The Jeep® King of the Mountain (
www.jeepsports.com) Series, the most prestigious event in professional mountain bike racing, today announced that Swiss racer Roger Rinderknecht will replace former World Champion, Wade Bootes, as the final participant at the grand finale of the 2006 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships, set for Sept. 3 in Beaver Creek, Colo.
The Jeep King of the Mountain Series features 16 of the world’s top riders competing head-to-head to capture the coveted title of World Professional Champion, as well as a record $100,000, cash purse and the keys to a new 2007 Jeep Compass. Each race of the 2006 season, including earlier stops in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Elkhart Lake, Wis., is televised to a national audience on CBS Sports, representing the most expansive coverage of professional mountain bike racing in recent history. The race from Beaver Creek will air on CBS Sports on Oct. 8 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. EST.
Bootes, the 2004 Jeep King of the Mountain World Professional Champion and runner-up in 2005, suffered a broken collarbone at the UCI Mountain Biking World Championships in Rotorua, New Zealand. Rinderknecht, a 25-year-old phenom from Aigle, Switzerland who fought to a second place finish in the World Championships, received the invitation to replace the Australian veteran. In a bit of irony, Rinderknecht will now receive an unexpected second shot at Michael Prokop of the Czech Republic, who went on to win the World Championship in New Zealand and will be at Beaver Creek seeking to defend his 2005 Jeep King of the Mountain World Professional Championship.
Heading into the grand finale, Prokop stands in first place in the Jeep King of the Mountain Series, having swept the first two races to go along with his World Cup Championship, European Championship and National Championship in 2006. Trailing him and tied for second place are Brian Lopes of San Clemente, Calif., a three-time World Champion, five-time World Cup Champion and nine-time National Champion and Eric Carter of Temecula, Calif., the 2005 and 2006 USA Cycling Mountain-Cross National Champion. Also in the hunt are former World Champion Mike King of San Diego, and Brian Schmith of Lancaster, Calif., a NORBA Nationals and World Cup medalist. Two additional open qualifiers will look to play spoiler in the competition, including Jared Rando of Australia, a NORBA mountain-cross champion and Australian Dual Champion and Chris DelBosco of Vail, Colo., who this year won the Blast at the Mass in Snowmass, Colo.
In the women’s competition, fellow defending Jeep King of the Mountain World Professional Champion Jill Kitner of Seattle, Wash., holds the top spot. The young standout has also won four of five World Cup titles this year, as well as the U.S. National Championship, BMX Australian National Championship and Australian Mountain Bike National Championship. Behind her, in a two-way tie for second place, sits Melissa Buhl of Chandler, Ariz., ranked fifth in the world and the 2005 NORBA Downhill Champion, and Corona, Calif.’s Tara Llanes, the 2006 USA Cycling Downhill National Champion who currently ranks third in the UCI World Cup standings. Rounding out the standings are Katrina Miller of Australia, the 2004 JKOM World Professional Champion currently ranked second in the world, Fionn Griffiths of Great Britain, a three-time World Cup Champion and five-time UK National Champion, and Anneke Beerten of The Netherlands, the 2006 Sea Otter Classic runner-up and JKOM event titlists in 2005. Joining the women’s roster as open qualifiers are Bobbi Kae Watt of Broomfield, Colo., a former Sea Otter Classic Champion and Mountain States Classic titlist, and Jessica Vogt of Boulder, Colo., who finished second overall in the 2006 NORBA Nationals Series and won the Downhill and Mountain Cross Collegiate National Championship in 2005.
The athletes at Beaver Creek will be competing on an innovative Y-cross racecourse exclusive to the Jeep King of the Mountain Series. The course at Beaver Creek has been designed by Lopes in one of the industry’s first examples of competitor-inspired design. Lopes used his 17 years of racing experience to create a layout that offers both parallel giant slalom and mountain cross racing elements, as well as a number of features such as banked turns, tabletops, step-down jumps and rollers.
The Jeep King of the Mountain was established in 1993. Jeep is the title sponsor for the Jeep King of the Mountain Series. The Mountain Biking World Professional Championships are the sister competition to wintertime’s Jeep King of the Mountain Skiing & Snowboarding World Professional Championships. Other marketing partners include Columbia Sportswear Company, Edge ActiveCare, Giant, John Paul Mitchell Systems, Michelin, Mopar and Nalgene. During each race of the World Professional Championships, the athletes will be competing for the right to don the John Paul Mitchell Systems leaders jersey, as well as the accompanying bonus points associated with this honor. Prokop and Kintner, based on their wins in San Luis Obispo and Elkhart Lake, will be sporting the distinct black jerseys at Beaver Creek.
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