December 7, 2006 – After the disastrous mix-up by both the newspaper “Le Matin Bleu” and the news agency AFP, the storm has slowly settled again. By now, I know whether I’m coming or going again. But for two full weeks, this incredible story has fully absorbed all of my attention. Although I am still busy calling the mentioned media organizations to account, I have already managed to come to an amicable settlement with “BLICK”. (click here to read our report on the mix-up).

It’s both surprising and alarming how fast such a completely twisted story is spreading — thanks to the internet even globally. However, my first reaction to consider quitting my career as a professional mountain biker has turned out to be over-hasty.

In the course of my long sports career, I was thrown to the floor repeatedly and have always managed to get back on my feet. And I got out of these situations stronger than I had been before. That’s why I am looking at today’s situation accordingly. I have decided to tackle my last two seasons as a professional mountain biker fully motivated.

My major goal is to accompany my two Swisspower team mates Florian Vogel and Nino Schurter on the way to Beijing. I am keeping myself out of the heavily contested selection for the Olympic games. On one hand, I don’t want to rival my own team mates’ ambitions, and on the other hand my chances would not be that big anyway seeing the extremely strong competition within the Swiss team. And having successfully started at three Olympic games is a nice achievement as well. Time has come for a change of generations, I guess!

Stepping back from the Olympics does not mean that I do not have any sportive ambitions anymore. After 2003 and 2005, I am aiming at another world championship title in the marathon discipline. As a cross country racer, I will be competing in races of the Swisspower Cup as well as the World Cup and of course at the world championships. In addition, I continue to build-up both the Frischi Bike School and and the Frischi Bike Challenge event.

But first I will be celebrating my comeback to cyclocross in Wetzikon this Sunday. Apart from the Swiss national championships, Dübendorf’s “Flüüger Quer”, taking place on January 2, 2007, is another of next month’s highlights since I am part of the organizing committee.

One positive aspect of the whole mix-up story is the more than solid support that I felt from my fans. Here and now is the right time to cordially thank them all for this.

The Swisspower Team and all of its partners have always and completely supported me too. This shows in the fact that Swisspower as the main sponsor as well as Scott and Ritchey have extended their respective sponsorship deals to 2008. With “Baumeler Reisen” and Cuore sportswear, we have even found two additional partners for our racing team.

So it looks like we’re heading for an interesting future!

Ride on
Frischi

www.frischi.ch