Number 23 in the world

Ländle mountain biker better than ever before

Julius Scherrer has already shown great early form in Greece.

(Bild: zVg)

Five races in just nine days - the start of the season for Julius Scherrer in Greece was highly intensive, but also very successful. The highlight: a second place in an U23 race in the hors categorie, which earned him a lot of important points.

"Internationally, that was actually the biggest success of my career so far," explained Julius Scherrer. The 21-year-old from Übersaxen had only had to admit defeat to Ukraine's Oleksandr Hudyma in the U23 category in a Hors Categorie race on the island of Salamina, just off the coast of the Greek capital Athens, the previous weekend. "Above that, there's really only the World Cup."

Julius Scherrer (2nd from left) was only beaten by Ukraine's Hudyma (M) in his last race on Salamina.

(Bild: zVg)

It was Scherrer's fifth race on Salamina in nine days. After dropping out of the first event of the "Greek MTB Series" with a technical defect, he went on to finish third, eighth and 27th in the elite class. "I was able to train well and a lot in the winter as an army athlete," revealed Julius, who graduated from high school last year and completed a training camp with the national team in Mallorca in December, before pedaling for two weeks in Gran Canaria with Team Vorarlberg youngster Laurin Nenning in January. "I knew I was in good shape and was already hoping for a start like this."

Results that are important in terms of a place in a professional team. "I scored 69 points in the races," said Scherrer, who improved to 141st place in the elite and 23rd place in the U23 in the UCI rankings. "That's really great! This should also put me in a really good starting position for the first World Cup race in Nove Mesto in May."

New job
The only downer: his army contract expires at the end of March. On April 1, however, Julius, who is coached by Rupert Schreiber, will take up a 50 percent job at Omicron, where he can continue to train well thanks to flexible working hours.