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For the 24th time Krumbach and the Bucklige Welt was the scene of the Bike the Bugles MTB Marathon. Just in time for the race weekend, after weeks of midsummer weather, there was a sudden fall in temperature. On the day before the event there was a lot of rain and on the race day itself the temperatures were clearly in the single digits, in addition there was continuous rain. But the real bikers could not be stopped by that.

Chase-teamrider Manfred started as defending champion on the classic distance. He was part of the leading group from the very beginning and was able to stand out from the rest of the drivers in the first third together with Philipp Wetzelberger and Andreas Waldmann.

On a short uphill running passage towards Hutwisch a first preliminary decision was made. Manfred was able to open up a small gap of a few seconds. Although he didn’t push the pace any further, but kept the rythm, his fellow competitors couldn’t close the hole anymore. On the contrary: Although Manfred didn’t attack and wasn’t at his limit yet, the gap got bigger and bigger.

The experienced athlete didn’t want to miss this chance: When he noticed that his competitors were getting weaker, he used the opportunity accordingly. He increased his speed and continued to extend his lead. At the finish line he could celebrate his third ‘Bike the Bugles’ victory in a row with a time of 3 hours and 13 minutes and was very surprised himself by this fabulous time in these difficult conditions.

Results

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

On December 8th and 9th the ARBÖ RC Pernitz organised two races within the ÖRV-ZMS-cross-country-cup 2018/19.

On saturday chase-teamrider Manfred proved that he is one of the best local crossers this season.
From the beginning he was at the top together with street professional Andi Hofer, from the half of the race on he took the lead alone and didn’t let it be taken anymore. He celebrated his 7th victory in the current cross-country season. Felix Ritzinger won the 4th place in his first race of the season.

During the night it rained heavily and so the track turned into an extremely demanding circuit for the second race on sunday. Soon after the start a leading group consisting of Manfred Zöger, Robert Gehbauer, Felix Ritzinger and Philipp Heigl formed. The lead changed several times and the race remained extremely exciting until the very end. Philipp Heigl won the race, but Felix Ritzinger and Manfred Zöger were very close behind, Robert Gehbauer got the 4th place. Chase’s technical director Felix Schneider also took part in the race and occupied the remarkable 21st place in the national starting field.

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.