Ibis Cycles at EWS Round One - Crankworx Rotorua

After a six month break, we gathered the full squad for the first race of the season together in Rotorua, New Zealand.

Most of the team is based Europe, so everyone showed up earlier than usual to get acclimated to the time change, and to allow some extra time to test out our fresh new race bikes. Preparations included a day of testing with our new suspension partner Fox Factory before heading into race week. Everyone was looking comfortable on their bikes and itching to get the season started.


Suspension magician Jordi Cortes making notes of Robin Wallner's settings for the weekend.

Located in the famous Whakarewarewa Forest, the Crankworx Toa Enduro is a one day race comprised of more than 60km of riding between the seven timed stages and the liaisons. In the rooty rainforest, everyone knew the race was going to be technical, but with more than eight hours in the saddle on tap it was certain to be physical.

As the course opened for practice, the crew headed out early to get as much reconnoitering done as possible during the first day and leave some room for errors, but on the way to the first stage the skies opened up and it started pouring rain.

Rain made for a wet and interesting first day of practice. By the end though, everyone was still smiling and happy to be wet and muddy as long as bike riding was involved.


For race day weather forecast initially looked good, with some light rain predicted during the day. However, it started pouring properly and the race quickly turned into the muddiest race in EWS-history, with some of the deepest ruts ever seen. It soon became a race for survival more than anything.


Hailing from Norway, our newest team member Zakkarias Johansen was first on track. Zakka ended up having an amazing first race on his new bike with a 21st place in the overall and a 7th at the first stage of the day. This was his best result in the EWS so far and given the kind of conditions on race day, we were all duly impressed. Obviously he made a few mistakes and his race was far from trouble-free, but he was able to keep it rolling and stay on for most part, and in the end he brought it home safe.




Carolin Gehrig started the day a touch slower than usual but really got going on stage three, with a 3rd on the stage. Then she started making up time in each successive stage and in the end found herself earning a respectable 7th place to start out her 2017 campaign.



Anita Gehrig had a bit of a shock in the opening stage, coming in 18th place, but being a true fighter she put her head down and started making up time with consistent stages in the top five. She said she was not feeling very good on track at times, and not loving life in these conditions, but despite that she was able to push through and on the final stage she made up the last few seconds that netted her on a well-deserved spot on the podium in 3rd.




Robin Wallner opted to start out on dry condition tires which quickly worked against him as a heavy downpour erupted just before the start of the top 30 men. That ill-timed decision left him back in 53rd to start the day, but with a tire swap in the tech-zone after stage two he was able to put in a 12th fastest time on stage three and looked to be setting out for more on stage four. Unfortunately, a mid-stage encounter with a rock in a corner broke his rear disc rotor forced him to abandon.




Ibis sponsored rider François Bailly-maître also struggled in the wet and muddy woods. The very same rock that ended Robin's day jumped out to bite François, but fortunately he was able to nurse his bike through stage four and five with a severely damaged disc until he got back to the tech-zone to get it replaced before the last two stages. He was able to hold on to a 47th place on the day, scoring a couple of valuable points for the overall series.


Not only did Anita get on her first individual podium of the season but after the points had been tallied the team also scored its first podium of the season with a 3rd in the team standings heading into round two.


The team is taking part in a couple of the events during the Crankworx festival this week before heading over to Tasmania for the next round of the EWS in two weeks.

The Ibis Cycles Enduro Race Team is supported by Ibis Cycles, Maxxis tires, POC clothing & protective gear, Fox Factory suspension, Shimano components, Feedback Sports tools & repair stands, Joystick components, Honeystinger nutrition, FiveTen shoes, LizardSkins grips, Industry Nine hubs, and E*13 chainguides.

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