I've been coming here on and off for the past 7 years, and it's always good to be on the top step here."

Neko said: "In qualifying I was caught up behind a slower rider that wouldn't move from the track. I had to pass him MX style, handlebar to handlebar at high speed, which was pretty fun, but cost me time. Danny was too fast for me here, but after improving in the final, I'm really happy to be where I am right now."

Next week Neko goes to Vigo for the International Vigo DH Contest, and next week also sees the Flueckiger Brothers in South Africa for the start of the Cape Epic.

Riders' News - 12nd, Feb., 2011

Back To Back Wins For Leov In NZ                                                                 12.2.2011

Today saw Round 5 of the NZ Cup on the new course in Nelson, and fresh after his win the week before at Kaka Hill, Justin Leov (Trek World Racing) took his second trip to the top step.

After practice on the new track, Justin said: "Again it's super hot here, and there's dust a foot deep covering a lot of the steeper sections of the course. Arm pump was an issue today and managing energy tomorrow will be key. I rode (Maxxis) Wetscreams today because of all the off-camber and loose conditions, and it worked out pretty good. It's going to be a sketchy race run in these conditions and over 5 mins for the winning time I'd say."
Full results are not yet available, but Justin called 23 Degrees straight after the win. "Just won again, two in a row, man that was tough today. Really happy with the two wins and looking forward to doing some testing in the coming weeks."
Last week saw big margins on the podium, for a race also in hot 30+ degrees conditions, that had its fair share of carnage. Wyn Masters the most notable rider out with a fractured arm.
After Round 4, Justin said, "I was feeling awesome all through practice, my bike felt dialled in and I was in a great head-space for the race. In seeding I was first rider down in elite men and I caught a rider in a slower category. I didn't take too long to get past and although I knew it lost some time, I was disappointed to seed 6th and be a long way back from Cameron (Cole), so I knew a comfortable run in the final wasn't going to happen. I knew going up that I had to ride like a World Cup and that's what I did. I took a few more risks and made sure to really push hard with my exit speed out of all the corners. I had a time goal of doing a 3.12 and I smashed that time with a 3.07. It definitely was a faster pace than I expected from the other riders and I guess that goes to show how fast the kiwi riders are these days".

Riders' News-3rd, Feb., 2011

New Kabuto Helmet For Neko 3.2.2011      Over the past few weeks Neko has been busy designing the colors for his new helmet for the 2011 season, and the folks at Kabuto Helmets in Osaka, Japan, have just sent us the final artwork. (There's a special edition for the Worlds, but we'll let Neko show that one off later in the year!) The design takes its cues from the new Trek World Racing team kit, the US flag in mono, features his NM moniker, and is sponsored by Worldwide Cyclery. The helmet itself is a custom version of the new IXA carbon from Kabuto, and these will be on sale worldwide in March Neko will have his new helmet for a Trek World Racing testing camp in Spain later this month. There are more images at www.23degrees-sports.com