fabian urlich

19 Juni 2018

Innsbruck Crankworx

admin Allgemein, racing, special events 2018, brage Vestavik, brook macdonald, crankworx, fabian urlich, innsbruck, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, mike jones, patrik butler

That was the second issue of Crankworx Innsbruck. Laurie Greenland, Brook MacDonald, Mike Jones, Brage Vestavik, Johannes von Klebelsberg, Fabian Ulrich and Pat Butler compete in different disciplines and showed some good action… watch here the summary of our week in Innsbruck by Björn Hunger!

Day 3:

Even it looked like Brook might not race because of a bruised hill, he was back in the game for race day, owing to the help of Innsbruck local physio therapist Jon Örarbäck from Loft 41. With some special heel caps and after some days of rest, Brook decided to race at least to represent the team in front of our home crowd.

The training started with a shock as co-factory rider Fabian was carried down by the mountain rescue team because of a ripped front ACL as it turned out after further checkups.

The conditions where difficult, the track and lines changed with every rider going down. Pat race in the under 19 category- he struggled a little bit and crashed in the wood section. His time showed that the pace is there, but after a long break riding because of a broken scaphoid he is still building his confidence on the bike and his constancy. Pat finished in 7^thposition.

Brage and Johannes went into the race with early start times and both showed good runs. While the run of Brage was maybe a little bit too conservative, Johannes pointed out with a strong 19^thplace in a well casted field with some big names!

For the top riders like Mike, Brook and Laurie, the very late start time, was a bit of an issue. The long break between the last training and the late start after 17:00 made it hard for them to keep the tension they need for their race run. Mike kept building his constancy was able to put a guaranty top ten run together and left with a 7^thplace in his pocket. For Brook is was just about to do another race run, the heel didn’t really hold him back, but for sure it was affecting the performance as he was also missing a full day of training- Brook finished in 11^thplace. Laurie started into the race as 6^thlast. The track changed quite a bit from his last trainings run and he couldn’t put his dream run together and end up in 10^thplace.

All riders enjoyed the track a lot and so they will stay for a few more days in Innsbruck to recover and train.

Full results of the crankworx downhill race.

: big crowd in Innsbruck

: Brook was hold back by a bruised heel, but race for the crowed!

: solid performance of Laurie Greenland!

: Mike Jones with another top 10 result- 7th!

: track changes from rider to rider...

: Johannes on the very tight line...

: Mike loved the track... bummer that this track is closed most of the time!

: Mike in front of the main partners of the MS Mondraker team...

Day 2 part 2:

One of the highlights of the Crankworx Innsbruck event is the so-called “Whip off” contest. Highlight for sure because of an unique panorama, an perfect shaped jump and an amazing crowd somewhere high up the mountain. The MS Mondraker team was represented by Laurie, Brage and Pat. While Laurie and Brage are known for their whip off skills, Pat was one of the dark horses in the field. In a jam session format Laurie and Pat qualified for the top 10 finals and performed well in an amazing show. They couldn’t win the whip off in the end, but they enjoyed every take off and this is what counts in events like this.

: Laurie enjoy the jam session format

: that whip off put a smile into Brages face

: young gun Patrik Butler was flying...

: more airtime...

: moto whip

: Laurie going siiiiiiideways...

: Young gun and even younger gun...

: Laurie and the fabulous Innsbruck crowd

Day 2:

The Day started with downhill training. The course walk showed that the local track builders did a good job. All the top names of the flied lauded the track as it had a little bit of everything and a good amount of natural features, which the riders really like. Brook had an incident after he tried to jump a gap- he hit his heel, which end up in a heel bruise.

: Brook loving it... considering the DH track of Götzens as one of his favourites!

: co-factory train with Fabian and Pat

: happy days for Laurie Greenland...

: Johannes on one of his Innsbruck home tracks

: Mike in one of many root sections...

: Pat Butler

: Mike Jones raved about how good the ground is...

: jungle shot by Nathan Hughes

Day 1:

Because of heavy rain we started into the week on Thursday and the first event for us was the pump track race. This is one of those formats, where riders of different disciplines converge. While some of the riders see this as a fun event there are quite a lot of riders, which are focused on this one event. Mike and Brook came into the event with limited training time on a brand new bike and they had a tough lot in their first round. Brook was racing against the BMX professional Niels BENSINK and Mike against pump track specialist and four cross legend Tomas Slavik. Both Brook and Mike tried hard, but dropped out. Last man in the race was Brage Vestavik from Norway. Also Brage faced a difficult log with Joost Wichman, a retired athlete, but famous for his BMX skills. Brage managed to qualify for the evening’s finals. In the first round of the evenings finals Brage faced Adrien Loron and lost both heats.

Summarized the pump track race was a fun event and a good opportunity for us to warm up for the upcoming races!

: MS Mondraker boys are in town...

: Mike's first pump track attempt after 3 years not being on a hardtail...

: Brage pushing hard...

: ...and qualified for finals

: top 16 finals

: Brage with some backlog...

: pushing hard...

: but out after the first final round...

