Frendo wins Crocodile Trophy
Hessens victorious in women's overall
For the first time in eight years, an Australian won the Crocodile Trophy. Mark Frendo conquered the oldest and hardest mountain bike stage race in the world and after nine days, 900km and more than 15,000m of elevation. He finished the epic affair in 30:40:17, 12:26 ahead of the Canadian Cory Wallace and 50:41 ahead of Jiri Krivanek from the Czech Republic. Fellow Australian Paul Mashford was fourth and today's stage winner Josef Benetseder finished the 19th Crocodile Trophy in fifth place. Liesbeth Hessens – the fastest woman - finished 21st in the overall classification and took the women's victory ahead of the Italian racers Giordana Sordi and Maria Cristina Prati.
The 19th Crocodile Trophy finished on Sunday on Cooktown's Grassy Hill. The oldest mountain bike stage race in the world had started last Saturday in Cairns and took riders across the Atherton Tablelands to historic mining towns deep in the Australian Outback. The race tracks throughout the nine-day event included singletrack in Smithfield, marathon races through race forests, across Outback Highways and rough mining trails as well as a time trial stage on day seven. Sandy terrain, corrugated roads, narrow and flowy singletrack, gruelling climbs and fast descends – the Crocodile Trophy showcased the best mountain bike trails that Far North Queensland has to offer.
"I'm so happy, it hasn't set in really yet. But it's a big achievement for me, and I'm proud to have claimed a win for Australia after such a long time," said a relieved Frendo at the finish line. He is the first Australian Crocodile Trophy winner since Adam Hansen in 2004 and 2005.
The 28-year old had to defend his early race lead over the past few days against none other that the Canadian marathon national champion and Mongolia Challenge winner Cory Wallace, who finished with a gap of more than 12 minutes. He was motivated now to keep racing more, but it was still too early to say if he would be at the start next year.
"I'll be back for sure," Wallace promised instead. "This race is just too much fun. Next year, I'll bring more Canadians – they will love this versatile race track!"
Krivanek finished in third in the overall classification and was happy with his performance. "I'll be back 100% next year as well," the Czech rider agreed with Wallace.
The final stage was won in a finish sprint on the 30% gradient climb to the top of Grassy Hill, again by the Austrian Benetseder. "Today was a tough one – I could almost not get away from Frendo. He still attacked on the last 200m before the finish, but I managed to get ahead again," said Benetseder who had won the Cooktown stage last year and had been keen to repeat his result.
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Josef Benetseder (Aut) Team Eybl | 1:44:55 |
2 | Mark Frendo (Aus) | 0:00:17 |
3 | Jiri Krivanek (Cze) Prestige | 0:00:29 |
4 | Cory Wallace (Can) Kona-MBC | 0:00:48 |
5 | Steve Rankine (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 0:01:04 |
6 | Adam Cobain (Aus) Amy Gillet Foundation | 0:01:15 |
7 | Paul Mashford (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 0:01:27 |
8 | Bart Duraj (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 0:01:55 |
9 | Matthew Page (GBr) A Cycling/Pivot | 0:02:02 |
10 | Bevan Spratt (NZl) | 0:02:12 |
11 | Patrick Schörkmayer (Aut) Team-Beniva | 0:03:47 |
12 | Alessandro Bianchi Perugini (Ita) asd s.martino emmedue bikepoint | 0:22:02 |
