Tough battle expected at alpine mountain bike race

For Immediate Release January 11, 2010

Kashi Leuchs and Marcus Roy expect a tough battle at the 2010 Alpine Epic mountain bike stage race

Defending champions of the Alpine Epic four-day mountain bike race, Kashi Leuchs and Marcus Roy, expect a fierce fight from the new pairing of Tony Hogg and Mark Williams at the 2010 South Canterbury event.

At the inaugural epic Olympic mountain biker Leuchs, of Dunedin, and Roy, of Invercargill, won four out of the five stages – relinquishing the last stage to Williams, of Queenstown, and Scott Wilder, of Christchurch.

With the notoriously strong Hogg (35) on his side, Williams (36) hopes his Team R&R Sport team can present Roy (25) and Leuchs (31) with a fight in the South Canterbury high country this February.

"It's always great to be able to ride up the front with those guys, so if we have a few good days we will be able to give it a nudge," Williams said.

"Tony's a real strong rider and it will be good to have his speed up there and to see if we can hold onto those guys on some of the longer sections."

Hogg contested his first stage race at the BC Bike Race in Canada recently and finished the seven-day race in third place. The Alpine Epic will be his second race of this type and the endurance expert welcomes the chance to attempt to dethrone Leuchs and Roy.

"We're certainly going to go there and try to beat them – it will be a good wee battle," Hogg said.

"It's my first team race and that dynamic will be a bit different for me, so it will be fun to see what tactics come into play. The main thing will be to make sure we're about the same form level – it certainly wouldn't be any fun being the slow one."

Riding on the newly formed Team Yeticycles.co.nz Leuchs said the team dynamic played an important role in an adventure endurance race like the Alpine Epic.

"The experience from last year really taught us a lot – I think we know the times and places to attack and where to conserve energy. We also have the advantage of having ridden as a team and that will pay dividends," Leuchs said.

Leuchs teammate Roy is excited to have a new team of challengers for 2010.

"Kashi and I will have to fight pretty hard with this strong team to retain the Alpine Epic title for 2010," Roy said.

"Both Willy and Tony are experienced riders at mountain bike stage racing and they race well individually, so they will definitely be a team to keep a very close eye on."

Dubbed the toughest mountain bike race in New Zealand the 2010 Alpine Epic multi-stage mountain bike race will be held from Mt Somers to Lake Tekapo on February 24-27, 2010.

ENDS

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