Lukas Flückiger wins South Africa World Cup preview race

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Lukas Flückiger (Trek World Racing) and Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon Racing Team) won the cross country race on the UCI World Cup course in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on Saturday. Lukas Flückiger beat Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized Racing) and his brother Mathias Flückiger (Trek World Racing) for the top three spots in the men's race while World Champion Kalentieva finished ahead of Willow Koerber (Trek World Racing) and Esther Süss.

Conditions were extremely difficult. Temperatures were lower than they've been all week, the rain bucketed down and the track was very muddy, providing a real test for the World Cup riders that took to the course.

In the women's race, Koerber took to the lead from the start and remained there for most of the first two laps. In the middle of the race, she rang out of energy after a difficult week fighting a stomach bug, but she pulled it together by the end of the race to finish second behind Kalentieva.

"That was probably the muddiest race I have ever done!" said Koerber. "It was 98 percent ride-able, but towards the end it was really hard to see. Eyewear was fogging up and it was almost a guessing game choosing lines. But I'm so happy to have done that."

After a fast start in the men's race, Lukas Flückiger crossed the line at the end of lap one of five in first place, just ahead of last year's big World Cup champion Kulhavy, with brother Mathias not far behind in third. The race soon became a battle between Luk and Kulhavy, and on lap 3, Luk punctured a rear tire and took the opportunity to swap tires. He caught back up to Kulhavy, and then began to make a break. His lead went out to 40 seconds by the end of the race.

"Good race for me today, and I enjoyed the conditions," said Lukas. "I learned a lot and I'm happy to be on the top step. Bike worked great... overall I am really happy."

"It was a little bit quiet for me with no riders around," said Mathias, "but I used the day as a good exercise in technical improvement. If it's wet next week for the World Cup, this was an important race today."

Tomorrow it's the downhillers' turn on the course, and the weather is looking mixed.

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