Spanish Legend Loving His Pioneer Experience

10 February 2017

For immediate release from The Pioneer Mountain Bike Stage Race, further information atwww.thepioneer.co.nz

SPANISH LEGEND LOVING HIS PIONEER EXPERIENCE

In the world of downhill mountain bike racing, indeed in the world of mountain bike racing full stop, there are few with the careers to match that of Spaniard Tomi Misser. He is a little bit of mountain biking royalty, and he is loving his time here in New Zealand riding The Pioneer Stage Mountain Bike Race.

Misser and Imparables partner Ibon Zugasti shared the overall stage win with Team Watson & Son Manuka Honey (James Williamson and Scott Lyttle) as the event completed day six with a 64km ride from Hawea to the Snow Farm high above Cardrona Valley today.

Misser is a 14-time national champion in his homeland of Spain, but these days his riding takes him further from home than ever before as he rides professionally for both the Imparables and the Orbea Bikes team, and he is loving his time in New Zealand.

“The people are amazing, it is a really hard race, some people say last year was harder but yesterday was really hard. For us the type of grass is different and the ground bumpy, in Spain it is not so much like this. But the scenery, the views, it is amazing. I ride with the go-pro and it has been amazing for us and for the people who will see our film.”

Misser says he tried retirement after he ended his downhill career with multiple World Cup titles and a European Championship to his name, but he couldn’t stay away from the sport for long.

“I have been doing these races for three years or maybe four. After I finish with the downhill I retired but two or three years after I come back again and ride and ride and now enjoy my riding with Imparables and Orbea, and I am enjoying riding as a professional again.

“I am enjoying this type of riding, coming to different countries, I can discover the different places and I can stay with the people and everyone enjoys the bike and the event. After this we go to Cape Epic and then USA and the families all come to one of the races each year, this is my mountain bike now, discover and enjoy.”

Misser found his strength again today, after losing his power in yesterday’s Queen Stage.

“Yesterday was a difficult day, I lose some power, it was a long stage and with the flat tyre we spent some energy chasing and I had no power in my legs. Yesterday I eat a lot and recover well so today was good and I have my power back. The guys in Watson and Son Manuka Honey are pushing all the time but we managed to stay there and then we spoke about going to the finish line together.”

Misser and Zugasti are clear leaders in the Men’s Masters 40+ category, while Williamson and Lyttle have a stranglehold on the Open Men’s and lead the race for The Pioneer trophy, holding a 20-minute advantage over Misser and Zugasti in the general classification, with just the final stage into Queenstown to come.

After the longest day in the event yesterday, riders rolled over the start line content in the knowledge they had just 64km to complete today, albeit with a testing climb out of the Cardrona Valley and along the ridgeline to Snow Farm, where a light dusting of snow had fallen earlier in the morning.

Mark Williams and Kate Fluker (Team New World) are getting stronger by the day as they ride ‘home’ to Queenstown and again won the Open Mixed stage honours, finishing nine minutes ahead of Team Freakshow Sonya Looney (CAN) and Gordon Wadsworth (USA).

Amongst the more dominant riders this week have been the Hirepool combination of Reta Trotman and Nina McVicar, the New Zealand pair lead the Open Women’s category just over an hour and like the other category leaders, will be looking for a safe ride to the finish line to take out category honours in Queenstown tomorrow.

Riders are expected to start arriving at the finish line at the Queenstown Events Centre from approximately 11:00amon Saturday, with the leaders likely to cut out the final 59km in just over three hours. Those further back in the field will take anything up to six or seven hours as they contemplate their own incredible achievement in completing the 545km journey, with over 15,000 metres of climbing through some of the most stunning terrain in the world.

