March Racing Roundup
Welcome to ENVE Racing news where you’ll find athlete stories and race results spanning all cycling disciplines from around the globe. Each month we’ll cover our athletes and their adventures, whatever or wherever those might be.
CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING STEPS UP IN CAPE EPIC
After eight days of racing through the unforgiving South African landscape, CFR duo Henrique Avancini and Manuel Fumic finished in second overall to land their best performance yet at the stage race. After coming in 5th, 4th, and 3rd in previous editions, a 2nd place finish sets them up for even bigger things next year. Flat tires and mechanical issues are the norm considering the two-person teams cover more than 400 miles between start to finish, but Henrique and Manuel had a nearly flawless race in terms of equipment and were able to take a stage win along with the race lead for two days.
“We’ll come back next year and go for that top spot!”, said Manuel.
REBECCA RUSCH TAKES ON ALASKA
Rebecca has done just about every adventure and endurance cycling event on the calendar, including winning the inaugural DKXL 350-mile gravel race just last year, but this year she decided to take on one of her biggest challenges yet–Three hundred and fifty miles through Alaska on the Iditarod Invitational.
“I’m scared. For the first time in 10 years, I’m legitimately scared for an expedition. I swore I would never do the Iditarod Trail Invitational. I’m not intimidated by the distance, but instead by the brutal elements and conditions of the Alaskan winter”, Rebecca said. “Exploration and pushing outside my comfort zone have been part of who I am my entire life. I’ve lived and preached the rewards of taking calculated risk for decades. What I realized this year, as I turned 50, is that it had been a while since I’d taken a really big athletic risk myself. I’ve done hard things, but haven’t had that palms-sweating, heart-racing feeling about an expedition for 10 years. I realized I needed to really and truly challenge myself again. It was time to take on something bigger than I’ve done before.”
Armed with our new M685 fat bike wheels, Rebecca faced her fears while enduring little sleep and arctic temperatures to complete the ITI in three days, 20 hours, and 50 minutes. That was good enough to make Rebecca the first female finisher. We can’t even imagine what she’ll come up with for her next challenge.
HEATHER WURTELE LANDS A HAT TRICK IN MEXICO
Heather Wurtele completed a IRONMAN 70.3 Campeche hat trick after her latest victory at the event. In the race’s three year history, Heather has been the only female to climb the top step of the podium. Even for Heather, who has nearly two dozen 70.3 victories, the Mexican event was challenged by not only the competition, but by temperatures in the upper 80s, which was a shock coming straight out of winter in Southern Utah where she and husband Trevor had been training for the season.
ORBEA EWS KICKS OFF THE ENDURO SEASON IN ROTORUA
The Enduro World Series kicked off in Rotorua, New Zealand and the Orbea EWS team got off to a strong start with Becky Cook taking fifth place while Thomas Lapeyrie made his racing return after a fractured wrist sustained earlier in the year. Coming off her first year as a professional where she ended up in 6th overall after eight rounds of the Enduro World Series, Becky starts the season on a tear and poised to land on the podium by season’s end.
For Thomas, his goal for the day was slightly different considering he wasn’t even expected to be lining up at the start. He said, “Today was my own victory. I was not supposed to race, it was too early because my hand was still painful. Anyway I decided to race to get the feeling back. I had only one goal, not to crash on the hand, and the riding was clean today and I finished safe…”
The team are now headed to Australia for round two of the Enduro World Series on March 31st.
