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MTB News and Notes:Eatough, Kirkland take 24 Hours of Moab; G Cross-Honda calls it quits

Peraud, Henzi take Roc D’Azur; Cape Epic adds ninth stage; Twins for Florit

Published: Oct. 19, 2007

Chris Eatough (Trek-Volkswagen) and Jari Kirkland (Boulder Performance Network) took convincing victories in the solo categories at the 2007 EAS 24-Hours of Moab. Over 1300 riders competed in the country’s largest 24-hour cross-country mountain-bike race, which celebrated its 13th anniversary.

For Eatough, the six-time world 24-hour Solo champion, 2007 marked his first time racing at Moab. The Maryland native had previously bypassed the Moab race in favor of the 24-Hours of Adrenaline world championships. But with that race held this year at California’s Laguna Seca speedway, Eatough opted to race in Utah.

“I’m not that huge of a fan of that course [Laguna Seca],” Eatough said in May.

Eatough surged to the front of the men’s pack on the first lap. Midway through the race, with temperatures dropping below 40 degrees, Eatough’s chief rivals, Josh Tostado (Giant) and Ernesto Marenchin (Asylum Cycles) had dropped out. By morning, Eatough held a one-lap advantage on second place, Travis Macy.

Kirkland, an adventure race with the Solomon-Crested Butte adventure race team, was declared the winner at Moab in 2006 after a freak thunderstorm shortened the race to just eight hours. In 2007 she battled with fellow adventure racer, Rebecca Rusch (Red Bull-Specialized), until Rusch, the recently crowned world 24-Solo champion, began to slow. Kirkland completed 14 laps, and would have finished third in the pro men’s category.

The Four-person MonaVie-Cannondale team of Bart Gillespie, Jason Sager, Nina Baum and Thomas Spannring finished the Moab race with 20 laps completed, the most of any team. The two-man team of Mike Janelle (Tokyo Joe’s) and Nat Ross (Subaru-Gary Fisher) won the two-person category with 18 laps.

Honda ends sponsorship of Downhill team
Honda announced it will stop sponsorship of the world’s top gravity mountain-bike team, team G Cross-Honda, after 2007. In 2007, the team of Greg Minnaar, Matti Lehikoinen, Brendan Fairclough and Cyrille Kurtz were the UCI’s No. 1 mountain-bike team in gravity racing.

The motorcycle manufacturer had applied its off-road motorcycle technology to create the RN01, an innovative downhill mountain-bike that featured moto-cross technology in its suspension and frame, and an innovative gearbox and transmission system. When the bike first saw service on the international circuit in 2004, mechanics kept the new technology hidden from fans and spectators behind tents.

G Cross/Honda team director Martin Whiteley thanked Honda for its four-year sponsorship of the team.

“I think the greatest success of the project has been the way in which it has asked the participants (riders, fans, media, sponsors) to look at our sport in a different light, and to think outside the box when it comes to race technology and the approach to racing,” Whiteley said.

While Lehikoinen recently inked a deal to ride with Intense Cycles for 2007, Whiteley hinted that the search is now on for a replacement title sponsor for Minnaar, Fairclough and Kurtz.

Peraud, Henzi take Roc D’Azur
The French town of Fréjus again hosted Europe’s largest mountain-bike festival, the Roc D’Azur festival October 10-15. The festival featured 18 races, including marathon, cross-country, downhill and kids events.

Frenchman Christoph Peraud (Orbea) upended two-time winner Christoph Sauser (Specialized) of Switzerland to take the men’s cross-country race ahead of Austrian Alban Lakata (Trek).

Winning the women’s race was Swiss cross-country and marathon great Petra Henzi, who disposed of Poland’s Maja Wloszczowska. Three-time Roc D’Azur winner Alison Sydor was not present.

Prologue time trial will start 2009 Absa Cape Epic
The Absa Cape Epic, South Africa’s famed mountain-bike stage race, will add an eighth stage in 2008. The race, which traces a 900km journey from the port city of Knysna to the Lourensford Winery just outside Cape Town, will now begin with a short, 15km prologue time-trial through the town of Knysna on March 28, 2008.

Racers must compete in teams of two, and each team will have an allotted starting time. Teams will be sent off in 30-second intervals. The time trial will be televised, and will be used to determine seeding time for the first stage.

The 2008 Absa Cape Epic’s route will be announced on October 30 at a charity route launch gala at the Castle Kalami in Johannesburg. For more information, check www.cape-epic.com.

Florit has twins
Two-time NORBA cross-country champion Jimena Dolzadelli (formerly Florit) gave birth to twins on Wednesday, October 17 in Connecticut. Dolzadelli, a two-time Olympian and Pan American gold medalist for her native country of Argentina, retired from professional cross-country racing in 2006.

Dolzadelli and her husband John named the children Gianluca and Mateo.