Trek World Racing Opens World Cup Campaign With a Swag of Top Tens

Trek World Racing proved to be the strongest multi discipline team on the World Cup circuit today when the team's elite men raced the cross country finishing 8th, 10th and 20th, following on from the downhill results in the semi final yesterday of 1st, 6th and 10th. Lukas Flueckiger lead the charge today spending the entire 2 hour race in the top 10, at one point as high as 6th, and eventually battling with Roel Paulissen (BEL) for 8th, a battle Lukas won. Younger brother Mathias rose steadily in the field from start position 35, to finish his 2nd best result in World Cup racing, a 10th. Liam Killeen who has recently been overcoming a severe back injury, had his first top level race in 7 months, and spent the entire time in the top 20, as high as 16th, but losing a couple of positions on the last lap to finish 20th. The weather conditions today were brutally hot and very humid; conditions that most riders found to be very uncomfortable. All TWR riders found the super steep course very tough on their backs. A field of more than 120 took to the start and early into lap one a crash brought down a number riders. All of TWR's riders avoided the chaos and began their 7 laps of the Pietermaritzburg track, none of them leaving the top 20. Lukas was with the lead group of 6 early on but settled into his own rhythm on lap 3 and in the final 2 laps, pushed up from 10th to 8th. From lap 2, Mathias climbed from 15th to 10th and at one point was on his brother's rear wheel, but the gap between the two TWR riders widened in the final lap and a half. Liam's race was relatively uneventful except for a slow lap mid race which cost him some places, but steady lap times in the final half of the race ensured a top 20 result. Lukas Flueckiger said: "Normally I really suffer in this kind of conditions. It was super hot today and the humidity made it hard to breathe. Today we ran the 9.9 Elite Hardails because of the climbing and tight corners, and the bike was superfast and responsive. I'm so happy to start the season with a top 10 result. Last year I started with a 38th place, so this gives me a great opportunity to build throughout the season." Mathias Flueckiger said: "I had some luck at the start of the race because I didn't get caught up in the crash. After that I found my rhythm and started to feel quite good. The legs were good, but it was tough to breathe in this humidity. I'm really happy to be 10th, and to get 2nd in the Under 23 and stand on my first podium for my new team. I'm looking forward to racing back in Europe after a great 3 weeks in South Africa." Liam Killeen said: "Just 4 weeks ago I wasn't able to ride off road, so I'm happy that my back is showing good recovery signs and that I'm already able to race at top 20 pace. I expect things will only get better from here for me, and I'm happy to see all of us up there today." Trek World Racing is currently placed 3rd in the team ranking, ahead of powerhouse teams such as Orbea and Swisspower. Yesterday saw the qualifying in the Downhill, and the first awarding of World Cup points for the season. Tracy Moseley blitzed the field bringing her new team Trek Session 88 to the line close to 9 seconds faster than any other woman, and claiming the 50 World Cup points for the win. Justin Leov finished 6th in his run, improving 3 seconds over the race final from the previous week, and only 0.35 seconds from a target top 5 position. Andrew Neethling was 4th fastest to the first split, but a couple of small errors, and misjudging his pedaling towards the bottom section of the course, cost him a precious second or two, but a solid 10th scored some important points for the season. It's been a big week for the team with the official media launch on Wednesday night, as well as the launch of the team's website, found here: www.trekbikes.com Photo: Mathias Flueckiger, on his way to the team's first podium. Photo Credit: Flipper