Klemencic joins Slovenian Calcit Bike Team

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After two top-five finishes at cross country World Cup rounds this season and a 10th at the world championships, 32-year-old Blaza Klemencic will transfer to the Calcit Bike Team for 2013.

Klemencic wrapped up the 2012 season ranked by the UCI as the 11th best female cross country racer in the world. She also concluded her fourth season racing for teams sponsored by Felt Bicycles. Her current team, the Felt Ötztal X-Bionic Team, will not continue in 2013.

The Calcit Bike Team is based in Slovenia. The nation's largest endurance-oriented mountain bike club will register as UCI mountain bike team for the first time in 2013.

"This suits me. We made a good deal, and I'm happy to be on a Slovenian team," said Klemencic. "Slovenian fans made me feel great at this year's Worlds in Austria. I also live close to the team's headquarters in Kamnik, so I will be able to really become a part of what they do, including their junior programme."

Klemencic's coach and partner Robert Pintaric, who was the director of the Felt Ötztal X-Bionic Team, said, "We wanted to slow down after all these years. For the past three years, I've been very busy with the team and did not have so much time to concentrate on Blaza."

In 2012, Blaza also won the Slovenian cross country national championships and was named the Slovenian Female Cyclist of the Year by the Slovenian Federation.

On the Calcit Bike Team's UCI squad, Klemencic will be joined by U23 male rider Urban Ferencak and Rok Korosec.  The team's title sponsor, Calcit, is a calcium carbonate fillers manufacturer, based near Kamnik. Calcit also supports volleyball, bowling, swimming and triathlon teams.