The Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge in Malaysia is the best-endowed mountain bike race in the world with prize money of over 150,000 US dollars. The elite women and elite men come off almost equally well with a total of 48,500 and 50,000 US dollars respectively. Nicola Rohrbach secures a first, small slice of this "cake" in the prologue. In this race, which is held as a 2.4-kilometer individual time trial, the Swiss rider rides the fastest time.

His lead over the Dane Sebastian Fini Cartensen is, however, very narrow at two tenths of a second. A good two seconds behind is the Czech Michal Lami. Fabian Giger, who won the Langkawi Challenge in 2012, finished eighth in the opening race. Seven seconds behind Giger, who feels in good shape, all options are still open in the overall classification. Daniel Eymann is also within striking distance, eleven seconds behind.

Schneitter back on the podium
After a difficult racing season, Nathalie Schneitter is competing in the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge for the third time - with success. Six seconds behind her victorious team colleague Eva Lechner (ITA), Schneitter took third place. Behind her, Tanja Zakelj, the overall World Cup winner in 2013, came fourth.

The first stage, starting and finishing at Lagenda Park, will see the athletes ride a 65-kilometer loop around the island.

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