Roger Rinderknecht is well prepared for a successful bike season 2011

Thanks to intensive preparations for the season, Rinderknecht was able to deliver a solid start in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, at the kick off of the UCI World Cup. In South Africa’s perfect summer weather, the BMC rider from Winterthur was able to demonstrate that he did not spend the winter months hibernating. Beside an intense training schedule, the Swiss national found the time to launch a new bike with BMC and produce a video clip together with iXS.


During the qualifiers in Pietermaritzburg, Roger’s rhythm was right from the start and so it took last year’s World Cup winner Jared Graves (AUS) to push him down to second place. Trouble started in the semifinals where the Swiss national slid out after a bad start. During the small finals on Friday, he once again stayed on top for a while until a minor crash after a maneuver by fellow countryman David Graf cost him the lead and Rinderknecht came in on eighth place; a ranking he is set on improving during the season: “I went to South Africa feeling extremely positive and I’m therefore not entirely happy with eighth place. But I’m convinced that after all the intense preparations, I’m in great shape to climb up a few places during the next events.”


The week before, Rinderknecht was in Santa Cruz, California, to launch a new bike – the Trailfox 01 – together with his bike sponsor BMC. With the new carbon bike, Roger obviously hit lots of trails in beautiful surroundings – the perfect program to get in the mood for the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey where he went right after his stay in Santa Cruz. Here, he not only took home ninth place in the dual slalom, but he also seized the opportunity to shoot a clip with his sponsor iXS for his signature kneepads: www.pinkbike.com/news/iXS-Athlete-Roger-Rinderknecht-2011.html


Since this year Rinderknecht’s calendar is again extremely busy, he has set very clear priorities. On the very top of this list are definitely the World Championships in Champery (SUI) in August. Towards the end of the season he is taking a detour into the world of BMX that is particularly close to his heart. During the last three BMX World Cup events of the year, he wants to collect valuable points to secure a spot for Switzerland and also for himself at the Olympic Games 2012.

For general requests about Roger, please drop high@rasoulution.com an email.
If you are interested in high-resolution pictures, please contact the Photographer Hoshi - K. Yoshida directly: yoshida@whyex.com