The Swiss cyclist, bronze medallist at this year’s European championships in the MTB marathon, is joining the Polish team. In this manner the KROSS team has completed its list of new competitors.
Ariane Luthi began her sporting adventure in triathlon, quickly becoming known to fans as a multi-talented competitor. However, it was always mountain biking that made her heart beat fastest and she decided to dedicate herself to this uneasy discipline. She has specialised in marathons.
Ariane Luthi sporting her new Kross Racing Team kit. Photo credit: Adam Klimek.
The 35-year-old’s greatest achievements include victory in the general classification of the Cape Epic stage race in 2012, 2013 (mix), 2014, 2015 and 2016 (women’s category). The competitor is the current Swiss XCM Champion, and she also reached for the title of national champion in the 2013 and 2016 seasons. Ariane Luthi has a proven track record of many victories in prestigious stage races, such as the Belgian Mountain Bike Challenge 2018, Cape Pioneer 2017 and Perskindol Swiss Epic 2014. In the 2018 season, she also won three races in the UCI Marathon Series. Luthi took sixth place in this year’s world marathon championships held in Italy. In addition, at the last European championships in the mountain biking marathon at Spilimbergo, Italy, she won the bronze medal, behind only Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja and her new teammate Maja Włoszczowska.
“After racing in South African teams from the beginning of my career, the opportunity to join the Polish Kross Racing Team is a real honour for me and an exciting adventure. Especially since last year it won the general classification of the World Cup,” enthuses Ariane Luthi. “I thank Maja and the KRT manager Kornel Osicki for their faith in me, which gives me powerful motivation to work in the coming months. I hope it will result in a season full of successes for KROSS, not only by sharing my experiences in stage races, but also through my strong performances in the most important races,” she emphasizes.
Kornel Osicki, manager of the Kross Racing Team, has an idea of how to make use of the Swiss woman’s enormous potential.
“I’m really satisfied with the team’s development and the acquisition of a competitor specialising in stage races and MTB marathons. Complementing the team with Ariane increases the group’s potential and opens new horizons for us. In the 2019 season the team will have an international line-up, based on the leader Maja Włoszczowska. Soon we will publish the team’s event plan, with a few new races in which we want to fight for victory and in which I’m counting on the strong performance of Ariane Luthi,” comments Kornel Osicki. “I can assure that we’ll also be at a few races in Poland. We don’t forget that we’re a Polish team whose titular sponsor is the bicycle producer Kross,” he adds.
After acquiring Luthi, the Kross Racing Team has completed its reformation and with its new line-up is ready to compete for the highest awards in the 2019 season. Now racing in its colours, apart from the Swiss woman, are Maja Włoszczowska, the Czech competitor Ondřej Cink and the Spaniard Sergio.
