photos courtesy of gary perkin, flipper.co.zathe third round of the world cup took place in germany this past weekend.the course is one of my favourites as i got my first top 10 ever here 3 years ago.the week started with a huge travel so that we could ride the olympic track so on tuesday i had a proper rest day.no training,lunch pool side and lots of sleep made sure i was energized for the rest of the weeks preperations.
the course was the same as in the last 5 years.it has numerous legendary sections like "the dual track" ."wolf drop and the "snake pit".these are all tied together by some tough climbs with loads of switch backs.in total the course was 6.4km long and we had 7 laps plus one start loop on the cards.
i started on the first row this week but had the last call as to where i wanted to start on it.this meant i had a garden to race through before getting onto any sort of racing line.my starts arent realy my strength and this didnt help.after the start loop i came through in about 20th position and had lots of work to do on the first lap.i was making good ground on the downhills aboard my new stumjumper 29er with on the fly brain fade adjust.a great feature on the long rough sections.as i came through the start/finish i was in 10th just 14 seconds off the lead group.i pushed hard and joined the group at the end of the 2nd lap and we were now 9 riders at the front.i went to the front and tried to set myown pace for a lap.this was good as it allowed me to recover from my bad start somewhat.this was short lived as absalon attacked on lap 3 and made the decisive move.in the end it was absalon setting the pace.jaroslav 30 sec behind with myself and maxime marotte fighting for third over the last two laps.on the last lap i had to concede and rode home in 4th.a good day for me and a big confidence builder.im getting back to full health and feel faster everyweek.
this week i head to zurich for a swisscup with cherise before tackling the stairs of prague next week.
cheers
burry
