Yesterday Irish elite mountain bike racers Cait Elliott (UCD) and Richie Felle (Think Bike) competed in the German Bundesliga race in Albstadt. Having experienced considerable success in Ireland, the pair are currently touring Europe to gain international experience for the first time. Ranked UCI Hors Category, this race offered the toughest challenge yet with the standard comparable to a World Cup.

In the ladies race, Irish National Champion Cait got off to a good start and was up to 16th place until a puncture on the 3rd lap forced her to run over 3km to the feed zone, loosing 7 minutes and dropping to 30th. After a quick wheel change she put in a good effort to get back to 25th and into the UCI points, but was lapped by winner Sabine Spitz cutting her race short.

“I was gutted to get the puncture, until then I was feeling really strong. The course was amazing, long steep climbs but really fun technical descents. The 30C heat was hard but 15,000 spectators and an incredible atmosphere helped spur me on.”

Cait is studying on an exchange semester in Liechtenstein and has been competing in the Swiss Racer Bikes Cup where she is ranked 19th in the series.

In the men’s race, the elite riders set out a blistering pace from the gun. Eventually it was Florian Vogel who took the win. Richie had a good gridding in the middle of the pack, but an upset stomach saw him eventually falling behind the 80% limit and being pulled, finishing 45th.

”It was an incredible experience taking part in a Hors Category race. I had a good start gridding (No.48) and fought well at the start. I rode well on the key technical parts but struggled on the sustained gravel climb”

Richie had a far better performance in last weeks ASVO MTB Granprix in Austria UCI 1 where he finished in 38th position.

Next weekend the pair will be joined by fellow Irish riders James McCluskey and Fiola Folley to compete in the Racer Bikes Cup in Winterthur, and Cait the following week in Engelberg. Then it will be back to Ireland for the Nation Championships in July.