Emil Lindgren, Sweden’s National Champion, will take on the Pietermaritzburg Mountain Bike Festival‘s HC category cross country race at Cascades MTB Park from April 3-5 as a move to secure UCI points ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Swedish national cross country champion and Kargo Pro MTB Team star Emile Lindgren will add an experienced international flavour to the upcoming 2015 Pietermaritzburg Mountain Bike Festival. Photo: Gameplan Media
The PMB MTB Festival will host a multitude of mountain biking disciplines including downhill (DH), marathon (XCM), enduro and cross-country (XCO) across a variety of age groups and abilities.
With an HC XCO event being just one notch below a UCI MTB World Cup on the UCI points grading system, this is where the greatest international presence is expected as Lindgren and company look to bolster their international ranking.
Lindgren, who recently joined South Africa’s first ever UCI Trade Team, Kargo Pro MTB, the trip to Africa’s Bike City has tackled almost every edition of the UCI MTB World Cup as well as the 2013 UCI MTB & Trials World Championships.
He recently secured a third place at the STIHL SA Cup Series opener in the Eastern Cape, finishing behind Philip Buys of Scott Factory Racing powered by LCB and between Kargo team mates Brendon Davids and Alan Hatherly.
Lindgren was confident he will easily be able to adapt back to the demands of cross country racing ahead of the Maritzburg showdown.
The elite men’s HC XCO race takes place at 12h30 on Saturday, April 4 after the Elite Women’s clash at 11h00.
