For the fourth time, the Langkawi Mountain Bike Challenge invited to the idyllic small peninsula of Langkawi. The multi-day marathon race began yesterday, Monday, with the 2,4-kilometer prologue.
In the women's race, it was Eva Lechner from Colnago-Südtirol with a time of 5:36 minutes, relegating Specialized rider Lea Davison to second place by five seconds. Nathalie Schneitter, Lechner's teammate, needed seven tenths more than Davison and finished the prologue in third place.
Despite a bad night, Maxime Marotte was able to win the first stage with a lead of 1,4 seconds. Nicola Rohrbach set the second fastest time ahead of Emil Lindgren.
For Hafjell's XCE World Cup winner, Simon Gegenheimer, the 2,4 kilometers were a bit too long. He finished fifth behind Rourke Croeser.
The first real day of racing demanded everything from the drivers right from the start.
Adelheid Morath, Eva Lechner and Blaza Klemencic followed the two leaders Maja Wloszczowska and Lea Davison throughout the stage. However, both took a wrong turn and lost several kilometers, so that the trio distributed the places among themselves in an exciting sprint.
"I'm happy that I won the sprint but not the stage win. The race was very tactical, with many flat sections. I don't like that very much", Morath.
Thomas Giger, who just a few days ago set the world record for the most climbed meters in one day, had a pitch-black day on the first day of the Langkawi MTB Challenge. He needs three hoses to fix a defect and loses the connection on the first day. Meanwhile, Emil Lindgren, Maxime Marotte and Kohei Yamamoto drove to the finish together. In the end, the Swede Lindgren secured victory, but did not manage to take over the overall standings.
//Overall ranking men
1. Maxime Marotte (BH Sr Suntour) 2:24:43
2. Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC Team) 0:00:03
3. Kohei Yamamoto (Specialized Racing) 0:00:08
4. Kristian Hynek (Corratec) 0:01:14
5. Nicola Rohrbach (Stöckli) 0:03:04
// Overall ranking women
1. Eva Lechner (Colnago South Tyrol) 2:52:41
2. Lea Davison (Specialized Racing) 0:00:06
3. Maja Wloszczowska (Giant) 0:00:10
4. Blaza Klemencic (Calort) 0:00:15
5. Adelheid Morath (Sabine Spitz Haibike) 0:00:48