Monster Energy/ Specialized: Leogang World Cup
June 13th, 2011
By Factory Jackson in Features
Leogang, Austria- The Leogang, Austria stop on the 2011 World Cup brought everything from blazing sunshine to pouring rain as the Monster Energy Specialized team continued it’s first European trip of the race season. Defending World Champion Sam Hill (AUS) was back on the podium with a 5th place finish, while Junior World Champion Troy Brosnan (AUS) was 15th after a small crash, only 4 seconds off of the podium!
Hill described the track here as “easier than Schladming” earlier in the week, but that changed when the rain came and went. As soon as the sun came out the track turned to peanut butter, making many of the upper corners complete mud bogs with massive holes hiding in them. Brosnan went down once in his race run, impressive considering his result.
Brosnan was pumped on this week’s progress.” I felt amazing! I just had a smooth run, solid. I didn’t ride over my head or anything. I got pretty confident after the pedalling and felt strong. A couple of turns after that I slid out and had a fumble but I got back on an went as fast as I could and got 15th. I tried to hold it open in the bottom section to make up some time. I’m learning from it and going into the next round at Mont Ste Anne [Canada] and smash that one out with better style. I can’t complain, 15th with a crash! I know I have speed and it’s up there. It’s all about making it count.”
Hill was less than pleased with his result, but happy to be back on the podium. ” I’m definitely happy to be back on the podium. It’s not exactly where I want to be, but I have some work to do. I’m going to go home and put in some hard weeks and keep progressing to the top step again. I got down in one piece, had a few wild moments…I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like I’ve been riding as good as I normally do and just not getting the positions I want. I’ll keep fighting for it. I just have to go faster everywhere from the start to the finish.
Brendan Fairclough (GBR) is still recovering from a knee injury sustained in South Africa, but ended up in 31st place. Fairclough was disappointed with his result, but happy to be back in the finals and getting things back on track. “My run was ok, I didn’t make any big mistakes. I just stayed on my bike and had a really lousy time…I just kind of got down the hill. I just need to be faster. I felt fatigued and unfit. I’m back on my bike, so it’s all good.”
All 3 rider’s chose to use cut down Specialized Storm tires in their final runs.
Stay tuned as the next round for the team will be in Mont Ste Anne, Canada; a venue that has always treated Monster Energy racers well!
We’d like to thank the following companies for their continued support: Monster Energy, Specialized Bicycles, Mad Catz, SRAM, Truvativ, Rock Shox, Avid, DT Swiss, SDG, Renthal, Troy Lee Designs, Maxima, Cane Creek, e-thirteen, Five Ten, Alligator, Obtainium, Freestyle, Kicker, KMC.
Follow the team at-
www.monsterenergy-specialized.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Monster-Energy-Specialized/47883628905
http://twitter.com/#!/Monster_MTB