This weekend saw Trek World Racing competing in two top level events on the same weekend, in two different European capital cities. The full XC team of Liam Killeen (GBR), Lukas and Mathias Flueckiger (SUI) raced Round 4 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Madrid today, while yesterday the DH male riders, Justin Leov (NZL) and Andrew Neethling (RSA) raced in the Lisbon Downtown in Portugal.
Today in Madrid saw the return of Liam Killeen after a back injury kept him from racing the last two rounds of the World Cup. Treatment for the injury has been steadily addressing the issue but Liam still has some way to go. Today he conceded that he felt better than he did in South Africa, but that his overall fitness was down due to the time lost on the bike in recent weeks. Despite this, and being held up by a crash on lap 1 that lost him 30 places, Liam climbed steadily through the field to finished 19th. The result was well earned; a big step in the right direction. Liam will take the next few weeks off from racing to focus on his fitness and training at home in preparation for Rounds 5 and 6 in Canada in July.
Lukas Flueckiger had a great start and was with the lead group but bad luck on lap one with a rear puncture meant he needed to stop for a replacement wheel, returning into the race at 65th place. By lap 3 Lukas was turning in excellent lap times and pulling back 10 riders each lap; getting as high as 22nd place, with 2 laps to go, when he suffered yet another rear puncture. The Madrid course is held in a city park and it's strewn with debris ranging from bottle caps to broken glass, and Lukas can only put this result of 40th down to incredibly bad luck. There is no question he had the legs and speed today.
Mathias had a much better start today and never left the top 30. At one point with 3 laps to go, all three riders were in the 22nd to 27th range and were progressing forward. Mathias' speed was there, and despite being more of a climber than a power rider on the flats, he held his own today and was once again on the podium for being 3rd in the Under 23 category.
Liam said: "I had a really good start and was up to maybe 20th or so, but then there was a big pile up and I got stuck behind the mess and lost around 30 places. I think I was in 60th or so on lap one. After that I just focused on my rhythm and getting some passing done. I felt good today but I'm obviously still missing the level of fitness needed to mix with the top 10, so I'll be focusing on that in the coming weeks to be sure to be up there come Round 6 at Mont-Sainte-Anne."
Mathias said: "This is not the best course for me, because it's so fast. There are a couple of short steep climbs and I liked those, but I'm just happy to have stayed in the top 30 today on a track that isn't really great for me. My legs were OK, but not 100%. Overall I'm quite happy with the result today."
Lukas said: "Aagh, this is so disappointing. I put in so much work in the last two weeks for this race and then it comes down to some stupid bad luck with punctures. After the first puncture it took me about a lap to calm down and get on with racing again, because I was so angry about the puncture. But once I got in my rhythm again, I felt good and was passing quite a few guys. Then the next puncture. Crazy. I finished 8th here before and I really wanted to improve on that, so I'm feeling pretty upset about it."
Yesterday saw the 10th running of the Lisbon Downtown, and while Justin and Andrew have never cracked the top 10 at this legendary urban race, they were keen to take the Session 88's to the streets. Each rider gets 4 training runs, and everyone knows that if it rains, the race is called off. It had rained early in the morning, then again after the first training run. The sun, however, returned for most of the day and was intense, drying the slippery marble and cobble stones so the event could go ahead. In the qualifying run, Andrew qualified 9th and Justin 12th, with both riders struggling to match the speed of those guys that have raced here for years. In the final however, Justin lopped 2 seconds of his qualifying time which got him a place in the hotseat and an eventual 10th place. Andrew, suffering a head cold, pulled out a great time, taking nearly 1.5secs off his qualifier, and that also landed him in the hotseat for a good period of time. His result was good enough for 6th and gave both riders their first taste of a top 10 in Lisbon.
Andrew said: "This race is so different to what we do normally. The restricted practice and the need to get to know this course for carrying speed and braking points, means that each time you come here, you learn a little more with the total of 6 runs you get. If you've been here 8 times, you have 48 runs under your belt. I'm still learning but I'm stoked to have a 6th. I really didn't think that was possible for me here, but I'll take it!"
Justin said: "After the qualifying and looking at some of the names in front of me, and especially after my podium the week before in the World Cup, I started to think I just couldn't do this type of street racing. But I went up for the final and decided to give it everything. I hit all my lines and was pretty happy to take 2 seconds off. It's such a short course so that's a big chunk of time. This race is amazing for fans and the Eurosport TV coverage, way better than most, but I'm just not at home here compared to the trails."
The next team event is the Fort William DH World Cup on June 6 and 7, in Scotland.
