<p>The Specialized Factory Racing team was the number one elite men's team at the UCI cross country World Cup round three in Offenburg, Germany, on Sunday. Jaroslav Kulhavy was the fastest rider on the squad in second place while Burry Stander also made the podium with a fourth and Christoph Sauser placed 13th.</p><p>
</p><p>
Roles were reversed for winner Julien Absalon and Kulhavy. One week ago, at the Dalby World Cup, Kulhavy attacked and was chased by eventual second place finisher Absalon while on Sunday, Absalon launched a successful attack that Kulhavy chased. In both races, Kulhavy piloted his 9.85kg Specialized 29er full suspension Epic.</p><p>
</p><p>
"Julien was way strong today, and I did what I could to race for the finish," said Kulhavy. "I knew Julien would be strong here and in fact, he was."</p><p>
</p><p>
The Frenchman made his move on a long climb during lap four of seven total. While Nino Schurter first led the chase, Kulhavy took over the chase and rode the rest of the race on his own to finish 29 seconds after Absalon.</p><p>
</p><p>
"You could see Julien's intentions were clear," said Stander, who rode tenaciously back to the leaders after recovering from a bad start. "We all tried to hang on as long as we could, but when Absalon goes, it is so hard." The Frenchman attacked in the same place on the course where he does every year, thereby keeping alive his undefeated streak in Offenburg.</p><p>
</p><p>
Stander and Sauser were both riding well as the next chasers along with Maxime Marotte when Sauser suffered mechanical trouble in the form of a flat tire which he didn't realize until after passing the tech zone.</p><p>
</p><p>
Sauser lost time with the flat, which left Stander alone with Marotte, and the Frenchman pulled away from the South African on the final lap. Stander nonetheless managed a strong fourth place podium finish at 1:05 behind Absalon.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I couldn't go with Absalon when he went," said Stander. "It was only Jaroslav who could answer and maintain although he had to come from behind Nino (Schurter), Marco (Fontana) and me to do so."</p><p>
</p><p>
Near the end of the race, Stander struggled to hang onto Marotte on the steep climbs, but would make up time on the descents. "It seems like the 29er helped me there. He would get me on the steep climbs and I couldn't get that back. Yet I felt good after last week and getting over illness. It was a confidence builder for the rest of the season."</p><p>
</p><p>
Sauser rode his rim after flatting until it failed under the effort. After running to the next tech zone, he got back in the race as soon as he could and put in a valiant effort to regain some of his lost places. He finished in 13th at 3:20.</p><p>
</p><p>
The flat tire wasn't Sauser's only problem of the day. "I was battling with Absalon going into the singletrack and broke a spoke," said Sauser, who said there was no major mechanical damage in the collision, but that "it was just a head trip because I could hear the broken spoke all the time."</p><p>
</p><p>
"Later, I crashed when I was trying to bridge to Kulhavy and Absalon," said Sauser, "but it was minor. I was up quickly." The real issue was that single flat tire. "It came with one lap to go and after having to run to the tech zone, which wasn't too far, I lost some motivation."</p><p>
</p><p>
Todd Wells logged a 33rd place finish at the top American finisher at 5:50. "It was a brutal race out there. I started well and made it to the lead chase group and was able to stay for a few laps, but at the end of the fourth lap, it started to go badly and I had nothing the last two laps. The course is so fast that if you blow up on a course like this, there are always guys ready to go by you. I went from having a good race to just hanging on."</p><p>
</p><p>
Stander, Sauser and Wells all rode their Specialized Stumpjumper Hardtails, weighing 8.08kg, 8.2kg and 8.77kg respectively. All but Wells were on Specialized Renegade tires on the front and rear (ranging from 1.8 to 1.95 in size and from 25 to 28.5 psi in tire pressures).</p><p>
</p><p>
In the World Cup standings, Kulhavy is now ranked second while Stander, Sauser and Wells are 6th, 10th and 18th overall</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg makes the podium on her brand new 29er Fate</p><p>
</p><p>
Lene Byberg rode her way to a podium finish on Specialized's freshly launch Fate bicycle. The Fate is the newest 29er option for women and the first-in-the-world 29er carbon women's hardtail. The bike will be available in stores in the fall. </p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's performance was especially noteworthy as she'd only received her new pre-production bike on Wednesday. On it, she continued a strong trend of finishes in 2011 as she works her way back into top form following a tough 2010 season plagued with illness and fatigue.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I felt good and had a good start. I felt better than last weekend. Every race now, I'm getting closer," said Byberg. "After last season, I'm very excited to be up there again. I wanted to be third today, but it was such a hard fight in the last lap, and I didn't have the power then."</p><p>