9 Juni 2018

Leogang world cup round 3 with the first podium

admin Allgemein brage, brage Vestavik, brook, brook macdonald, fabian, fabian urlich, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie greenland, Leogang 2018, mike jones, mtb worldcup, UCI, worldcup

Another video summary by Björn Hunger of our fabulous week in Leogang… good things happen when you don’t expect them! 4 elite men in the finals, 3 out of 4 in the top 10, 1 podium with a 3rd place and the 2nd place in the team results… you can’t ask for more- we are stoked!

Day 4: Race day

Another race is in the books and we are catching up. We went into the race day fully excited, as we knew we were on a good pace. All the riders from the factory program qualified in the top ten, as well as Johannes qualified for the men’s final and new add on Patrik qualified for the juniors final. The times from the day before were very promising, which let us hope for the jackpot.

Patrik was the first in juniors race and struggled a bit after coming back from a broken scaphoid. He did some mistakes and crashed in the last section of the track. In the end he became 16^th, which was maybe a little setback for him, but the result from qualifying is something we can build on.

Co-factory rider Johannes was the first to come down. Johannes didn’t find his flow, made some mistakes, which send him back into 54^thposition, but we think positive, as we know what to change to get him up in the rankings.

Mike Jones was net to come. He already showed in the first timed training session that you have to have him on the radar. His 2^ndplace was motivation was enough to qualify in 10^thposition with a steady run. In his final race run Mike put a solid run together which got him into 8^thplace in the end.

Laurie was next to come. He qualified in 6^thplace, which was the perfect position for an attack- and so he did. Laurie had one of these runs he is known for- wild and on eth edge, but controlled and precise at the same time. He was just a few tenth of a seconds of the time of current leader Aaron Gwin and crossed the finish line in second position, but got 3^rdin the final result.

Last man of the MS Mondraker team was Brook MacDonald. Still not 100% fit and missing some weeks of riding after a broken collarbone, Brook shows an incredible performance. A 2^ndplace in qualification got him into the circle of favorites. Brook was the second last man to come down today. He lost some time in the top parts and took a different line in the lower section. Brook got 9^thin the end… maybe he was not really satisfied with that, but happy to know that he is on the pace to keep up with the current podium riders.

The 3^rdplace of Laurie was our first world cup podium this season and the fact that we had three riders in the top 10 brought us into the 2^ndplace of today’s team ranking. We are now back in 4^thposition of the team overall world cup ranking and keep catching up.

Here you can find the complete set of results.

We are now heading to Bikepark Innsbruck for the second round of the crankworx series- meet us there!

: Patrik Butler, had some good split times but crashed at the end of his final run

: Johannes von Klebelsberg- always 100%

: Mike Jones is back. The top 10 is his new home along with both his team mates MacDonald and Greenland.

: Brook sending it into the panorama...

: check out the line and where they took off...

: Laurie was again on a pinner... 3rd place

: Ex team mates, Brook and Greg after one eventful afternoon in the woods.

: first world cup podium for the MS Mondraker team with Laurie Greenland in 3rd

Day 3:

We had an amazing qualifying day today. Brook, Laurie and Mike from the factory squad qualified in the top 10, as well as Johannes from the co-factory team qualified in 40^thposition. This result got completed with the 6^thplace in qualification for the men junior race of Patrik Butler, which is pretty promising considering his situation of a coming back after a broken scaphoid. We are now in a very good position for the race tomorrow. Stay tuned and follow the race on https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1VPHMM9GS1W11/mercedes-benz-uci-mountain-bike-world-cup

: "habt acht" boys are ready for action

: Mike Jones at one of the bike park wallrides- prefers the natural sections for sure.

: Laurie 6th in qualies...

: Laurie enjoyed riding the new version of the worldcup track in Leogang

: Johannes qualified in 40th position

: Brages was sick all week- too enfeebled to qualify

: Brook again on fire- 2nd place in qualies

: typical bike park section... wall ride action

Day 2:

First day of practice was wild. The riders couldn’t wait to ride the new version of the DH world cup track in Leogang. Laurie, Brook and Mike got on speed really quick and they were on the same pace thru out the open training session. Mike was leading in the timed training session for quite a while and got 2^ndin the end. Brook got 14^thwith a solid run and Laurie got 20^thwith a so-so run and an almost crash, where he hit a tree. We have a good pace and everything is open for tomorrows qualification.

: Austrian rider Fabian Ulrich

: the MS Mondraker train is on course

: Brook is getting stronger and stronger after his broken collarbone

: The Viking Brage Vestavik- will he qualify this weekend?

: no question- Laurie like the new version of the track.

: new for this weekend- Patrik Butler from Australia joined the cofactors squad

: our Italian rider Johannes von Klebelsberg- also known as"putega internazionale"

: Mike Jones- a 2nd place in timed training get him back on the screen.

Day 1:

In the past few years Leogang was maybe not the most popular track on the world cup circuit. Too easy and to “bikeparky” was the common sense between the riders. Even more we have been surprised on track walk when we saw the modifications the organizers did to the track- especially the nice new grass off camber section was in favor of all the riders. The new common sense?! Bring on the race and lets rock!

