Whilst snow and ice dominate the landscape in Germany, making training almost impossible in places, the Team BULLS professionals, scattered across the whole world, prepared themselves for the new season. For Karl Platt, Stefan Sahm, Tim Böhme, Simon Stiebjahn and Marcus Nicolaim, the German Cyclo-cross Championships in Magstadt provided an early start to the season last weekend.

Karl Platt finished the race with a 12th place in the Elite class. Markus Nicolai also rode to 12th place, in the U23 classification however. Simon Stiebjahn finished the German Cyclo-cross Championships in 17th. Coming away from the event with a fright was Tim Böhme, who had to end the race early due to a fall. Fortunately he came away without any serious injuries.

In the meantime, regardless of time off and national holidays, the mountain bike specialists prepared for their season in various ways. For example, Thomas Dietsch rode in the "Run Tour", a five-day stage race on the French island La Réunion in the Indian Ocean and in December spent most of his time on skating skis in his native Alsace.

Simon Stiebjahn moved to southern climes in December. He was therefore able to clock up important training kilometres in mild temperatures around the Alanya region in Turkey before switching to skating skis like his teammate.

"Cross country skiing or snow-shoe hikes ideally compensate for the many kilometres in the saddle and at the same time make great stamina training. On the one hand you train the upper body, but also the muscles needed for cycling. An optimal combination that draws on the whole body. And on top of that it is fun!" declares Stefan Sahm.

Karl Platt has also fully recharged his batteries. After a successful operation, his shoulder is very stable once again. "Riding downhill without inhibitions and moving totally freely on the bike in any situation," is a completely new feeling for the highly motivated Platt.

SIGMA SPORT looks forward to its continued collaboration with the mountain bike specialists and wishes the Team BULLS every success for the forthcoming season.