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This event had never previously been won by a non-American rider… until now!

Alban Lakata, alias “Albanator” completely lived up to his role as pre-race favourite and brilliantly won the legendary “race of races”; the Leadville 100.

Inspired and in superb form following their victory in the Transalp event, the pro duo from the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team Alban and teammate Robert Mennen lined-up together on their Grand Canyon CF SLX 29 team bikes.

The riders had to overcome 100 miles in the Rocky Mountains. A particular challenge in this event is the altitude. From Leadville at an altitude of 3094 meters, the race climbs to the so-called “Columbine Mine”, which lies at an altitude of almost 3800 meters.

We are celebrating Alban’s victory big time and have great mountain bikes for you at knock-down prices.

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The excitement is really hotting up. On Saturday 11th August the mountain bike section of the Olympic Games in London gets underway.
Among the starters is double world champion Irina Kalentieva from the Topeak-Ergon Racing team, who will be lining up for her native Russia on her Canyon mountain bike.

“You can’t afford to be afraid of the course and have to be prepared to really let yourself go and give it everything you’ve got.”
This guiding principle is what has fired Irina Kalentieva to the top of her sport and she has remained one of the fastest women in the world in the Cross-Country-World Cup for several years now.
Irina always gives absolutely everything in the pursuit of her aims. Mountain biking is her number one passion and this is something she is aiming to prove at the Olympic Games in London.

In Irina’s Blog she talks extensively about her preparations and experiences. Accompany Irina in the final hours before her big event.

So get stuck in there Irina and go for gold!

The most prestigious MTB race, the Transalp, is currently taking place in the Alps. The 3 Topeak-Ergon athletes Alban Lakata, Robert Mennen and Sally Bigham are all fighting for overall victory on Canyon bikes.

The 15th instalment of the Craft Bike Transalp, one of the toughest mountain bike stage races, has been up and running since 14th July. The 8-stage race runs right across the Alps from Oberammergau in Bavaria to Riva on Lake Garda in Italy over 618 km and 21166 meters of elevation. Alban Lakata, Robert Mennen and Sally Bigham from the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team and of course Canyon are all in on the action.

At the start of the event the favourites from Topeak-Ergon Racing Team Lakata and Mennen didn’t have luck on their side on the opening 96 km stage from Oberammergau to Imst, losing over 13 minutes due to a technical defect. At the end of the stage the pair was back in 8th overall some 10 minutes down on the leaders.

On stage 2, however, the duo let their rivals know that they hadn’t given up on the overall victory. On the stage from Imst to Ischgl the duo from the Koblenz-based racing team finished two minutes up on the leading duo.

Stage 3 from Ischgl to Nauders also went to the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team. Thus, Robert and Alban were able to celebrate their second stage win on the bounce on their Grand Canyon CF SLX 29 and eat up a further 50 seconds from the advantage of the leading duo.
The 53 km stage from Nauders to Scuol was again a stage where the two riders were able to impress. They won their 3rd stage in a row in a time of 2:15:17.2. Lakata and Mennen were now only around 3 minutes down on leaders Kaufmann/Stoll. On the second climb up the Reschner Alm Lakata and Mennen forced the pace. “We saw that the others were having problems and decided to have a go at them”, said Mennen at the finish. Lakata was also pleased. “Nobody expected that we could claw back so much time on today’s stage. Everything is going well right now and if it stays that way, we can still pick up first place”.

On stage 5 a 4th victory in succession for the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team put even more pressure on the Transalp leaders. Lakata and Mennen won the 69km stage from Scuol in Switzerland to Livigno in Italy in a time of 3:11:15.7. The deficit to the yellow jersey team of Markus Kaufmann and Thomas Stoll was reduced by a further 2 minutes.

The Queen’s stage on Thursday brought the crucial turn in the race and gave Robert and Alban the yellow jersey following a splendid performance. The 106 km stage with 3400 meters of elevation and temperatures of over 30 degrees was the toughest in this year’s Transalp. The top duo from Topeak-Ergon Racing Team had to apply maximum concentration to recover their deficit to the leaders and also to avoid crashing on the downhill stretches. Lakata said after capturing the yellow jersey, “At the moment everything is going great. Now we have a lead of some 28 seconds and we have a couple of shorter stages ahead of us so it’s looking quite good for the overall win”.

In the ladies event Sally Bigham and teammate Milena Landtwing from Team Vaude Centurion won their 6th stage on the trot and are heading for a comfortable victory. The British born rider Bigham and her Swiss side-kick just keep on winning like clockwork! In the general classification Sally and Milena now have a lead of more than 3 hours and can therefore simply potter along and enjoy the views on the remaining 2 stages.

