Miller prepares for Olympics with Europe stint
NAMPA
WINDHOEK
Namibia’s mountain bike champion Alex Miller says competing in Europe for his new team will help him prepare well for the upcoming Olympic Games.
The young Namibian, who won the mountain bike event two years in a row, earlier this year signed a contract with German team Trek Vaude, where he will be based until October 2021.
Trek Vaude is a new team competing on the European circuit in various mountain bike disciplines ranging from cross country and marathon to cyclo-cross and E-mountain bike racing.
Miller said he is very happy to join a team abroad because this shows that hard work does pay off.
“Now that I managed to get signed by an international team, it doesn’t mean I will stop working hard. I am going to give it my all because I want to grow as a cyclist,” he said.
Going all out
He added that two of his new teammates also qualified for the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympic Games and this will help him in preparing for the Games.
“I’m looking forward to gaining as much experience as possible from my teammates and to improve my level of racing. You have to race against the best to improve, so I want to use that to my advantage,” he said.
The athlete will join his team next week and said despite joining a mountain bike team, he will still do road racing once in a while after the Olympics.
Miller, who won a silver and bronze medal in cross country at the 2019 Africa Games in Morocco, will have top class teammates in European riders Gregor Raggl, a multiple Austrian cross-country champion; Karl Markt, an Austrian cross-country state champion; Sascha Weber, who won the German cross country title in 2019; Philip Handl of Austria, who won the Trans Alp marathon stage race in 2018 and 2019; Mona Mitterwallner of Austria, who won the European and junior world cross country championships in 2020, and Antonia Daubermann, who was the German cross country runner-up in 2020.
WINDHOEK
Namibia’s mountain bike champion Alex Miller says competing in Europe for his new team will help him prepare well for the upcoming Olympic Games.
The young Namibian, who won the mountain bike event two years in a row, earlier this year signed a contract with German team Trek Vaude, where he will be based until October 2021.
Trek Vaude is a new team competing on the European circuit in various mountain bike disciplines ranging from cross country and marathon to cyclo-cross and E-mountain bike racing.
Miller said he is very happy to join a team abroad because this shows that hard work does pay off.
“Now that I managed to get signed by an international team, it doesn’t mean I will stop working hard. I am going to give it my all because I want to grow as a cyclist,” he said.
Going all out
He added that two of his new teammates also qualified for the mountain bike event at the Tokyo Olympic Games and this will help him in preparing for the Games.
“I’m looking forward to gaining as much experience as possible from my teammates and to improve my level of racing. You have to race against the best to improve, so I want to use that to my advantage,” he said.
The athlete will join his team next week and said despite joining a mountain bike team, he will still do road racing once in a while after the Olympics.
Miller, who won a silver and bronze medal in cross country at the 2019 Africa Games in Morocco, will have top class teammates in European riders Gregor Raggl, a multiple Austrian cross-country champion; Karl Markt, an Austrian cross-country state champion; Sascha Weber, who won the German cross country title in 2019; Philip Handl of Austria, who won the Trans Alp marathon stage race in 2018 and 2019; Mona Mitterwallner of Austria, who won the European and junior world cross country championships in 2020, and Antonia Daubermann, who was the German cross country runner-up in 2020.
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