![\"ccs-62657-0-59419400-1425547097.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-59419400-1425547097.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nSwedish national cross country champion and Kargo Pro MTB Team star Emile Lindgren will add an experienced international flavour to the upcoming 2015 Pietermaritzburg Mountain Bike Festival as he searches for crucial UCI points ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. \/\/ Photo: Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n With an HC XCO event being just one notch below a UCI MTB World Cup on the UCI points grading system, this is where the greatest international presence is expected as Lindgren and company look to bolster their international ranking.<\/p>\n \u201cEarning UCI points at this stage is huge as everyone looks to try qualify their nation and then qualify themselves,\u201d explains Lindgren who recently joined South Africa\u2019s first ever UCI Trade Team, Kargo Pro MTB.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here for seven weeks and have a big schedule that included the first leg of the SA Cup Series last weekend in Port Elizabeth, the ABSA Cape Epic, the second SA Cup Series leg in Johannesburg and of course the HC race at the Pietermaritzburg Mountain Bike Festival.\u201d\u2028<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is looking forward to the Olympics and is trying to do everything they can now to ensure they qualify and are selected to go,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n For Lindgren, the trip to Africa\u2019s Bike City won\u2019t be his first having tackled almost every edition of the UCI MTB World Cup as well as the 2013 UCI MTB & Trials World Championships hosted in KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s capital.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been to Cascades many times before and I\u2019ve seen the development not only of the track but of cycling in the region in general and it has been great to see how Pietermaritzburg has become a cycling community!\u201d enthused the Kargo ace.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n \u201cWith Pietermaritzburg not being on the World Cup calendar this year but with a lot of international guys being in South Africa because of the Cape Epic, the HC race is a great opportunity and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a great race.\u201d\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n Lindgren recently secured a third place at the STIHL SA Cup Series opener in the Eastern Cape, finishing behind Philip Buys of Scott Factory Racing powered by LCB and between Kargo team mates Brendon Davids and Alan Hatherly.<\/p>\n Despite a switch to stage racing for one his year\u2019s highlights, the Cape Epic, Lindgren is still confident he will easily be able to adapt back to the demands of cross country racing ahead of the Maritzburg showdown.<\/p>\n Following the Elite Women\u2019s clash at 11h00, the elite men\u2019s HC XCO race takes place at 12h30 on Saturday 4 April.<\/p>\n