Stage 7 is now underway over 73 km and 3248 meters of elevation from Ponte di Legno to Madonna die Campiglio. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for Alban, Robert, Sally and Milena that they can defend their positions as race leaders and arrive in yellow and pink tomorrow in Riva on Lake Garda.

The seventh stage from the Ponte di Legno to Madonna di Campiglio, the defending champions from Team Stöckli were able to decide for themselves. Alban and Robert came in about 2 minutes later to finish in second place and thus increased their lead to 4:18 minutes to their nearest pursuers.

Milena Landtwing and Sally Bigham continued to ride in a league of their own and also finished the seventh stage on top of the podium.

On stage eight Robert and Alban came in second again and won the general classification of the Transalp 2012. The guys needed a total of 27:35:17:5 hours from Oberammergau/Germany to Lake Garda/Italy on their new Grand Canyon CF SLX 29.

“A win at the Transalp belongs in the Palmares of any good marathon rider. Now it is on mine as well. I am on cloud nine that we were able to achieve this”, said Alban Lakata, who currently is in the form of his life.

Team-mate Robert Mennen was very excited, especially since this has been the German Vice-Champion’s first participation in the Transalp: “I would not have dreamed of this before the start of this eason. The fact that it worked out now is just amazing!”

In the Women classification nobody was able to get the better of Sally Bigham and Milena Landtwing. With a time of 33:18:54.2 hours and 8 stage wins in a row the two ladies rushed to Riva in an impressive manner as the undisputed winners of the general classification.

Alban Lakata has once again demonstrated to everyone what he’s capable of and scooped gold twice and silver once at the Austrian championships.
This shows just how versatile and strong the marathon pro is also in the disciplines of hill climb and cross country.

The weather in Lurnfeld on this weekend in July wasn’t particularly kind to the participants in the marathon. The riders were confronted with single-figure temperatures and rain in the mountains.

Right from the start of the race Alban and Jakob Nimpf were able to open up a gap on the chasing group and consistently build on this. From feed station 4 onwards the marathon world champion of 2010 went into a lone lead and became Austrian champion for the fifth time with a lead of almost seven minutes. Alban was tickle pink about the double victory saying, “The weather on the marathon was very bad. My years of experience probably gave me the decisive edge in the damp conditions and prevented me from getting the hunger knock in the cold. In conditions like that both rider and machine can easily do a wobbler. Fortunately everything went really smoothly in my case”.

The Russian champion from the Topeak-Ergon Racing Team surprised everyone with her victory at the HC-race of the Maremma Cup.

The Topeak-Ergon Racing Team and numerous other European pro teams accepted the invitation of Thomas Frischknecht and SRAM to take part in the Maremma Cup in the Tuscany region of Italy.
Kalentieva, Kurschat and Lakata came from all over Europe to the medieval town of Massa Marittima. Kalentieva interrupted her training camp on Mallorca, Alban Lakata came more or less directly from the Sunshine Cup in Cyprus and Kurschat temporarily shelved his preparations for the coming season in his native Palatinate.
The aim of this early season event was principally to allow the riders to familiarise themselves with the new 2011 race bikes and make any make any necessary minor adjustments in cooperation with the race support team from SRAM.

On Friday evening the current marathon world champion Lakata and the German cross-country champion Kurschat competed in sprint race on a 500m long and twisty town centre course in the picturesque and historic city centre of Massa Marittima, and against a backdrop of booming music. The entire event took place under floodlights and was live on Italian TV. The stamina specialists Lakata and Kurschat both didn’t have the liveliness in their legs to be able to make any impression in the sprint finish.

On Saturday most of the riders’ schedule was taken up with photo shootings, interviews and group rides with journalists and sponsoring partners and the single trail paradise around Massa Marittima provided a truly ideal setting for this.

On Sunday the cross country race provided a suitable finale. At 9.20 in the morning the Elite ladies started their event, which was on a course that had a large proportion of single trails and some of these were very slippery and boggy due to the overnight rain. After a little tumble at the start of the race the first rider to go into the lead was the Frenchwoman Cecile Ravanel, while Kalentieva and the current world champion Wloszczowska were in pursuit just 20 seconds down. The Russian got better from lap to lap and at the end of lap 3 she pulled out all the stops to try and close the gap on Ravanel. Between laps 4 and 6 Irina succeeded in putting herself at the front of the race and quickly opened up a gap of 20 seconds on her pursuers and she was able to hold on to this lead until the finish line. This meant that her first event riding her new carbon hardtail was immediately a victory.
Kalentieva was over the moon after the race saying, “I’m really surprised. I’ve just come from my training camp and haven’t done any extra training for cross-country. I didn’t expect that I could win on such a technically demanding course. This win has given me a massive boost in my preparation for all the other highlights that are coming up this season!”