First Race – First Win!

Andora, Italy. We haven’t had to wait long for the first victory of the 2021 racing season. Lars Forster took the first opportunity to show he is determined to leave his mark at the “Mini World Cup” season on the Ligurian coast.

Things have been coming together very smoothly for the SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team at the very first stop in Italy on the weekend. Both Lars Forster and Andri Frischknecht were excited about being between the race tape again, and the staff enjoyed the rising racing tension and emotions coming along with it. With the team’s paddock located right by the sea in the sailing harbor, there was not much more to ask for these days. Even though the excellently organized race was held with a comprehensive safety concept to meet local measurements in place, it still felt like a Dolce Vita weekend. For the team, this was quite a step back to normality and a proper racing season in 2021.

Race with a view – Andora, Liguria
Photo: Michele Mondini

As the whole cross country szene is in the start block for racing, but only few countries start having events again, the first round of the Internazionali d’Italia turned out to be a highly competitive affair. Very few of the top stars were missing. Nino, who preferred to focus on a later start of the season, was one of them. Everything was set for a proper race weekend.

Lars in action, proofing he’s in excellent shape
Photos: Michele Mondini, EgoPromotion

It didn’t take long for the top names in the field to form a larger leading group of nine riders. The French armada with Bagnoles winner Koretzky, World Champion, Sarrou, Carod and Marotte, as well as Dutch Vader and local Gerhard Kerschbaumer to name a few. Lars barely made the cut, but soon was seen at the very front of the race. Joker Lars was looking strong and confident all through the race until he attacked hard on the climb with one and a half laps to go, which proved to be no joke.

The 10 seconds he gained over the followers with Milan Vader, Gerhard Kerschbaumer and Victor Koretzky he managed to bring safely to the finish line. He mentioned having good legs and he really liked the technical course with a big amount of single track. However even Lars stated after the race the final half lap was getting super hard..

Kate Courtney – The “Kate Epic”

While Nino, Lars and Andri head to South Africa for training camp in the coming days, Kate Courtney is on her own program until she joins the rest of the team at the beginning of April. She’s busy with her own event – the Kate Epic!

It’s a self-organized week of hard and long training where she gets joined by sparring partners. Tough and fun at the same time. Typically Kate!

We are really looking forward to being re-united with the whole team together and going step by step back to normality.

2021 – New Partners

With the start of the new racing season, the SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team is proud to present some new partners of the team.

AXXIOS Technology

To take the bike tuning to the next level, AXXIOS vibration sensors help us to get our bikes not only smoother but more importantly, also faster. The system is based on various physical principles, such as the electrostatic and electromagnetic laws, charge shifts, energetic conversion, and influence on the material itself.
https://axxios-tech.com

swissbiomechanics

The Swiss-based specialist in biomechanics not only helps us with very scientific bike fittings but also customizes our insoles and shoes for best comfort and performance.
https://www.swissbiomechanics.ch/

Pro Tent

Our brand new paddock is made by Pro- Tent, Switzerland. Professional folding tents of high Swiss quality perfectly suiting our needs as a racing pavilion and team tent.
https://www.pro-tent.ch/

We appreciate working with the world’s best brands and suppliers.
Here’s the complete list of our partners:
https://scott-sram.com/partners/