MARIBOR, Slovenia, Oct. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Back to back
wins for the 'Flying Frenchman'! Monster Energy congratulates Loris
Vergier on taking first place in the Elite Men's Racing event in
round two of the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in
Maribor, Slovenia on Sunday.
After already clinching the win in Friday's opening race of a
double-header weekend, the 24-year-old from Cagnes-sur-Mer,
France, won the second race with a
3:07.771 total time to mark his third career World Cup victory.
Vergier was joined on the podium by his Monster Energy teammate,
27-year-old Troy Brosnan from
Adelaide, South Australia, in fifth place. In a tightly
contested race, the Australian trailed Vergier by a single second
with a 3:08.787 total time.
As the official opener to the 2020 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
season, the Maribor event in the Eastern Alps mountains offered two
chances to collect important points towards the world championship
title. After Friday's race saw Vergier emerge victorious despite
muddy track conditions, Sunday offered a change of scenery: Track
two was a fairly close recreation of the racecourse from early
Maribor years in the early 2000s, when Monster's own Sam Hill claimed his win in 2008.
Legendary for its tight turns in the trees and high-speed grass
corners, the track featured plenty of technical roots and natural
doubles in the woods. In order to claim the win, riders would have
to slow down the pace dramatically in the upper sections and choose
their lines strategically compared to the high-speed sections of
the first round. Conditions also improved over the first round, as
sunshine and a breeze prepared the mountain for exciting racing.
The only thing unchanged was Vergier's dominance.
Monster Energy's Vergier worked the course with confidence and
precision, trying to improve on a strong performance by
Britain's Matt Walker on the top of the leaderboard.
Despite some challenging moments in the woods section, Vergier
found his line and finished on top of the order with a 3:07.771
total time. In a close call, Vergier's good friend Loïc Bruni
finished only 0.057 seconds slower in this exciting season opener
in Slovenia.
"I'm really stoked to be out there fighting for the win and
making the double victory. That is obviously crazy. I had a really
good run and felt awesome on the bike on the first round,
everything just clicked. But it was really hard to focus and reset
and do the same two days after. I still managed to take the win by
a really small margin, so it's been awesome!" said Vergier upon
winning Round Two of the UCI MTB Downhill World Cup 2020 event in
Maribor, Slovenia.
The back-to-back wins at Maribor bring Vergier's career count to
three World Cup victories on top of his win at the 2018 World Cup
race in Vallnord, Andorra. "I
realized today that I won two World Cup events in a row and that's
crazy, I'm stoked about it. I want to keep the jersey on for a bit
longer. I'm having fun out there and looking forward to Lousã now,"
said Vergier, who now sits on top of the season UCI Mountain Bike
Downhill World Cup rankings with 400 points.
Also finishing in a podium position, Monster Energy's Brosnan
from Australia cleared the
technical course with a 3:08.787 total time for fifth place. After
having to settle for eighth place in Friday's race, Brosnan found
his line on Sunday.
"It's nice to be near the top again in Maribor. The track was
pretty hectic and the new sections for race two were definitely my
favorite. I'm happy to be right up on the pace, so I'm looking
forward to a week off and then hopefully we go racing in
Portugal for the last two rounds,"
said Brosnan.
Also finishing in the top 10, UK Monster Energy rider
Danny Hart took eighth place in
Maribor with a 3:09.771 total time.
"I was happy with how I rode. A tough couple of weeks are done
now, I'm looking forward to getting home for a few days, hopefully
to come out swinging in Portugal
in a couple of weeks," said Hart.
On that note, the next stop on the 2020 UCI Mountain Bike World
Cup season will be contested in two weeks in Lousã, Portugal from October
30 – November 1, 2020. This
stop will feature another double header with two rounds on a
brand-new track to the World Cup circuit.
Also make sure to check out Vergier, Brosnan, and Hart in a
stunning new video feature that provides an unfiltered look into
the life of leading downhill mountain bike racers: Monster Energy's
'Between the Races' is available now to watch for free on YouTube
here.
For more on Monster Energy's Mountain Bike athletes visit
http://www.monsterenergy.com Follow Monster Energy on YouTube,
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Monster Energy
Based in Corona, California,
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Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross,
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SOURCE Monster Energy