Stander and Schneitter live up to top rankings in Stage 1 of LIMBC

LANGKAWI: South African Burry Stander and Swiss Nathalie Schneitter lived up to their top rankings as they won the men’s and women’s Stage 1 cross country marathon respectively on the first day of the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) yesterday.

Swiss Nathalie Schneitter won the women’s event.

Stander outsprinted Germany’s Karl Platt of Team Bulls in a dramatic tussle between the top two riders in the peloton, clocking 2:24.20.5 at the Langkawi Stadium.
Platt was just a fraction slower at 2:24.20.8 while his French team-mate and former European champion Thomas Dietsch was third in 2:26.12.2.
“The first hour of the race was quite a struggle for me as I was still feeling jet-lagged and I was also trying to cope with the weather,” said world No. 6 Stander, who bagged the African championship and South African national championship earlier this year.

“But it was an interesting race on an interesting course.

“To be able to win Stage 1 was a wonderful feeling indeed.”

Malaysia’s top finisher was former road cyclist Fauzan Lutfi, who clocked 2:50.03.2 to finish 25th.

South Africa’s Burry Stander celebrating after winning Stage 1 of the Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge Tuesday.

It was a good day at the office for Team Colnago Fabre Sudtirol as world No. 8 cross country cyclist Schneitter led the team to a one-two finish ahead of team-mate Vivienne Meyer in the women’s event.
“It’s always great to win ... and getting a 1-2 finish was really a dream start,” said Schneitter.
The LIMBC features five stages. Stage 2 will be a cross country Olympic standard race which starts and finishes at Kampung Tok Senik Resort.

From the star

AL :-

Its a great event..