Markus Pekoll Announces Retirement
The Austrian downhill flagship Markus Pekoll ends his career. The upcoming event at Val di Sole will be his last World Cup and the downhill World Championships at Cairns, Australia, will be the international grand finale to his impressive career.
One decade of World Cup racing
2017 is the tenth full season the “boy from Schladming” is competing at the highest level of the sport. He grew up close to the legendary downhill track and picked up mountain biking when he was at the age of 17. A full 15 years racing is enough: “It just feels right for me. I always wanted to end my career on a high note. My team is the best in the world, my material is top notch, I’m the current national champion and in the best shape of my life. I feel that I am at my personal maximum. It’s a good moment to call it a day.” Becoming a father in winter made his decision easier, for sure.
Best German-speaking downhill racer
Markus Pekoll’s career is – together with Marcus Klausmanns’ - the most impressive in the German-speaking part of the world. His consistency is unmatched. Since his first World Cup in 2004 at Schladming, he took part in 72 of them, missing just two rounds and having a DNF in another two. From 2011 on he competed for MS Racing - one of the best teams in the world: "It became like a family for me."
He cracked the top 10 five times (his best world cup ranking are two 8th place finishes) and never placed worse than 19th at World Champs from 2011 through 2016. Markus is a six-time national champion, one-time European champion, took victory in the overall standings of the European cup and was best placed German-speaking rider in the UCI ranking from 2011 through 2015.
Future
What the future holds for the MS Mondraker rider is uncertain. “I will take my time to look at all the options, but I’m pretty anxious to see what’s now coming at me.” Val di Sole this upcoming weekend will be his last World Cup and he will fly the Austrian flag once more at the World Championships in Cairns, Australia. In the middle of September Markus is racing the iXS European Downhill Cup at Leogang as his last Downhill event. We can see him in race action once more at the Austrian enduro championships a week after. This will not be the start to a second career though, as he makes clear: “It will be just for fun!”
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I would for sure like to see mountain biking grow and more resorts developing trails for all abilities & levels, but the sad fact remains that mountain biking is not the top priority. It would take a huge cultural shift and a long, severe climate disaster for skiing to stop being the main attraction.
They just do what they find interesting and enjoyable within their comfort zone. For many of them walking up 1000 vertical meters is a bigger achievement than for Ueli Steck (RIP) was climbing the North Face of Eiger in 2h. I don't think one can enjoy mountains if he just looks for fat people to point his finger at...
Get a life people, we are just rolling on silly bicycles and we aren't even good at it for most part.
We have the same problem in Canada, but even skiing is way in the back seat to hockey. If Canada doesn't win a hockey medal at the Olympics, World Championships or Wold Juniors, there is a national enquiry launched and then tens of millions more dollars are invested into developing hockey programs.
It may just be perception but it seems like more champions (national or world) than ever are leaving UCI WC DH racing recently. Some by very sad and unfortunate events (Zarja and Stevie), some because they feel it has become something they don't like anymore (Ratboy Manon) and of course some veterans like Peaty and Pekoll retire after a long and successful career. Not sure how long the other legends keep going but for better or worse, the face of DH racing is changing quick.