Graf and Maurer are overall EKZ Cup winners
Mountain bike pro Martin Gujan and Cup leader Jürg Graf took the lead shortly after the start of the final. "I attacked Gujan on the second lap and got away from him a bit. But Gujan kept getting close to me," says Graf. Ahead of the two leading riders, the Junior Masters, who had started two minutes earlier, fought vehemently to catch up. Gujan sums up the exciting final phase: "Graf attacked again on the last lap, but I was able to counterattack. We narrowly caught up with the leading juniors and masters." Graf finished second, just one bike length behind Gujan. The podium was finally completed by Swiss junior champion Andrin Beeli in third place.
Jürg Graf's overall EKZ Cup victory is now set in stone. "I'm very pleased with how the whole season went. The victory confirms my consistency throughout the year," says Graf happily. "The EKZ Cup has gained in quality and prestige in recent years. In this respect, I am all the more pleased to now be the overall winner of the Cup." With 280 points, Graf clearly wins ahead of Marcel Bartholet, who finishes the Cup with 217 points. The third place overall will be exciting again in the final. Silvio Büsser finally made it onto the podium, beating Patrick Tresch into fourth place overall.Small comeback from Koba
The 2012 Swiss champion Sarah Koba returns from a long injury break. She came out just ahead of Sabrina Baumgartner, who rode the entire EKZ Cup. "I'm not quite in top form yet, but a win like this is good for my self-confidence." Baumgartner is still satisfied with her performance. "It's always nice to have cracks like Koba at the start. It gives you a good performance comparison and today I was on it for a very long time," says Baumgartner. The third woman on the podium in Fischenthal is Pierina Beeli, the sister of Andrin Beeli, who rode to third place in the men's race.
The overall leader Sabrina Maurer will not be taking part in the EKZ Cup final in Fischenthal: "I'm starting the cyclo-cross season on Sunday. As the overall standings have already been decided, I won't be taking part," she explained at the award ceremony. "You have to perform well throughout the season. I managed to do that and that makes me proud," says the winner happily. Sabrina Baumgartner came second overall ahead of Rahel Signer, who came third overall.
Constantly high number of participants
OC President of the EKZ Cup, Heinrich Disch, draws a positive conclusion in Fischenthal: "We were able to record an average of 50 more participants at all seven events. We had large fields of participants everywhere, especially in the youth categories. As young talent is our main focus, we are pleased to be on the right track. But the license categories were also pleasing with many participants and a high standard of racers." Disch also likes the mix of different events. "We have fast and flat races, but also races with a lot of elevation gain. I think we can continue to offer an exciting EKZ Cup for bikers in the future." There are also discussions about incorporating the new, very short Eliminator sprints in order to develop the EKZ Cup even further.
Next Tuesday evening, a six-minute race report will be broadcast on Sport Szene Fernsehen "SSF". The EKZ Cup Magazine at 7.50 pm will summarize the most important aspects of the race in Fischenthal once again. In addition, further exciting video and photo reports will be available on the social media channels from Monday. On September 24 at 7.35 pm, the 24-minute EKZ Cup magazine "Best of 2013" with a summary of the entire season will be broadcast.
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.