Ultra Sports Rose Racing Team

Mountain biker Simon Gegenheimer delivers his best marathon race up to now at the World Series in Italy. Steffen Thum is now on place 3 in the world rankings.

The odds weren't very good for the Marathon World Cup in Italy. Although both mountain bikers of the ULTRA SPORTS ROSE RACINGTEAM were in really good shape, the weather conditions were absolutely miserable. The rain felt like a permanent shower and the thunderstorm on the evening before the race was rather threatening, too.

When Steffen Thum and Simon Gegenheimer arrived at the race, they were still on place 5 and 6 of the world rankings. Their top priority clearly was to collect World Cup points and to improve or at least defend their places in the world rankings.

The 65km long mountain bike track contained 2600 metres of altitude difference and very steep passages. Therefore, Steffen didn't risk anything, but rode in a controlled manner between place 10 and 15. "Cold, rain and mud aren't my favourite riding conditions – that's why my strategy was not to go the whole hog right from the beginning", Thum said about the start. In the middle of the race, his RACINGTEAM partner Simon caught up with him. They rode the second half together as a team and showed yet again an excellent team performance. Simon Gegenheimer commented after the race: "When I saw Steffen ahead of me, I tried to catch up with him as fast as I could. When I can ride in his slipstream, this gives me a real push." On the last short downhill section, Simon sprinted to place 13, whereas Steffen finished 15th and improved to place three in the world rankings.

Strongly cooled and exhausted, the two mountain bikers crossed the finish line after more than three hours. Despite difficult weather conditions, the ULTRA SPORTS RACINGTEAM has shown yet another great performance and improved in the marathon world rankings.