DNF | Wolfgang Krenn (Aut) Zwillingscraft Stevens - SC Knauf Liezen | Row 12 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jan Fojtik (Cze) Symbio+ Giant | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Sander Cordeel (Bel) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Liesbeth Hessens (Bel) | 1:51:46 |
2 | Anne-Mette Mortensen (Den) Team Fit 4 Run | 0:14:35 |
3 | Maria Cristina (Ita) GS Cicli Matteoni FRW | 0:14:58 |
4 | Giordana Sordi (Ita) SKYsport-Italy | 0:17:34 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mario Färberböck (Aut) Bikepalast.com | 1:45:51 |
2 | Kristof Schrauwen (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 0:01:21 |
3 | Huub Tankink (Ned) GT-YellowWings Racing | 0:02:08 |
4 | Andreas Ueberrhein (Ger) Mountainbike-Freiburg | 0:02:35 |
5 | Matthew Moroney (Aus) | 0:06:20 |
6 | Martin Wisata (Aut) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 0:11:29 |
7 | Kurt Hannes (Bel) | 0:16:04 |
8 | Jürgen Hofer (Aut) | 0:19:04 |
9 | Johan Schrauwen (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 0:20:49 |
10 | Bart Couckuyt (Bel) | 0:23:42 |
11 | Vincent Baert (Bel) One life. Live it! | 0:24:19 |
12 | David Vermander (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 0:36:53 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Peter Mühl (Aut) | 1:46:40 |
2 | Hans Planckaert (Bel) Smart Cycling Team | 0:00:32 |
3 | Hamish Morrin (NZl) | 0:00:45 |
4 | Steve Bunton (NZl) Cervo Rosso / Flat Out Forty | 0:07:09 |
5 | Robert Waters (GBr) | 0:07:42 |
6 | Dennis Valerius (Ned) Jobkitchen.be | 0:10:41 |
7 | Andy Tubbs (USA) andy tubbs | 0:13:04 |
8 | Phil Welch (GBr) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 0:21:33 |
9 | Giovanni Montini (Ita) SKYsport-Italy | 0:22:39 |
10 | Kurt Alderweireldt (Bel) | 0:22:45 |
11 | Kristof Roelandts (Bel) One life. Live it! | 0:23:30 |
12 | Christian Wenger (Aut) bikepalast | 0:23:55 |
13 | Wolfgang Mader (Aut) Dreamteam Tirol | 0:28:34 |
14 | Georg Vinczencz (Aut) Radsport Waldherr | 0:37:25 |
15 | Zbigniew Mossoczy (Pol) Wertykal bikeBoard | 0:45:55 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Daniele Bertozzi (Ita) GS Cicli Matteoni FRW | 1:47:20 |
2 | Peter Selkrig (Aus) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 0:00:30 |
3 | Gerhard Grassmugg (Aut) Rofa-Sport Graz | 0:09:51 |
4 | Radim Novotny (Cze) Prestige | 0:15:50 |
5 | Simon Gillett (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | 0:18:43 |
6 | Andrew Wily (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | 0:20:28 |
7 | Robert Topfer (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
8 | Chris Wessels (Aus) | 0:43:22 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Isaac Tonello (Aus) AMDF - Australian Mitochondrial Disease Federation | 2:14:21 |
1 | David Stallan (Aus) AMDF - Australian Mitochondrial Disease Federation | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
2 | Jon Standage (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans CA | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Drik Oostvogels (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 2 | 2:04:36 |
1 | Marc Coninx (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 2 | 2:04:40 |
2 | Franz Schmidhofer (Aut) race4two - carinthia | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Luc Peeters (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 1 | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Guy Palinckx (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 1 | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mark Frendo (Aus) | 30:40:17 |
2 | Cory Wallace (Can) Kona-MBC | 0:12:26 |
3 | Jiri Krivanek (Cze) Prestige | 0:50:41 |
4 | Paul Mashford (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 1:42:08 |
