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GT News: GT Bicycles UCI World Cup Report

5/4/2009

After a three week break, the 4-Cross World Cup series picked back up in Houffalize, Belgium.  The 4-Cross is a new event for this World Cup venue that has a history of providing exciting racing, and Houffalize did not disappoint, with numerous lead changes and crashes. GT Bicycles’ Swiss-connection Roger Rinderknecht came to Houffalize with plans to add to his podium finish in South Africa. 
 
 
With courses wide open turns meant that the term 'hole shot' meant less than usual. There were numerous crashes showing that many were taking chances as there was no one line, which made it very hard to protect a lead. Roger is not only a strong and skilled racer but is very wily putting him where he needs to be in critical situations. Roger’s track smarts would come into play as he would go up against one of the largest professional fields ever in a 4X event with over 60 competitors.
 
 
Qualifying usually is usually a tell-tell sign of what to expect for the finals and Roger put in a solid run qualifying in second behind current UCI 4X World Cup points leader Jared Graves. Roger would have to keep up his good gates and high speeds all through the finals to put him into the main event and that he did. Fatigue would not be the only factor going into the Big Final as the sun had already set and it was dark. A last ditch effort was made with makeshift lighting set up down the course which made for poor visibility. Roger raced his way through the shadows of the Belgian hillside to a 3rd place putting him in the number two spot in the overall UCI 4X standings.
 
 
Roger will now prepare for the third round of the UCI 4X series which will be held in Vallnord Andorra on May 16th. Check back for updates on the Roger and the rest GT Bicycles professional MTB team after the UCI World Cup in Andorra. 
 
 

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