Matt Liebsch, CXC, will soon be headed to the Canmore World Cup races, and in yesterday’s SuperTour race he proved he was further sharpening his speed. At last weekend’s SuperTour in Minneapolis he won the skate race and took fifth in the classic race. Liebsch was just two seconds behind Bryan Cook in the 10km individual start classic race yesterday in Telemark, Wisconsin. Liebsch gives Fasterskier a taste of the race, in which he and his teammates Bryan Cook and Brian Gregg owned the podium.
What was the course like?
The course is awesome! A cranky backwoods style loop on the Telemark World Cup trails. The grooming was great and the track good, a bit mealy by the time the men raced.
Race conditions? Was waxing tricky at all?
I had very good skis, pretty common when CXC waxes my skis. We had a very cold morning that warmed quickly. I had bomb kick which allowed me to stride very efficiently.
Were you getting any splits on the course – did you know how close you were
to Cook?
Gregg, Cook and I had bibs 145, 146 and 147 with 15 second interval starts so we knew the score. Cook was very close to catching me at times but I never looked back. He won here last year in dominating fashion so I knew he was the man to beat. He had a great race and I am psyched that I was able to be so close. Brian Gregg helped pull me through some of the last few kilometers which helped me get back some time on Cook.
Did you go into today’s race feeling like you could win?
I felt like I had a chance to do very well but I was a little surprised to be battling for the win in a classic race. I have worked very hard this past season on improving my classic skiing and I felt very good striding today. It was a very fun race today.
Any other comments, thoughts? – – – –
I am very excited to get a another World Cup start next Friday!