: Greenland getting all out of shape on the first kicker.

: Mike Jones keeping up with the MS squad.

: the boys are sharing lines...

: thats the way to go...

: Brook and Ben doing fine adjustments

: the good stuff for the cockpit- Renthal bike components

: Laurie and Brook switch to hike mode ready to go find out what awaits them up the mountain.

: bike is getting a overhauling

We had an amazing qualifying day today. Brook, Laurie and Mike from the factory squad qualified in the top 10, as well as Johannes from the co-factory team qualified in 40^thpositi

3 Juni 2018

Fort William- the world cup’s classic tour stop

admin Allgemein brage, brage Vestavik, brook, brook macdonald, fabian, fabian urlich, fort william, ici worldcup, johannes, Johannes von Klebelsberg, laurie, laurie greenland

this is the video summery by Björn Hunger… lots of impressions, with some niche tunes by Sons of Buddha and Supermunk- enjoy!

race report:

Heavy rain on Saturday evening changed the track overnight. The track soften up a bit, with the consequence that the early morning training sessions of the women and juniors caused new holes on the track and some roots came out, which were pretty slippery. The weather forecast looked again unstable, with a high chance for heavy rain after 4 o’clock.

Mike was the first starter of the MS Mondraker Team. After the bad luck at the first world cup round where he couldn’t qualify because of a mechanical problem, collecting points is the highest priority. Mike improved his result from 28^thplace to a 24^thspot in the end.

Next to come was Brook- even he is not 100% fit after his crash from Losinj and even it was not about the win this weekend, Brook pulled out the maximum. A few mistakes hold him back from entering the top ten- 11^thplace for Brook and a 12^thplace in the UCI world cup overall ranking.

Laurie was the last man of the MS Mondraker team on the mountain. He made a few little mistakes in some of the sections and landed almost off course on one of the jumps in the so-called motorway section, which cost valuable seconds in the end. Laurie finished in 16^thposition, which dropped him in the overall into 10^thplace.

Overall we had a good weekend. Maybe not the top results yet, but the performance curve is promising.

1st Amaury Pierron

2nd Loris Vergier

3rd Troy Brosnan

11th Brook MacDonald

16th Laurie Greenland

24th Mike Jones

Results:

: Laurie- not to happy with his run and the final result... but he will strike back for sure in Leogang.

: no room for mistakes... rock garden from top to bottom

: Laurie- 16th place today

: 11th place for Brook today after a broken collarbone 5 weeks ago

: Mike finished in 24th position

: Mike on the 2nd last jump before the finish line

Day 3:

The mission was clear- all riders qualify for the finals. Even this was an ambitious mission this is what all riders are going for. From the early morning we knew that the weather might be the Grinch of the day. The weather forecast looked unstable and so we had to fight with changing weather conditions during the qualification. We had 6 riders on the start and 3 got into the finals of the top 60 men. While Laurie, Brook and Mike qualified without big effort, Brage, Johannes and Fabien struggled a bit with the changing conditions and the sporadically heavy rain and could not manage to qualify.

Qualifying results:

Brook 18th

Laurie 20th

Mike 28th

: Brook sending the Red Bull road gap before the motorway

: Laurie one fire

: Brook on fire- even not 100% yet, he keeps going and tries to not fall to far behind.

: Laurie in the lower woods- demanding section with a lot of rocks

: Also not qualified for the race was Brage Vestavik- it is hard to qualify for the finals with the best 60 men of the world... but he is getting closer!

: did not went as planed for Johannes- even he did not qualify he showed a good performance. now it is about consistence- next race next chance!

: Laurie in the zone... last few minutes before his run... on the trainer bike and fully focused.

: 9 seconds back today, the Bulldog is set to bite back tomorrow.

Day 2:

It was the first day of training. The dry and hot weather of the past week turned the track into being very slick. It wasn’t a very big surprise that we saw very fast times in the timed training, but the comeback of the Brook after his broken collarbone at the first round with a 4^thplace in time training was a little sensation for us. Laurie as well as Mike was on a good pace, while the riders of the co-factory riders where struggling a little bit with the conditions and the setup.

: Brook and his mechanic Ben working on the fine tuning of Brook's cockpit: Renthal father 30 mm rise with a Renthal 50mm stem

: Laurie and his brand new signing card

: 5 weeks later and Brook's already back at the sharp end... and on one of the circuit's most notoriously physical tracks.

: unusual dry and warm weather turned the track into being very dusty and slippery- Brook in one of the section in the top part.

: Rocks from top to bottom- pretty slippery no matter if dry or wet.

: Johannes von Klebelsberg fully focused.

: Mike Jones on a mission- after a non qualifier at the last round in Losinj the qualification for the top 60 is the first goal of the weekend.

Day 1:

Coming to Fort William is coming back to one of the 2 world cups classics. Far north in Scotland we race on the highest peak of the United Kingdom. The track is well know and does not change a lot as it is a man made track from top to bottom with some wooden bridges as well as a lot of rock gardens. One of the new parts from last year got reshaped and redone with rocks and changed so to a man made rock garden- in the dry not too difficult, but in the wet probably a game changer.