On August 11th and 12th the 16th Annual Bike Attack took place in the beautiful Lenzerheide in Switzerland. The bike attack is a mass start downhill race with 2000m of vertical descend and 140m of uphill over the 20 km course. Almost 800 starters from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Netherland, Great Britain and Lichtenstein took part in the qualification run on Saturday and the mass start race on Sunday.
Some air coverage from the start
And a longer edit from the race
The peak of the Rothorn, where it all starts.
Some shots from the quali run on Saturday. Single start with short time gaps. The quali track is the upper part of the racetrack, but mainly downhill. That's why some chose their downhill bike on Saturday, and then their enduro bike for race day on Sunday.
The upper part of the track is mainly moonland, rocks over rocks...
Scary moments in the rocks
and hard contacts with the rocks
Rene Wildhaber chose his Session 9.9 for the quali run
Gravity Girls Gone Wild in the quali
Qualifying run, but still time for some style
The Podium from the quali run on Saturday.
Men Top 3 1st. Rene Wildhaber Switzerland 14:57.9 2nd. Gustav Wildhaber Switzerland 15:09.0 3rd. Janick Liebherr Switzerland 15:39.5
Women Top 3 1st. Birgit Braumann Austria 18:02.4 2nd. Ines Thoma Germany 18:02.6 3rd. Lucia Oetjen Switzerland 19:11.1
Race Day
Sunday morning quiteness before the race. 800 bikes waiting to rock the dusty track
1,2,3 and go...Rene Wildhaber and Gustav Wildhaber leading the pack
First sharp turn and Rene Wildhaber in the lead from the beginning
The race train starts
High speed on the ski slopes
oops
Men hunting girls. Girls hunting men
Rene race style
Last corner into the finish at Churwalden. 20 km are behind the racers
Still smiling after a long and hard race
The finish area.
Last weekend I did the long distance-downhill race Trek Bike Attack in Lenzerheide (Switzerland). I could celebrate a victory - my seventh at this race. I had a good qualification run at Saturday, but the race feeling on Sunday was even more perfect, because I could push my body to the limit and I was very concentrated. It was also an interesting race for the spectators. There were five video cameras and a filming drone for live broadcast into the finishing area. I am very pleased with this success, because I was a little bit sad after my crash in the Megavalanche in Alpe d'Huez. - Rene Wildhaber
Trek Bike Attack Race Podium on Sunday
Mens Top 3
1st. Wildhaber Rene Switzerland 29:34.4 2nd. Wildhaber Gustav Switzerland 30:58.13 3rd. Arnold Marco Switzerland 31:28.6
I don't care for the whole mass seed concept (i.e., you should never have to walk your bike in a race if it is not due to the terrain/obstacles). Still a really cool event though.
Interesting combo there, Rene... rocking the full face with lycra on an all mountain bike. Clothing aside, congrats to the top finishers of this crazy race.
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