Urge Cabo Verde: ci siamo quasi!

Oggi ci sono quattro importanti comunicazioni.
Ecco i nomi dei due pro e degli ospiti non professionisti:

René Wildhaber (Trek – Dakine) – Svizzera
Fabien Barel (Mondraker) – Francia

Dorothea Lindtke (Rocky Mountain – Brake Authority) – Svizzera
Samuel Normand (Lol Racing – Yeti) – Francia

Le interviste le trovate in fondo al post.

Ricapitolando, la lista completa è:

Fabien Barel (Mondraker) – France
Jérôme Clementz (Cannondale – Mavic) – France
Greg Doucende (Performance Parts – Trek) – France
Sabrina Jonnier (Groupama – Punch Power) – France
Dorothea Lindtke (Rocky Mountain – Brake Authority) – Switzerland (non-pro)
Anka Martin (Santa Cruz – Sram) – RSO/USA
Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) – UK
Marco Nicoletti (Niner) – Italy
Samuel Normand (Lol Racing – Yeti) – France (non-pro)
Sam Peridy (Scott) – France
Hans Rey (GT Bicycles – Adidas) – USA
Rowan Sorrell (Orange – Mojo) – Whales/UK
Nicolas Vouilloz (Lapierre) – France
Mark Weir (WTB – Fox Racing Shox) – USA
René Wildhaber (Trek – Dakine) – Switzerland

In secondo luogo, come già vi avevo anticipato, le date sono state spostare a causa di elezioni.
Urge Cabo Verde avrà quindi luogo tra il 7 e il 14 Febbraio

Aste Urge FOR Cabo Verde
Le aste cominceranno il 25 gennaio sul sito dell’evento e su e-bay, e dureranno qualhce mese. Tutto il ricavato sarà devoluto ad ONG, maggiori informazioni da gennaio.

Ad esempio, qui c’è un disegno della bici di Sam Peridy, disegnata da Scott appositamente per l’evento. questo esemplare unico verrò usato solo per la gara Urge Cabo Verde e verrà messo all’asta subito dopo.

Cabo Verde pre-ride
Se volete sapere cosa aspetta i riders di urge, date un’occhiata alle foto dell’ultimo pre-ride!

Ecco le interviste promesse e qualche altra fotina.
René Wildhaber (Trek – Dakine) – Switzerland : Officially confirmed !

> Hi René, for several months, you reduced your apparitions, but you’ll be present on this Urge Cabo Verde. Those Urge Adventures are important for you?

R.W : I like the Urge events, especially because of the humanitarian purpose. Nepal and Kenya have been a big adventure and I had a lot of fun with the other riders.

> Kenya : Trek Remedy ! Nepal : Trek Remedy !… and Cabo Verde ?…

R.W : So far I have no information about the track. I will talk to Fabien and then choose the right bike. Both, Trek Remedy and Trek Scratch, are nice bikes. It is really cool to choose in between the different Trek bikes, because this enterprise has the right bike for every situation.

> With the other riders, you’ve made quite a great work for humanitarian actions in Kenya and Nepal, you’re proud of this?

R.W : Personally I like to help other people. I also have to say thanks to my sponsors Trek, Red Bull and Dakine, who support me and also these humanitarian actions.

> You’re a great traveller, do you knew this little country Cabo Verde, do you think it will be a great place to ride ?

R.W : No, I was never there, but it was a place which I wanted to visit once in my live. I only heard about the really nice landscape, but I know few about the people there. I will try to inform me before the trip and then get in touch with the local people on the island.

> This year, two non-pro riders will take part in the adventure, do you think it’s a good innovation?

R.W : As far as I know Fabien took this decision, so I think he will have his reasons. I hope to spend a nice time together with this riders and share the same spirit.

Fabien Barel (Mondraker) – France : Officially confirmed !

> So Fab, do you hesitate to say yes to Fabien Barel’s invitation for this Urge Cabo Verde ?!!…

F.B : Yes, I know. I always find really hard to say « No » to my own invitation !!! The adventure is always calling me…

> More seriously, everybody was happy to see you on the bike again at the Reunion Megavalanche. You feel ready to ride to Capverdian Volcanos ?

F.B : I will definitively work hard to be fit for it. It is a lots of pleasure for me to be back on the bike. The year has been long and riding again is like a victory for me. The Urge Event will be the beginning of a long season and sincerely look forward to it.

> Let’s talk a bit to the Fabien Barel organiser, are you satisfate of the riders coming to this Urge Event N°3 ? Riders we used to see for 2 years, new visages… 2 non-pro riders invited ?…

F.B : there is definitively a big satisfaction for me as an organiser. Everyone who invite has been keen to comeback. We have some new faces like the adventure men Hans Rey coming or Rowan Sorell for UK who is going to bring a lots of style to the event and many more… We had the disappointment that Darren berrecloth could not fit the event in his schedule, but it is always hard to find a date to work for everyone. The racing side of the adventure will be just unreal with Nico Vouilloz, René Wildhaber, Jey Clementz that are the fastest enduro racers on the planet…
More women also… and what women !! All that is going to put on a good show but over that it will bring some amazing characters together to create a real adventure to the top of those islands…

> This year, you change a little the race conception, why ?

