On the 14th of October a race for the ÖRV-ZMS-cross-country cup 2018/19 took place in Langenzersdorf on the terrain of the Seeschlacht.After his victory in Stadl-Paura the week before, chase-teamrider Manfred entered the competition as one of the favourites. After a thrilling start phase, a 4-men leading group was soon able to distinguish itself from the rest of the drivers. The group consisted of two hungarian and two austrian bikers, one of them was Manfred!
Again and again the lead changed, but for a long time no driver was able to take a decisive lead. It was not until the second to last lap that an attack was successful – Manfred was able to break away from his remaining rivals by increasing his pace and won for the second time in the cross-country cup season of 2018/19!
Ternitz in the Neunkirchen district was the venue for two exciting racing days in the cross-country sport on the 20th and 21st October of 2018.
Chase-driver Manfred once again showed his current top form. At the race on Saturday, he got his third victory in a row after a thrilling fight. Two laps to go, he already had a small advantage over his pursuers, but then he had a self-inflicted slip-up in a corner.
Although he was back on the bike quickly, his advantage was ruined. Thus, the race was completely open again and there was a three-men leading group in the last round. But Manfred once again proved to be the currently strongest driver in austria. With an attack he managed to shake off his rivals and successfully drove through the finish line as winner!
At the international C2 race on sunday he unfortunately had bad luck right at the beginning. At the start, a competitor got into his front wheel which caused one of the spokes to break. Manfred was one of the last to get back on track. Although he managed a good catch-up he was nowhere near the top places that day. The winner was the belgian Braam Merlier, after him came the czech Paprstka and another belgian. Manfred got the 17th place in the international field as the second-best austrian.
On the 26th and 27th October of 2018 two races of the ÖRV-ZMS-Cross-Country-Cup took place in Trieben, Styria. On the national holiday, the first day of the race, the weather was beautiful and the temperatures were pleasant.
On the flat circuit a fast race developed and for a long time there was a large leading group at the top. Due to the rather easy circuit no driver could get the lead alone.
In the second to last round Chase-teammember Manfred attacked and was able to split the six-men leading group decisively. Only the carinthian Robert Gehbauer managed to follow Manfred for a long time. During another try in the last round he could not keep up and Manfred drove to his fourth win in the current cross-country season.
Overnight, a change in the weather created completely new conditions for the second day of the race. The course turned into a slide due to the rain and cool temperatures of only 5°C combined with heavy rainfall caused very difficult conditions. Manfred sadly did not get to “operating temperature” that day.
For a long time he drove in a larger group but in the end he had the least reserves left and had to settle for 6th place. Given his great achievements in the past weeks this place almost seems a bit disappointing. But for Manfred it was always clear that his winning streak cannot last forever, since the other athletes are also in very good shape. Even the 6th place is still a considerable achievement in the quite large national driver field.
On the 3rd and 4th of November, 2018 the MTB-Club Lockenhaus once again organised a cross-country double event following the successful premiere of last year. The first day of the race awaited the participants with a muddy, slippery and therefore extremely demanding route. Chase-teammember Manfred didn’t have any problems with these conditions, since he is an excellent driver.
At the beginning Zsolt Bür from Hungary was able to keep up at the front, but even before the half of the race was over Manfred slowly but unstoppably got to the top. After an hour of racing he had almost a minute ahead of the reigning hungarian champion, the third place went to Gerald Hauer with another minute behind.
The second day of the race the weather was much better. The track had already dried up in the morning and until the start of the main race even the sun came through the fog. This made the circuit a lot easier to drive. The competition itself did not get easier. There were over 50 participants, drivers from a total of five nations were standing at the starting line.
Manfred had a great start and immediately took the lead. With a quick first round he tried from the beginning to force the competitors onto the defensive. This tactic seemed to work, after the first round he was already 10 seconds ahead. In the second round, however, the young Moran Vermeulen from the Tyrol Cycling Team managed to close the gap. Together, the two completed the next round as the lead. Additional tension was given to this duel, as it was not only the day’s victory, but also the overall lead in the ÖRV-ZMS-Cup. In the fourth of the eight laps the exciting bike-to-bike duel was over again. Vermeulen made a minor mistake and his rival took advantage of the opportunity.
Manfred, who cycled from Kirschlag to the racetrack that day as a warm-up program, continued to build up his lead from round to round, winning again at the end. Vermeulen took second place, Carinthia’s former junior-world-champion Robert Gehbauer won the third place.
On the 15th & 16th December 2018, the last austrian cross-country races took place before christmas. On Saturday the SK Voest organised a race at the Oedtsee. Chase-teammember Manfred did not get off to a good start in wintry conditions and light snow on the ground. After the bad start he had to fight hard to get to the top. However, he succeded and from this point he was fully back in the race for victory. The initially large leading group was continuously getting smaller. Three laps to go, there were still three men battling for victory. In the end, Manfred was narrowly beaten but with rank two he got the next podium place!