</p><p>
"My bike was awesome. It's always different to jump on a new bike and just ride it. I got it all together on Wednesday. On Friday I decided to race it, so I just had a few days. It's a little difficult for me to say how it is because I'm not used to the 29er yet. I'm still learning how to corner on it, but it felt so light and stiff. I've never ridden a 29er in a World Cup race."</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's Fate was similar to those that will be available to consumers except she used a riser bar and custom lightweight skewers with her name on them. Her Fate weighed 8.43kg and sported Renegade 1.95 tires front and rear with 23.5 psi pressures.</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's teammate Ren Chengyuan, who won the opening 2011 World Cup in South Africa and finished fifth at the Dalby World Cup in the United Kingdom, was absent from this race. She crashed in training a few days ago, injured her back and withdrew from the competition to fly home and recuperate in China.</p><p>
</p><p>
Lea Davison continued her quest to move forward in the World Cup starting grid and results with a strong ride to 38th place. "It was attack from the back and I was trying to move up as much as possible. I had a decent start and then I got caught in some back of the pack traffic."</p><p>
</p><p>
She recounted one incident where she was held up by course traffic and actually went slightly backward on the course so she could get clipped in to ride the famous Wolf Drop section. "It would have been scarier running than riding it. I felt good out there and passed as much as I could. I'm excited to keep working my way up with good starts so I'll get a better position in the North American World Cups coming up."</p><p>
</p><p>
Davison was onboard a 26" Specialized Era with Fast Trak 2.00 front and rear tires pumped to 26psi. Her full suspension bike tipped the scales at 9.5kg.</p><p>
</p><p>
In the World Cup standings, Chengyuan is third, Byberg is fourth and Davison is 38th.</p><p>
</p><p>
The next UCI cross country World Cup is not until the first weekend of July in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec Canada. In the meantime, most of the team will spend the next month focusing on training at their respective homes; however, Sauser will compete in the Trans Germany starting on Wednesday and the marathon world championships next month in Italy.</p><p>
</p><p>
Eliminator</p><p>
</p><p>
In the eliminator event held on Friday evening before the World Cup, Lea Davison rode to seventh in the elite women's category onboard the new Specialized Fate.</p><p>
</p><p>
In the men's race, Burry Stander was 10th and Todd Wells finished 32nd.</p>
More...
</p><p>
Roles were reversed for winner Julien Absalon and Kulhavy. One week ago, at the Dalby World Cup, Kulhavy attacked and was chased by eventual second place finisher Absalon while on Sunday, Absalon launched a successful attack that Kulhavy chased. In both races, Kulhavy piloted his 9.85kg Specialized 29er full suspension Epic.</p><p>
</p><p>
"Julien was way strong today, and I did what I could to race for the finish," said Kulhavy. "I knew Julien would be strong here and in fact, he was."</p><p>
</p><p>
The Frenchman made his move on a long climb during lap four of seven total. While Nino Schurter first led the chase, Kulhavy took over the chase and rode the rest of the race on his own to finish 29 seconds after Absalon.</p><p>
</p><p>
"You could see Julien's intentions were clear," said Stander, who rode tenaciously back to the leaders after recovering from a bad start. "We all tried to hang on as long as we could, but when Absalon goes, it is so hard." The Frenchman attacked in the same place on the course where he does every year, thereby keeping alive his undefeated streak in Offenburg.</p><p>
</p><p>
Stander and Sauser were both riding well as the next chasers along with Maxime Marotte when Sauser suffered mechanical trouble in the form of a flat tire which he didn't realize until after passing the tech zone.</p><p>
</p><p>
Sauser lost time with the flat, which left Stander alone with Marotte, and the Frenchman pulled away from the South African on the final lap. Stander nonetheless managed a strong fourth place podium finish at 1:05 behind Absalon.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I couldn't go with Absalon when he went," said Stander. "It was only Jaroslav who could answer and maintain although he had to come from behind Nino (Schurter), Marco (Fontana) and me to do so."</p><p>
</p><p>
Near the end of the race, Stander struggled to hang onto Marotte on the steep climbs, but would make up time on the descents. "It seems like the 29er helped me there. He would get me on the steep climbs and I couldn't get that back. Yet I felt good after last week and getting over illness. It was a confidence builder for the rest of the season."</p><p>
</p><p>
Sauser rode his rim after flatting until it failed under the effort. After running to the next tech zone, he got back in the race as soon as he could and put in a valiant effort to regain some of his lost places. He finished in 13th at 3:20.</p><p>
