.

the brand new venue on this years world cup calendar welcomed us with some pretty awesome hospitality.the organisation was serious and so were the fans.not only where they there to get behind their local hero jaroslav but they were also super supportive of every rider out there.

the course was also a highlight.it was super rooty the whole way round with some steep climbs and big rocks thrown in for good measure.at only 4.2km and loads of turns it made for a great spectacle.

i had a pretty smooth trip over from sa and had a good week leading up to the race.i was onboard my trustee specialized epic 29er and i was feeling solid on the track.

we kicked of at 2pm on sunday with a very long start lap.i had a good pull and was sitting in around 5th-10th and moving up ahead of the first singletrack.unfortunately tow guys hit the deck right infront of me forcing me to stop and get passed by 10 riders.i didnt panic and was soon back into a good rythm.meanwhile jaroslav had already attacked off the front and was opening up a lead.

on the first full lap i pulled back some good places and got into a group that was fighting for 5th through 13th.on the second lap i got past these guys mid way through and feeling comfortable whilst moving cloaser towards the top 3.at the end of this lap however i made a slight mistake and ended up dropping my chain.it got alittle stuck and meant i was in 12th after i got it going again.i was still focussed and started moving up yet again until i got some bad signs midway through lap 3.my body started to shut down and there wasnt anything i could do.i limped home the rest of the race and just tried to stay as high up as i could eventualy ending in 19th.

ive been trying to figure out what happened and still have no clue.atleast i have a shot at redeeming myslef this weekend before we head to the world championships in two weeks time.




jara had the support and delivered on his 2012 epic 29er!


no 1 team !