7-Day-Epic
Stage Six, Hawea to Snow Farm
64km, 2,077m elevation

Full results CLICK HERE

Open Men
1 Watson and Son Manuka Honey, James Williamson & Scott Lyttle NZL, 3:36:43
2 Seven Day Adventurists, Phil Walter & Adrian Reteif, NZL, 3:45:57
3 Subaru/MarathonMTB, Justin Morris & Mike Blewitt, AUS 3:48:07

Open Women
1 Hirepool, Nina McVicar & Reta Trotman NZL, 4:34:43
2 Crazy Daiseys, Mirodo Otto & Anzett David, SAF, 4:39:43
3 Sujon Thermatech, Erin Greene & Ingrid Richter NZL, 4:43:53

Open Mixed
1 Team New World, Kate Fluker & Mark Williams NZL, 4:00:05
2 Freakshow, Sonya Looney & Gordon Wadsworth USA, 4:09:17
3 Crank it Cycles/Specialised, Peter O’Sullivan & Su Pretto, NZL, 5:08:24

Masters 40+ Men
1 Imparables 2, Tomi Misser & Ibon Zugasti ESP, 3:36:43
2 222 Racing, Chris Clark & Gary Hall NZL, 3:49:54
3 Bonk Rocket, Ollie Klein & James Knowler, AUS, 4:01:22

Masters 40+ Women
1 Cable Logging Geraldine, Kylie Burrows & Sarah Kaehler NZL, 5:31:32
2 Dumb and Dumber, Annie Cooper & Delia O’Malley NZL, 5:50:48
3 Peak Flow, Karolyne Dunn & Cath Wilson, NZL, 6:58:50

Masters 50+ Men
1 Forensic Plus One, Robert Watson & Bernie I’Ons, AUS, 4:28:34
2 Sniffer and the Rampant Ferrett, Paul Riordan & Stephen Davies, AUS, 4:36:10
3 Centaur, Paul Muldoon and Grant Tyrrell, NZL, 4:48:40

Masters 60+ Men
1 Canadian Eh, John Cockburn & David Lech, CAN, 6:23:52
2 Powered by Pinot, Mark Moores & Andrew Gordon, NZL, 7:00:43
3 On the Rivet, Kevin Dobbs & Bruce Whale, NZL, 7:05:36

The Pioneer Mountain Bike Stage Race
7-Day-Epic
General Classification after six of seven stages

Open Men
1 Watson and Son Manuka Honey, James Williamson & Scott Lyttle NZL, 23:29:54
2 Seven Day Adventurists, Phil Walter & Adrian Retief, NZL, 25:20:56
3 Cycleworld, Guy Carter & Warwick McLaren, NZL, 25:37:42

Open Women
1 Hirepool, Nina McVicar & Reta Trotman NZL, 28:53:09
2 Sujon Thermatech, Erin Greene & Ingrid Richter NZL, 29:53:28
3 Amy/Haley, Haley Van Leeuwen & Amy Hollamby NZL, 30:22:23

Open Mixed
1 Team New World, Kate Fluker & Mark Williams NZL, 25:30:49
2 Freakshow, Sonya Looney CAN & Gordon Wadsworth USA, 26:48:10
3 Crank it Cycles/Specialised, Peter O’Sullivan & Su Pretto, NZL,

Masters 40+ Men
1 Imparables 2, Tomi Misser & Ibon Zugasti ESP, 23:49:52
2 222 Racing, Chris Clark & Gary Hall NZL, 25:08:47
3 Terre Active IT Security, Shaun Portegys & Brendan Akeroyd, NZL, 26:32:41

Masters 40+ Women
1 Cable Logging Geraldine, Kylie Burrows & Sarah Kaehler NZL, 35:21:02
2 Dumb and Dumber, Annie Cooper & Delia O’Malley NZL, 37:13:50
3 Peak Flow, Karolyne Dunn & Cath Wilson, NZL, 40:59:38

Masters 50+ Men
1 Forensic Plus One, Robert Watson & Bernie I’Ons, AUS, 28:55:22
2 Sniffer and the Rampant Ferrett, Paul Riordan & Stephen Davies, AUS, 29:30:59
3 Centaur, Paul Muldoon & Grant Tyrrell, NZL, 30:19:47

Masters 60+ Men
1 Canadian Eh, John Cockburn & David Lech, CAN, 40:24:10
2 Powered by Pinot, Mark Moores & Andrew Gordon, NZL, 46:46:03

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