Pekoll and Ragot win iXS European Cup finale

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Last weekend, the European iXS Downhill Series came to a close in Todtnau, Germany. Almost 300 riders from 18 countries took on the course in the Black Forest. At the end, Robin Wallner defended his lead to take home the win for the series, while Emmeline Ragot took home the cup in the women's category.

The iXS European Downhill Cup was held in seven different countries this year. As the last stop it was Todtnau on the schedule, expected to be one of the most thrilling races on the German downhill calendar. After the last run in the French Châtel the favourites for the win were already set, but the series excited until the very last minute. With the outside conditions being mixed, the 3km long course with its 500 meter descent was perfectly prepared and offered difficult but almost perfect race conditions.

With the riders having to collect valuable points in the seeding run already, it came as no surprise that they went full speed on Saturday already. The fastest rider in the elite men's category was surprisingly Andreas Sieber (Radon Factory Team) in a time of 3:38.093. In the women's category, Emmeline Ragot (MS Mondraker) showed her ambitions for the title and showed the rest of the field with more than nine seconds ahead that passing her would be a pretty hard piece of work.

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On Sunday, Todtnau presented its best weather and it came as no surprise that many spectators made their way to the Hasenhorn. They could enjoy great sports action on offer. The masters category opened the final, and even if Wilfred van de Haterd (YT Industries) had secured the overall title already, the riders fought for every point available. In the end Fabian Arzberger (RidingStyle) took the win, with Marcel Waldmann (iXS Gravity Union) coming second, while also securing the second place in the overall series. Van de Haterd finished the race as third and made this weekend a perfect one for him.

The final continued with the Under 17 class, where Marcus Hansson (Hanssonbil.se) also already secured the title in Châtel and could therefore go very relaxed into the last race. But the young talent was there to show why he secured the overall title and finished with a very solid race, only beaten by his rival for the whole season. Ferdinand Brunold (Enduro Mountainbike Mag) took a narrow three hundreds of a second off the Swedes' time and became the winner of Todtnau and second overall. Third was Nicola Friedli (Friedli Bike Style).

The elite women's category was far from being decided before Todtnau, so all candidates for the overall title were focused on the weekend. Unfortunately the leading rider Floriane Pugin (Scott 11) couldn't defend her position, as she injured herself on the hand at the last World Cup race. Therefore, the three candidates for the overall win came from almost the same position into the race. Only six points apart, the national champs from Switzerland, France and Slovenia took to the course. Emmeline Ragot, however, was the hottest name for the title, and could cut her distance to the top by two points after the seeding run already. Nevertheless she had to finish ahead of Miriam Ruchti (SC-Intense). The first out of the three rivals on the coursed was Zarja Cernilogar (Trn Crn GT), who had finished fourth in the seeding run, 26 seconds behind. The final didn't go any better for her and she had to settle behind Martina Brühlmann (iXS Gravity Union). Next over the line was Ruchti, and with 4:14.298, she finished in a time that would have been the fastest on the previous day. The conditions on the course had improved from the previous day, and therefore all expected Ragot to improve her time as well. The former world champion didn't disappoint and secured in 4:06.071 the top spot on the podium, and became European Series Champion 2012.

Next to follow was the final in the elite men category, and as the first true title candidate Johann Potgieter (Le Cannabis Canfield Factory Team) went on the course. Over the finish line, his time wasn't that great and he was off the podium spots. Next one on the course was Robin Wallner, and despite having a rather average time half way through the race, he could make up for a good chunk of time in the second half and put himself on the top. But his lead only lasted exactly one run, as Joshua Button (SC-Intense) came home two tenths faster. The only two left on the course were Andreas Sieber and Markus Pekoll (MS Mondraker). As Pekoll came to the last straight before the finish, it was clear that he was fast enough for a new best time. With 3:34.261 and 1.3 seconds ahead, he set a time that was hard to beat by Sieber. The predicted happened, as Sieber missed the podium but finished in a respectable fourth place. The final spots on the podium were: Pekoll ahead of Button and Wallner. The Swede defended his overall lead and became the new iXS European Cup Champion 2012. Potgieter became overall second, and Damien Spagnolo (MS Mondraker) managed to secure the third spot one point ahead of teammate Pekoll.

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