At Birkebeinerrittet, the world’s biggest one-day mountainbike race, he scored second. The race started well for the Danish marathon champion on STEVENS Sonora SL. He managed to break away with a group of five Norwegians, but was „fiercely attacked by the other riders on the last 20 kilometers“, he said after the race.

In the last section consisting of very steep downhill passages, Nissen was blocked by another rider of the group who ran into his back wheel and Nissen was not able to close the emerged gap again. ‟You have to be in front in this section in order to win the race“, Nissen concluded. ‟I did not manage to do so.“ At the end he scored second after 2:40 hours race time, one second behind winner Carl Fredrik Hagen of Team Oslo Sportslager.

Birkebeinerrittet is a mountainbike race over 92 kilometers leading from Rena to the Olympic city of Lillehammer. The mountains and forests alongside the course are impressive, but the race has become famous for yet another reason: Every participant carries a bag weighing 3.5 kg which symbolizes the 18-months-old prince Haakon Haakonson.

He was brought safely over the mountains by the Birkebeiner after his father’s death to secure the throne. With 17,000 participants every year the race, which originally was only a skiing event, is of high significance for the Norwegian community.

Leading to victory in Skaidi
Already one week later, Soren Nissen showed his talents again. Invited as an ambassador for the (skiing)area of Skaidi, the Danish champion of Team Stevens-iHUS raced Skaidi Extreme, a mountainbike event over 45 kilometers at the west coast of Finnmark, at the outermost northeastern part of Norway.

The untouched, but rugged landscape was a challenge for Nissen on his hardtail Stevens Sonora SL. Even more so as there were strong riders in the peloton such as the Norwegian cross-country champion Ola Kjøren of Team Milsluker´n and Henrik Kippernes (Team Fræna SK) who won the race last year.

‟My tactics was to go straight ahead already from the beginning in order to hopefully get some lead in the uphill sections. This would allow me to stay in front through the technical parts and downhills, too.“ Nissen was able to implement his tactics despite the strong competition and Kjøren coming very close every time they passed small single trails. Nissen won the race in one hour 58 minutes, one minute ahead of Kjøren.

From the Eifel region to Australia
The basis of Nissen’s triple podium was laid at the BDR VulkanBike Eifel-Marathon in Daun in August. On Stevens Sonora SL, he speeded over the race’s 100 kilometers and 2,300 meters in altitude and secured his victory in 3:29:03 hours ahead of Kristof Houben (BEL, Team Trek Benelux) and Bas Peters (NED, GIANT Benelux).

‟For me, it was a really important race as I am soon leaving for Australia to fight in the Crocodile Trophy“, Nissen said after the race. „It is important to race big distances, to get "in the legs" before I go Down Under.“