News

23-08-2008

Absalon and Péraud crash rivals for gold and silver in Beijing

Julien Absalon's written a new page in the history of the Olympic Games by defending the gold medal he'd won in Athens. He really crashed his rivals, who were forced to fight for places other than nº 1. The best among them was compatriot Jean-Christophe Péraud, who grabbed the silver medal, while Iñaki Lejarreta was the best Spanish biker as he finished 8^th in a tight finale. 

The bike that took Julien Absalon to new heights was the Orbea Alma Team, carrying the Alma SL2.5r frame, whose development shows why Orbea is a reference brandname worldwide. This model, used by the Orbea Racing Team bikers Absalon, Péraud and Lejarreta in their epic ride in Beijing, is the result of Orbea's knowledge, experience, and state-of-the-art technology.   

Alma SL2.5r is an innovatively developed frame created by Orbea after many months of hard work in the dark with the best biker in history. Now we're going to tell you (almost) all about it. 

The Orbea Racing Team faced one of the greatest challenges in their history. Absalon had to earn his second Olympic medal, while Péraud and Lejarreta needed a spectacular close for their outstanding season. Orbea could then only give the best to them. Thus, twelve months ago, we started working on further developments of our Alma, one of the best valued, most reliable frames available on the MTB market. Our goal was a difficult-to-accomplish one: reducing the frame's weight without affecting its stiffness or reliability, so that the Orbea bikers could mount a bicycle rising to the Beijing challenge. It wasn't easy, but we got down to it. 

The new frame's name is not business-oriented. Otherwise, we would've called it "Absalight" or "Alma Beijing." The letters and numbers in the name's acronym tell a story -the story of months' work.  

"SL" refers to the frame's lightness: 990g. A reliable and winning frame for top level competition less than one kilo? Better yet: it's stiffer by all standards, as tested in cooperation with Orbea's technical staff and the Orbea Racing Team. Thus, the bike's acceleration potential is higher. The frame is the perfect chassis for experienced riders like Orbea's to become their rivals' nightmare. 

 "2.5" is the version number. Man's greatest inventions -gunpowder, electricity, the Internet- weren't born overnight. They had to be put to the test and improved according to results. In its first version, the Alma frame was improved seven times. In the end, it was satisfactory, but we wanted more. Why doing just well when you can do better? So we went back to work, always accompanied by Julien Absalon. He's the best biker in history, so his opinion should be taken into account. A second version was produced using new solutions and techniques. It was then improved four times to become version 2.5. Only then did we feel our goals had been accomplished. 

The final version features a series of solutions we can't disclose. We can tell you, though, that the materials used are astronomically expensive and they aren't readily available. Each of the hundreds of fibre layers has been arranged with an eye set on the Olympic medals. The frame owes its distinctive appearance to the external layer of UD fibres and the use of carbon-only internal reinforcements.  

When the Alma SL2.5r was finally ready in May, Julien couldn't resist the temptation of riding top-level MTB events with it -the three latest World Cup races, the World Championships, and the French National Championship. This means that the Orbea Alma Team is a unique bike, tested in toughest circumstances. This process landed us where we are now: on top of the world. Alma has climbed the podium in Beijing. Julien Absalon -and Orbea with him- is the old and new Olympic MTB champion. And Absalon's escort on the podium is another Orbea biker: silver medallist Jean-Christophe Péraud. And on top of two medals, Orbea and Alma earned an Olympic diploma: Iñaki Lejarreta's.  

By the way: the "r" in the acronym refers to "Racing", and it won't be available in the frames made for the average mortal. This Alma frame, as it stands, is a thoroughbred for champions only. It'll only be used in top-level MTB, where it's proved to be the fastest horse. Don't say Gold!, say Absalon! Don't say Victory, say Orbea!    

Congratulations to our bikers!