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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!
Pics (c) by Ernst Teubenbacher
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.
Pics (c) by Ernst Teubenbacher
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.
The highlight of the cyclo-cross season and the final cross competition was the Austrian championship on January, 7th. The track next to the Traisen river in St.Pölten was quite muddy and due to many narrow curves it turned out being very demanding.
Championship Austria Cyclo-cross St.Pölten, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, Felge, Grenzgasse 111 9/6/6, St. Gabriel, Felix Schneider, Peter Fröhlich, Chase, Manfred Zöger, Felix Ritzinger
Manfred started with some doubts about his physical condition, he had a bad cold during Christmas holidays and therefore had to pause for nine days. In the beginning he was surprised, but he had a good start into this race. After the first round he was in group fighting for position 5. He managed to hold this position for more than the half of the race, there were a lot of tough battles.
Closer to the finish line, the last three rounds Manfred lost his luck. He suffered all in all three punctured wheels, in the exact same place each time.
Thanks to the great and fast work by the Chase support team he succeeded in finishing the competition. Although the very last race was not what Manfred had hoped for, he can look back to a successful cyclo-cross season. In 10 competition participations, he reached the winner’s rostrum for 6 times and even won 3 races supported by Chase-mud rims!
On 4th and 5th November the MTB Club Lockenhaus organised a cross-country race taking place in Burgenland for the first time in a long time. Just a short distance from the Bucklige Welt, the event was so to speak a home race for Manfred. He used the opportunity and was already on site several times the week before for training.
The knowledge of the track has paid off. Manfred was in the lead during the first race on Saturday. For a long time it was an exciting fight between him, Michael Holland and Gerald Hauer. In the last two laps Manfred had the greater potential and so he could celebrate his second victory in cross-country after the race in Ternitz. Felix also showed a strong performance and finished 13th after 1:06 driving time.
The race on Sunday was similar at the beginning. Manfred was in the lead right from the start, his first pursuers were Tom Mair and Gerald Hauer. But even before the half of the race Manfred was able to put himself in the lead. He expanded his lead slowly and continuously. Every round there were a few more seconds. In the end he won by almost one minute, the Czech Jirí Krivanek and the experienced Tom Mair. Felix had to register a small slip and lost thereby a few places. Nevertheless, he finished 18th again in the top 20.
Finally a congratulation to the MTB Club Lockenhaus – it was a more than successful premiere event and the cross-country community would be very happy about a follow-up in the coming year in any case!
The 21st and 22nd of October, two cyclo-cross events in Ternitz took place. Manfred participated in both competetions and showed high performances. From the beginning of the national race at Saturday, he was part of the leading group. This consisted of four cyclists, later reduced to three athletes. Manfred was able to keep this position and maintained all fast acceleration parts. He decided not to cycle in the first position but as second or third cycler. In the round prior to the final round he started to attack – and it was too strong for the opponents. In this round he was the only one who managed to stay on the bike during the uphill part. His combatants had to get off the bike and carry it for some meters. There was a small gap but Manfred did not give away this lead. He strived hard for victory, used all his energie and succeeded to be the first crossing the finish line.
This success was the highlight in this successful season start for the 27-years old cyclist till now. In the first two competitions in Traun and Langenzersdorf, he reached the second place. In his third cross-race he succeeded to win – at the same time it’s the first victory for our Chase Mud-rim.
At Sunday, there was an international race of the C2-world ranking list. Fighting against european elite athletes was a tough challenge for Manfred. Additionally, rain started and conditions got more and more demanding. For his success from the precedent day, Manfred’s legs have already been suffering. He finished as 12th and narrowly missed the Top-10. Nevertheless, with this perfomance he was the best Austrian in the international biker surrounding.
CX Wien Starbike, handcrafted in Austria, carbon, rim, Grenzgasse 111 9/6/6, St. Gabriel, Felix Schneider, Peter Fröhlich, Chase
The much-loved Donauinsel-Crossrace in Vienna was fortunately saved by a joint Crowd-Funding-action.
Nearly 50 competitors took part in this demanding bike-event.
The course was highly attractive and quick.
CX Wien Starbike, handcrafted in Austria, carbon, rim, Grenzgasse 111 9/6/6, St. Gabriel, Felix Schneider, Peter Fröhlich, Chase
The bikers faced fast meadow-passages, slippery incline sections and several steep ramps to run over.
The ChaseUP bike could handle all these demands without any trouble and could therefore proudly demonstrate their ability to easily work under pressure.
CX Wien Starbike, handcrafted in Austria, carbon, rim, Grenzgasse 111 9/6/6, St. Gabriel, Felix Schneider, Peter Fröhlich, Chase
At this point we want to strongly express praise to the organizers for the successful revival of this demanding and fascinating race series!