5 | Josef Benetseder (Aut) Team Eybl | 2:02:30 |
6 | Matthew Page (GBr) A Cycling/Pivot | 2:09:18 |
7 | Steve Rankine (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 2:40:49 |
8 | Bart Duraj (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans | 3:25:04 |
9 | Patrick Schörkmayer (Aut) Team-Beniva | 3:25:52 |
10 | Bevan Spratt (NZl) | 3:53:08 |
11 | Adam Cobain (Aus) Amy Gillet Foundation | 4:07:48 |
12 | Alessandro Bianchi Perugini (Ita) asd s.martino emmedue bikepoint | 15:07:01 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Liesbeth Hessens (Bel) | 36:56:23 |
2 | Maria Cristina (Ita) GS Cicli Matteoni FRW | 8:32:45 |
3 | Giordana Sordi (Ita) SKYsport-Italy | 8:53:16 |
4 | Anne-Mette Mortensen (Den) Team Fit 4 Run | 14:09:15 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mario Färberböck (Aut) Bikepalast.com | 31:44:45 |
2 | Kristof Schrauwen (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 2:45:23 |
3 | Johan Schrauwen (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 3:03:08 |
4 | Huub Tankink (Ned) GT-YellowWings Racing | 4:27:34 |
5 | Jürgen Hofer (Aut) | 6:00:46 |
6 | Martin Wisata (Aut) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 6:18:27 |
7 | Andreas Ueberrhein (Ger) Mountainbike-Freiburg | 7:02:59 |
8 | Vincent Baert (Bel) One life. Live it! | 8:23:34 |
9 | Matthew Moroney (Aus) | 9:32:29 |
10 | Bart Couckuyt (Bel) | 11:18:23 |
11 | Kurt Hannes (Bel) | 15:09:24 |
12 | David Vermander (Bel) Houtambacht - Who killed Joe? | 20:08:58 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Hans Planckaert (Bel) Smart Cycling Team | 33:14:48 |
2 | Hamish Morrin (NZl) | 1:13:33 |
3 | Peter Mühl (Aut) | 2:41:43 |
4 | Zbigniew Mossoczy (Pol) Wertykal bikeBoard | 3:40:00 |
5 | Phil Welch (GBr) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 3:47:42 |
6 | Kristof Roelandts (Bel) One life. Live it! | 4:36:15 |
7 | Dennis Valerius (Ned) Jobkitchen.be | 5:36:00 |
8 | Andy Tubbs (USA) andy tubbs | 6:12:41 |
9 | Steve Bunton (NZl) Cervo Rosso / Flat Out Forty | 7:55:47 |
10 | Christian Wenger (Aut) bikepalast | 8:59:27 |
11 | Georg Vinczencz (Aut) Radsport Waldherr | 9:27:15 |
12 | Robert Waters (GBr) | 9:34:56 |
13 | Giovanni Montini (Ita) SKYsport-Italy | 10:19:01 |
14 | Kurt Alderweireldt (Bel) | 10:52:01 |
15 | Wolfgang Mader (Aut) Dreamteam Tirol | 12:57:33 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Peter Selkrig (Aus) Il Pastaio / Rocky Trail Racing | 34:33:40 |
2 | Daniele Bertozzi (Ita) GS Cicli Matteoni FRW | 3:06:23 |
3 | Simon Gillett (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | 9:51:21 |
4 | Radim Novotny (Cze) Prestige | 10:16:24 |
5 | Gerhard Grassmugg (Aut) Rofa-Sport Graz | 12:03:54 |
6 | Robert Topfer (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | 15:20:25 |
7 | Chris Wessels (Aus) | 16:59:00 |
8 | Andrew Wily (Aus) Amy Gillett Foundation | 17:55:09 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | David Stallan (Aus) AMDF - Australian Mitochondrial Disease Federation | 46:07:11 |
1 | Isaac Tonello (Aus) AMDF - Australian Mitochondrial Disease Federation | 46:07:16 |
2 | Jon Standage (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans CA | 0:28:41 |
2 | Brendon Skerke (Aus) Tenni's - Cairns Home Loans CA | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Drik Oostvogels (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 2 | 40:31:13 |
1 | Marc Coninx (Bel) One Eight Five Vets 2 | 40:32:19 |
2 | Franz Schmidhofer (Aut) race4two - carinthia | 0:47:44 |
2 | Mario Slabe (Aut) race4two - carinthia | 0:00:06 |
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