Jaroslav Kulhavy will start his season at the Cyprus Sunshine Cup
Jaroslav Kulhavy has confirmed his participation in the 2012 Cyprus Sunshine Cup, scheduled in February.
The cross country world champion is keen to continue his five-year-old winning recipe and will commence his season at the Cyprus event.
The cyclist will face a tough contest and will be accompanied by a number of cycling stars at the race ahead.
Former marathon world champion Alban Lakata, Wolfram Kurschat and Robert Mennen, all from Team Topeak-Ergon, are warming up for the contest.
Under 23 world champion Thomas Litscher will also participate in the event, along with Karl Markt of Team Felt Oetztal X-Bionic.
Kulhavy won the World Cup and the world championships, as well as the European championships in 2011.
The cyclist mentioned during the 2011 edition of the race, "The races give us the chance to test my form and the bike".
While Jaroslav is targeting the overall victory, other riders like Langvad and Engen will be looking ahead to claim some important UCI points.
On the other hand, World Cup overall leader Julie Bresset has cancelled her registration form the race. Her Team Manager Pierre Lebreton registered the cyclist but she has now backed off.
Race Organiser, Mike Hadjioannou believes that Julie’s participation would have attracted a number of supporters.
He cited, "It's a pity. We would have appreciated having Julie here on Cyprus for the first time”.
He further added, “I understand, at the beginning of an Olympic season, athletes are very careful with new experiences. Despite of her cancellation, we are proud to have a lot of pretty good riders on the list. Alone there are three reigning world champions".
Mike explained that it is very important to ensure that all the standards are met during the race. However, the financial crisis makes it really tough to achieve the top standards.
He also mentioned that the main sponsors have reduced their support for the Sunshine Cup. He has assured that the reduction in the budget will not affect the race in any form.
It will be interesting to see how the event unfolds, as the inaugural cross country event is guaranteed to test even the toughest of the athletes.
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