Rowdy Trails and Views for DaysNone of the team members had visited the beautiful island of Madeira but we all knew that this would be an amazing place to ride bikes.
Madeira lies in the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and Africa and this small island is home to some of the most diverse terrain on earth. From rocky singletrack down volcanoes to tight trails through native forests, we could experience an incredible selection of both natural and purpose-built trails. In practice, we were once again victim of bad weather and got to experience the trails in the slickest condition, which was quite a challenge.
The two-day race consisted of 9 special stages with approximately 95km of pedaling, 4839m of descending and 2525m of climbing. The forecast looked a lot better and for race day and indeed we were finally treated with sunshine. Nevertheless, the already very technical tracks stayed slippery and were super hard to ride, full commitment was needed.
Robin Wallner started off with a stormer of a day placing 5th after day one of racing. He was on fire and more than willing to make his first podium happen in Madeira. A broken chain in the first stage of day two destroyed the hopes for a top spot, but with his relentless attitude, he still placed a very strong 8th place in the overall.
 | I am both super proud of my weekend and really bummed. Proud that I managed to work my way back into the top 10 after starting my second day with a mechanical on the first stage. When you know you have lost at least 30-40 seconds on the first stage of the day it is so easy to feel like quitting and I really had to dig deep to get my mind back into race-mode. Anyway, my pace is there, my bike rocks and we are leading the team-overall so I am feeling confident that Ireland is going to be good to us all in two weeks! And again thanks to everyone who is supporting us to get to do this! - Robin Wallner |
Caro started off well into the race and had a solid first day sitting in 5th overnight. Day two of the race made her slip down two spots, she had to settle with another 7th place.
| Madeira is such a beautiful island, it's amazing to get to travel to all those amazing places through Enduro World Series! To adapt to a new area with such a diversity of trails is alway a big challenge and keeps it exciting. I had a lot of fun shredding the trails there but I guess I hoped to be able to go a little faster. The sketchy root and rock sections needed full commitment to go full throttle on them. Cecile and the other girls at the front end were not lacking that and it's great to have so many fast girls in the field. - Caro Gehrig |
Flying Frenchman François Bally-Maître aka FMB had a strong race and finished in 11th position, enjoying the slippery conditions that occur oh so often in his home the French Jura.
Zakka, our Norwegian pinner, rode consistently well this weekend, securing a 34th place in the overall and holding on to a respectable 27th place in the series rankings.
| Madeira is definitely a race to remember. The long, slippery and physical stages were definitely a big challenge. I'm usually pretty comfortable with my bike dancing around underneath on the slippery trails but this weekend it seems like I was holding back just a little bit too much. My stage results were consistent but just a few seconds off where I wanted to be. I learned a lot this weekend and will take this experience back home and start preparing for Ireland. - Zakarias Blom Johansen |
Anita started well into the race with a third in stage 1, but lost confidence in the slippery rocks after three heavy crashes on stage two. An 8th place it is for this race.
| I really enjoyed practice and the whole island experience as such and was keen to put in a solid effort for the race. Starting well into it, I felt confident to ride on the attack but this only resulted in three big diggers. I am a bit bummed that I could not keep it together in the race. I'd love to go back to this place and see even more of the trails, what a spectacular place. - Anita Gehrig |
The second day of the race was held in bright sunshine again, the rooty and rocky tracks though were still a gamble to find traction. The first stages of the day included some very slippery root sections, steep chutes and many off-camber turns where it was hard to keep the speed up. Stage 8, "Boca do Risco" was probably the one with the best view ever in the EWS circuit, what a track!
The team put in an amazing effort and we ended up placing third in the team rankings...
...which also brings us on the top of the current standings of the championships! Yeah!
Bye Madeira, it's been a blast!! We look forward to visiting Ireland in less than two weeks time. The team is more than keen to show that we can all do even better! Also, we will be reunited with our American team member Dillon Santos.
A special thanks goes out to all our sponsors and our mechanics Mats Petterson and Pascal Krieger.
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@davetrumpore
Member since Nov 15, 2011
I think you're bang on about geo refresh...
forums.mtbr.com/ibis/ibis-hd4-sighted-1045111.html#post13173206