F.B : The goal for us was mainly to increase the riding on site. Linking all the event to reach one top makes it amazing but you know that we always want to do more. The opportunity on the Cabo Verde was too good to go from one island to the other to discover the all cabo verde in his diversity. The exact racing format will be announce very soon.

> We’re sure that organize a Urge Event is a lot of work for each edition. So, when you’re finally on the plane with the others, organiser go and rider come back ?

F.B : I can’t really say that. Even if we set everything up, it stays a challenge where we go in countries that are fare to be very organise. I do have a lots of YES to your questions but you never really know if it will really happen ! Once we are there, we need to be reactive and flexible on the organisation. It is part of it… we will be in Africa…

> You already know what bike you’ll take ?

F.B : I will probaly use my DUNE to ride all the paved trails and rocky section we have there. The Island is all volcano with a lot of rough terrain. Good suspension will be a big help !!

Samuel Normand (Lol Racing – Yeti)  – France : Officially confirmed !

> Hi Samuel. Last October you took part in the Urge Training Camp and… you won it!
What’s your state of mind few weeks before the departure to Cape Verde?

S.N: I’m really looking forward to it and very excited to be travelling in such a beautiful country and to ride those cool mountains for a good cause with top riders: it’s a dream!

> Tell us a bit more about yourself

S.N: I’m from Besançon and live in the Haut-Doubs area, married with 2 adopted daughters. I’m a big fan of outdoor activities, after years of competing in canoe, I passed a sports instructor diploma which allowed me to work in different areas: ski, kayak, climbing and MTB. I’m now learning to be a carpenter. All my free time is dedicated to bikes, telemark, canoe, snowkite and walks with the family, it all depends on the conditions and the feeling.

> What do you expect from this Urge Cape Verde experience?

S.N: it’ll be for me a unique opportunity to ride with top-class riders on very exotic trails, but especially I’d like to keep in mind that every effort made is to help those kids who weren’t born under the same star than us!!! They need it everywhere on the planet.

> Dorothea and yourself will be in a way the ambassadors of the amateur riders in the middle of the pro-riders. It’s the first time that’s possible on an Urge Event. Is it a good evolution you reckon?

S.N: First I want to thank Fabien for this Urge Training Camp and for me the icing on the cake, the final selection. With Doro we’ll have a special thought for all the other riders who took part in the selections and with whom we spent a brilliant week-end. The fact to take amateurs on board of an Urge Event gives another dimension to the humanitarian action because it gives everyone the possibility to dream of taking part and then to bid in the auctions. We are honored to be the first amateurs to face the pro-riders, there’ll probably be few surprises! I’ll keep my eyes wide open, you can learn so much every day from the others, locals or riders. So have a go and don’t forget that you need to provoke the good luck!

> Do you feel ready for the big start? Have you a specific training program?

S.N: No specific program but I keep having fun in my sports every day if possible. At the moment there’s too much snow to ride the bike so the program is cross-country skiing and backcountry skiing. But it’s freezing so I can’t wait to be in Cape Verde with 25 degrees!

Doro Lindtke (Rocky Mountain – Brake Authority)  – Switzerland : Officially confirmed !

> Hi Dorothea, last october, you came to the Urge Training Camp and…  you wan ! How do you feel few weeks before the departure to Cabo Verde ?

D.L : I’m really excited about this great opportunity to go to such an interesting place! I’m curious about how everything will be at a place completely different from Middle Europe together with people from very different countries.

> Can you just introduce you quickly ?

D.L : My name is Doro Lindtke, I’m 30 years old, I’m living in a very small village in Switzerland close to the Lake Geneva and close to the mountains.

> What do you expect from this experience of Urge Cabo Verde ?

D.L : I think it will be a great experience to go with a bunch of people all excited about mountain biking to a place where this sport is rather uncommon and to explore the great nature of the islands! I’ve never been that far south, and I think it will be an interesting experience to go from the winter in Switzerland directly into the summer at Cabo Verde.

> You and Samuel will be ambassadors of non-pro riders in this Urge Event. It’s  the first year that it is possible. Do you think it’s a good evolution  ?

D.L : Sure! I mean, there are so many non-pro riders for whom mountain biking is really part of their life. I think there is no difference in the spirit of people in being pro or non-pro. I’m really grateful to be chosen to participate, and I hope I will be able to keep up with the pros, at least a bit!

> Do you feel ready ? Are you making a special training ?

D.L : Yes, I feel ready! I could go tomorrow! I don’t make a special training, I’m just doing a lot of sports as usual; actually a lot of skiing to keep the endurance and indoor-climbing to get power, not so much biking because of the snow and cold temperatures here…