</p><p>
The flat tire wasn't Sauser's only problem of the day. "I was battling with Absalon going into the singletrack and broke a spoke," said Sauser, who said there was no major mechanical damage in the collision, but that "it was just a head trip because I could hear the broken spoke all the time."</p><p>
</p><p>
"Later, I crashed when I was trying to bridge to Kulhavy and Absalon," said Sauser, "but it was minor. I was up quickly." The real issue was that single flat tire. "It came with one lap to go and after having to run to the tech zone, which wasn't too far, I lost some motivation."</p><p>
</p><p>
Todd Wells logged a 33rd place finish at the top American finisher at 5:50. "It was a brutal race out there. I started well and made it to the lead chase group and was able to stay for a few laps, but at the end of the fourth lap, it started to go badly and I had nothing the last two laps. The course is so fast that if you blow up on a course like this, there are always guys ready to go by you. I went from having a good race to just hanging on."</p><p>
</p><p>
Stander, Sauser and Wells all rode their Specialized Stumpjumper Hardtails, weighing 8.08kg, 8.2kg and 8.77kg respectively. All but Wells were on Specialized Renegade tires on the front and rear (ranging from 1.8 to 1.95 in size and from 25 to 28.5 psi in tire pressures).</p><p>
</p><p>
In the World Cup standings, Kulhavy is now ranked second while Stander, Sauser and Wells are 6th, 10th and 18th overall</p><p>
</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg makes the podium on her brand new 29er Fate</p><p>
</p><p>
Lene Byberg rode her way to a podium finish on Specialized's freshly launch Fate bicycle. The Fate is the newest 29er option for women and the first-in-the-world 29er carbon women's hardtail. The bike will be available in stores in the fall. </p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's performance was especially noteworthy as she'd only received her new pre-production bike on Wednesday. On it, she continued a strong trend of finishes in 2011 as she works her way back into top form following a tough 2010 season plagued with illness and fatigue.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I felt good and had a good start. I felt better than last weekend. Every race now, I'm getting closer," said Byberg. "After last season, I'm very excited to be up there again. I wanted to be third today, but it was such a hard fight in the last lap, and I didn't have the power then."</p><p>
</p><p>
"My bike was awesome. It's always different to jump on a new bike and just ride it. I got it all together on Wednesday. On Friday I decided to race it, so I just had a few days. It's a little difficult for me to say how it is because I'm not used to the 29er yet. I'm still learning how to corner on it, but it felt so light and stiff. I've never ridden a 29er in a World Cup race."</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's Fate was similar to those that will be available to consumers except she used a riser bar and custom lightweight skewers with her name on them. Her Fate weighed 8.43kg and sported Renegade 1.95 tires front and rear with 23.5 psi pressures.</p><p>
</p><p>
Byberg's teammate Ren Chengyuan, who won the opening 2011 World Cup in South Africa and finished fifth at the Dalby World Cup in the United Kingdom, was absent from this race. She crashed in training a few days ago, injured her back and withdrew from the competition to fly home and recuperate in China.</p><p>
</p><p>
Lea Davison continued her quest to move forward in the World Cup starting grid and results with a strong ride to 38th place. "It was attack from the back and I was trying to move up as much as possible. I had a decent start and then I got caught in some back of the pack traffic."</p><p>
</p><p>
She recounted one incident where she was held up by course traffic and actually went slightly backward on the course so she could get clipped in to ride the famous Wolf Drop section. "It would have been scarier running than riding it. I felt good out there and passed as much as I could. I'm excited to keep working my way up with good starts so I'll get a better position in the North American World Cups coming up."</p><p>
</p><p>
Davison was onboard a 26" Specialized Era with Fast Trak 2.00 front and rear tires pumped to 26psi. Her full suspension bike tipped the scales at 9.5kg.</p><p>
</p><p>
In the World Cup standings, Chengyuan is third, Byberg is fourth and Davison is 38th.</p><p>
</p><p>
The next UCI cross country World Cup is not until the first weekend of July in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec Canada. In the meantime, most of the team will spend the next month focusing on training at their respective homes; however, Sauser will compete in the Trans Germany starting on Wednesday and the marathon world championships next month in Italy.</p><p>
</p><p>
Eliminator</p><p>
</p><p>
In the eliminator event held on Friday evening before the World Cup, Lea Davison rode to seventh in the elite women's category onboard the new Specialized Fate.</p><p>
</p><p>
In the men's race, Burry Stander was 10th and Todd Wells finished 32nd.</p>
More...