Huber over hump of injury jinx
INJURY crushed his World Championship dream but a fully fit Urs Huber expects nothing but success in his mission to capture a fourth Croc Trophy title.
Mountain biking’s Swiss maestro returns to Cairns as defending champion of the world-renowned event, blitzing the past two rounds of UCI MTB Marathon Series following a disappointing DNF at the sport’s pinnacle event in France in June.
Huber said despite one setback, he was thrilled with his season and hoped to finish the year off in style once again.
“I had a really good season, starting with winning the Cape Epic in South Africa, which was really special. I also started well in Europe, but world’s was not good,” he said.
“I had some back pain then on that day but after that I came back really strong again and won nearly every race in August and September in Europe.
“Now I hope I can finish with another win here. That’s the goal for sure, but it will not be easy. The Crocodile Trophy is a hard race, so many things can happen, but the preparation was good, the track is good and I will give my best.”
Despite the foreign hot, humid conditions in the Far North compared with the Swiss Alps, Huber said the Croc Trophy was perfectly suited to his style of racing.
He said he would be going out hard during the opening stages, which played to his climbing strength.
“I think the first two stages have some hard climbs and I think that suits me really well, so normally I can make a gap there and just defend for the rest of the week,” Huber said.
“For me it’s my fifth time already here so I have a bit of experience how to manage everything that comes – the heat, the long stages, sleeping in a tent, racing over more than one week.
“So I know what to do and I think the most important thing is to make no mistakes.”