Langvad wins again in Cyprus; Moorlag surprises in men's race

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The Cyprus Sunshine Cup 2011 ended in Amathous with an expected win by favorite Annika Langvad (Easton Rockets) and with a surprising victory by Henk Jaap Moorlag (Rabobank Giant Offroad Team). Langvad claimed her second victory ahead of Lene Byberg (Specialized Factory Team) and Sabine Spitz (Central Haibike). Moorlag was faster around the course than Irjan Luttenberg (MPL Specialized MTB Team) and Karl Markt (Felt Otztal X-Bionic). Overall Sunshine Cup leaders Blaza Klemencic (Felt Otztal X-Bionic) and Markt were in no danger of losing their orange jerseys.

The women's race provided the same outcome as the first round two weeks ago. Langvad immediately took the lead and rode solo until the end of the race at the ruins of Amathous. She enjoyed warm, sunny conditions and had no problems en route to victory, which she took by one minute.

"I was a little bit tired this morning, like I had a cold," said Langvad. "So I was nervous about how it would go. But at least I was able to show again my current form. I'm very pleased about that."

She added that she would have liked to have had a full suspension bike on the more technical course.

Byberg showed up riding stronger than the previous week - as did Sabine Spitz (Central Haibike). For half the race, Spitz stayed close to Byberg, but the Norwegian created a gap that Spitz couldn't close.

"It was my best day for a long time. I was able to find a good rhythm and to push hard," said runner-up Byberg. "When I saw that Sabine had to let me go, I was riding on my own. I'm really happy that I was feeling so good after last weekend. My shape is coming. It was a good decision to come to Cyprus again. I had two good weeks and this course is good for training."

For a long time, Spitz battled with Klemencic for the final podium spot and during the final lap, she secured the second spot.

"It was a nice race, and I'm satisfied with the result. It was the second time I was on my mountain bike this year, and I saw that I need some more training on my technical skills. But with my physical condition, I'm okay," said Klemencic. "I think I'm on a better level than normally in this part of the year. I cannot compare to my competitors but only to the memories I have in my mind."

Klemencic was able to keep the fourth position despite a charge by Lisa Brandau (Central Haibike) and so secured her first Cyprus Sunshine Cup overall win. Second place went to Anne Terpstra (MPL Specialized).

"I didn't have the legs for the podium today," said Klemencic. "After three weeks on Cyprus I'm very happy to get the overall win. That's a pretty good start to the season."

Men's race

In the men's race, under 23 racer Moorlag showed his talent by taking his first victory outside of his home country. He started pretty fast, joining the Swiss Thomas Litscher (Felt Ötztal X-Bionic) in the lead. Litscher flatted in the first complete lap, and so Moorlag was left alone.

From the beginning I had good legs and I felt like I can do whatever I want to," said Moorlag. "I recognized that I'd been going better day by day, but I never expected to win. It was so easy. It's amazing to ride in front and it was a kind of flow. This victory is good for the team and also good for Dutch mountain biking. We are now at the end of three weeks with good weather and it is a perfect start into the season.

Markt, Emil Lindgren (Rabobank-Giant) and Luttenberg formed the chase group, at 45 seconds.

Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) was missing at the front of the race. A broken pedal had put him out of the race in the very first lap.

It was expected that Markt or Lindgren would be the one to make it into second place, but surprisingly Dutchman Luttenberg took that spot. In the penultimate lap, he got away from Markt and Lindgren, chasing his fellow Dutchman Moorlag who led. Luttenburg couldn't get close to the leader, but he left his contenders behind, earning the second spot on the podium.

"That's a surprise for me," said Luttenburg of his second place. "After a bad season last year (overtraining), I had a lot of good training this winter and now it's put me in good shape. I was starting from the back, but I rode to the front easily. The third lap I thought, 'why don't give it a try?' and it worked."

Markt, wearing the Sunshine Cup leader's jersey, took fight for third place against Lindgren and Fabian Giger (Rabobank-Giant) who earned fourth and fifth respectively.

"I couldn't ride in front today, but the win is in the team," said Lindgren. "I said to Henk-Jaap, if you can follow Litscher then do it. The win is important for the team. We are three in the top five, so everything is fine.

"Henk-Jaap was not to be caught," said Markt. "I tried to catch him, but I was no chance to. I had some problems with my suspension but that didn't make the difference. He was in his own league today."

"I was trying to bring the Sunshine Cup to a good end and third place is good. These two weeks were crazy for me. The weather was super, there were a lot of points and my shape is okay."

Sunshine Cup #3 Full Results

Final Cyprus Sunshine Cup Standings