The second weekend of the Israeli Spring MTB Series was marked by the first-ever victory of an Israeli racer at an international UCI-sanctioned event. Local 19-year-old Yuval Bar-Ziv from the TNT Upper Galillee Club trailed behind early leader Natalia Karpets from the Ukrainian ISD Team and Russian Elena Gogoleva for most of the race in Maalot yesterday, but was able to pass her on the last lap and take the win in the women's race. Racers from nine countries participated in the race organized by For Galilee Cycles and the city of Maalot.
Conditions were tough with overnight rain making the course muddy and slippery, and the rain and hail during the event did not help the average speed. In the elite men's race it was Estonian national champion Martin Loo who took a third consecutive victory in the series. Loo finished in just under two hours ahead of German Benjamin Sonntag and Ukranian Dmytro Titarenko.
Among the junior men, the winner was Ruslan Muzafarov from the Russian Forward team. In the junior women's race, the first to cross the line was another local, Meghan Belzer of TNT Upper Galilee.