Just a day later, the international C2 World Ranking Race was on the program at the horse center Stadl-Paura. Manfred’s goal was to be among the top 10. For such a rank in the high-profile international starter field everything has to fit together. Unfortunately that was not the case for Manfred that day. He never really got into his rythm and had to settle for the 16th place with some disappointment.
/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/handcrafted-01-vergrößert-280x300.png00Manfred Zöger/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/handcrafted-01-vergrößert-280x300.pngManfred Zöger2019-07-01 12:55:132019-07-01 13:17:06Cross-country in Traun and Stadl-Paura
At the last austrian race in the calendar year 2018, the two Chase-teammembers Felix Ritzinger and Manfred Zöger ensured a double victory with the Chase mud bikes.
Manfred took over the command right after the start and led the field of riders in the long climb. Behind him, Felix came quickly to the front and at the end of the first lap the two were already ranked 1st and 2nd. This constellation remained throughout the whole race. Felix drove consistent lap times, Manfred was always just a few seconds behind on 2nd place. The rest of the drivers followed within a considerable distance. Therefore, it was a very successful end of the year with two podium places!
/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/handcrafted-01-vergrößert-280x300.png00Manfred Zöger/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/handcrafted-01-vergrößert-280x300.pngManfred Zöger2019-07-01 12:26:092019-07-01 12:29:02Double victory for Chase in Schwarzenbach
The area around the “Seedose” in St. Pölten has been the site of the traditional 3-Könixcross-cross country race for many years.
The competition was also the first official race in the new calendar year. Chase team member Manfred got off to a good start and took the lead from the beginning along with Philipp Heigl. During the race the lead switched several times between the two athletes. On and on, the two set themselves apart from the other pursuers. Approximately at the half of the race Manfred had a small lead, but the few seconds were quickly closed again and so the duo was once again on the road together. The preliminary decision fell only in the second to last round. Manfred changed his bike and at the same time Heigl attacked. That small gap was enough to decide the race. Heigl won the race after 60 minutes, Manfred ranked second. Thus, the new year starts very successfully and exactly as the old one has ended – with a second place!
Völkermarkt and Diex were this year’s venues for the Austrian Mountain National Championship in road cycling. Nearly 100 starters started at the main square of Völkermarkt on August 18th to determine the fastest climber in the country. After 3.5 laps or approx. 60 kilometres around Völkermarkt the final 9-kilometreclimb up to Diex follows. The initial phase of the race was marked by several attacks, but no rider was able to distance himself decisively. Thus, the elite field entered the final climb almost closed. The ascent to Diex has an average gradient of 8%, but mainly includes steeper passages at the beginning and end.
At the foot of the mountain, the pace was immediately picked up at the top and the field broke up into several groups. Chase team rider Manfred managed to stay just behind the leading group and drove a strong race. He completed the climb in about 25′ and was able to catch up another group of drivers shortly before the finish. With the Chase-Up wheels and the Chase seat post he also had optimal material at his disposal to bring his bike as close as possible to the regulated 6.8 kg minimum weight. In the Austrian Championship scoring Manfred just missed the top 10 and finished with a strong 11th place!
On Thursday, February 1st a vernissage with Chase participation took place in Vienna in the Taborstraße near the Augarten.
Christoph Buchegger and Rüdiger Suppin had designed an ingenious bicycle frame out of paper and old surfboard masts and built it completely by themselves.
The result was a carbon bike with one gear, a single speed that weighs exactly 6.66kg. To top it off, they equipped the bike with our Chase wheels. It was a great evening with many interested visitors who had come to the project presentation full of anticipation.
Mid of July – Summer, Sun, Salzkammergut Trophy: For all mountain bikers, this event in Bad Goisern is an annual must. More than 5,000 participants started on one of seven possible distances in the 21st edition of this classic.
Felix was the first rider for the Chase team to enter the competition at 5.00 a.m. – insiders know what this early start time means: 210 kilometres and 7,100 metres of elevation gain, the extreme distance through Salzkammergut! Since for the experienced long-distance athlete such ultra distances are nothing completely unusual anymore, he also showed an accordingly high performance! After 13 hours and 18 minutes he reached the finish line very tired although extremely satisfied.
In the meantime Manfred had also completed his race. He started on the 55 km “All-Mountain”-distance, which contains the most difficult downhills of the region. An extremely exciting course of the race developed on this track. On the last climb, the top group of four fell apart after an attack by the German Simon Gessler, only Manfred could follow the pace. In the final descent and on the last flat kilometres towards the finish, the two rivals even worked together to maintain their advantage on the rest of the competition. The decision had to be made during the sprint and Manfred was unbeatable – he won with a 2 hours and 40 minutes race time, only 1 second ahead of Gessler.
