Last weekend, various athletes of SRSUNTOUR’s WERX program competed in Fort William, Scotland. No less than three riders with AXON WERX carbon forks made it to the semifinals of the second round of the «4X Pro Tour», and Mike Schär from team Gates-Nicolai debuted the RUX double crown fork in the downhill worldcup.
After the UCI’s controversial decision to axe the 4X worldcup as per 2012, the «4X Euro Series» and then the «4X Pro Tour» have been set up to offer an international series for this spectacular format. SRSUNTOUR has been heavily involved in the 4X sport for years, and this has been rewarded with Roger Rinderknecht’s world champion title last September. While Rinderknecht has retired, SRSUNTOUR still has some very fast riders using their forks in 4X, and this showed in Fort William.
No less than three riders from SRSUNTOUR’s WERX program made it to the men’s semifinals in Scotland. Frenchman Quentin Derbier could not make it to the big final, but by winning the small final he finished the second round of the «4X Pro Tour» in 5th. His team mate David Graf and Austrian Hannes Slavik made it to the big final where they raced against two former world champions from the Czech Republic. Hannes Slavik was not fast enough at the gate and had to settle for 4th. Graf gave Tomas Slavik a run for his money from the gate, pushing hard for two thirds of the course. On the final stretch, he gave up and got outsprinted by Michal Prokop to finish in 3rd.
For 2013, the UCI has decided to upgrade the junior’s category in the downhill worldcup, and this has proven to be a success right from the start. 42 junior riders made the split for Sunday’s main race, and young Swiss rider Mike Schär was one of them. Team Gates-Nicolai’s youngster debuted SRSUNTOUR’s RUX double crown fork in worldcup racing. While his compatriot Noel Niederberger scored the win on the demanding course in Scotland’s highlands, the reigning Swiss under17 champion had to settle for 30th place. But Mike knows what to do to improve on that result in a week’s time at Val di Sole.
