European MTB battle of the nations: Czech Republic takes first win

There was much fast and furious cycling on the first day of the European MTBO Championships, being held in Strzelin, Poland. The Mixed Relay ended with victory for the Czech Republic over their close rivals Russia, with Finland third.

The first leg, the women’s, was won by Denmark’s Camilla Søgaard. She came to the change-over 13 seconds ahead of the Czech rider Veronika Kubinova, with Marika Hara, Finland in third place. From here the Czechs took over, second-leg rider Vojtech Ludvik recording the fastest time on the leg. Valeriy Gluhov, Russia pulled his team up from fourth to second on this leg, and he handed over to Anton Foliforov who was then the fastest overall on leg 3, but that was not enough to catch Krystof Bogar who brought the Czech team home with a winning lead of 1.14. Finland’s experienced team finished 2.55 down.

Tomorrow it is the individual Sprint.

Leading results – Mixed Relay

  1. Czech Republic (Veronika Kubinova, Vojtech Ludvik, Krystof Bogar) 1:55:31
  2. Russia (Anastasiya Svir, Valeriy Gluhov, Anton Foliforov) 1:56:45
  3. Finland (Marika Hara, Jussi Laurila, Pekka Niemi) 1:58:26
  4. Switzerland 2:01:21
  5. Denmark 2:01:50
  6. Sweden 2:02:46