Last season was a marquee year for mountain biking’s elder statesman, Thomas Frischknecht. The 35-year-old Swiss grabbed a historic victory at Costa Rica’s La Ruta De Los Conquistadores, won his second consecutive marathon world championship and finished the year as the No. 7 ranked rider in the world. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who was the runner-up to Ned Overend at the inaugural world championships back in 1990. And he’s not done yet: Frischknecht is preparing for yet another season racing on the fat-tire circuit. A guy who has spent 17 years in a sport and made the world championship podium seven times is definitely worth talking to — so we did. Here’s what Frischi had to say.

VeloNews: What is your racing schedule for this year?

Thomas Frischknecht: It’s the same as in the past. Basically I’ll do all of the cross-country World Cup races and the Swisspower Cup races. At the end of the season I’ll do marathon and cross country world championships. I might do a World Cup marathon. Maybe one.

VN: Will you do any races on American soil?

TF: I’ll do Sea Otter but that’s about it. Getting to the United States is quite tough this year, as Sea Otter is the week after the first World Cup [in Curaçao, the Netherlands Antilles]. As far as cost goes, it’s actually cheaper to fly back to Europe and then fly to California. Curaçao is still a long way from Sea Otter.

VN: Do you think there is a benefit to having World Cup races in non-traditional venues like Curaçao and Brazil?

TF: I still think it is more important that we go to places where there are spectators and good promoters. We’re not in the situation anymore where teams have a ton of budget to send riders all over the planet. The money situation is quite tight these days and therefore it only makes sense to have the races in a market for mountain biking. I think, from an economic standpoint, it is better to stay in Europe for a big part of the World Cup year and then maybe have one or two races in the United States. I don’t think that races like Curaçao are a big help for the sport.

VN: What are your thoughts on Shimano offering neutral mechanical assistance for 2006?

TF: Well, the steps from no assistance to what we have now have all happened so quickly. I think the first step from having no assistance to having assistance last year turned out to be a pretty good one. I don’t think it changed things too much. The races are still very tight at the front, and if you get a flat tire, then chances are you are probably not going to win. Now it starts to get more complicated, especially if mechanics can help you fix a problem. I thought it was a good idea that you could get some gear, a tube or a tire, but you had to fix it on your own. You had to do it by yourself. Now they will allow mechanics in these [tech] zones, which puts bigger teams in a better situation, I think.

VN: Who is the best male cross-country racer in the world right now?

TF: Julien [Absalon]. There is no question. The results say it all. There are other good bike riders out there. A great bike rider can win on all different kinds of courses and terrain and there is no one out there who is as on it as much as Julien. There he shows his consistency. Christoph [Sauser] is unbelievably strong on long climbs and he is also very good on the downhills. But Julien can win in bad weather. He won at Les Gets [in 2004] in mud and rain and at the [Athens] Olympics on a hot, dry course. Julien is the more complete rider.

VN: How long do you want to keep competing at the elite level?

TF: Well, it’s my 17th year as a pro and the contracts are up at the end of the year. So it depends on how my Swisspower team continues in the future. But at this point I’m definitely going to race another couple of years.

VN: And when racing is over?

TF: There are lots of irons in the fire right now. I could probably stop racing tomorrow and be busy with things besides racing. The bike school I opened last year takes a lot of time, so dies the Frischi Bike Challenge in St. Moritz that I put on. I work a lot with the Swisspower mountain-bike team and do some product development for Ritchey and Scott. These are all things I want to keep doing after racing, which will definitely keep me busy enough in the coming years.

VN: Americans have not had great success on the international level in mountain-biking in quite some time. Why do you think this is?

TF: In Europe we have a much more traditional cycling background. There is just more talent coming up here than in the U.S. If you compare Switzerland to the United States, for example, we have 800 riders below the age of 16 that compete in the Swisspower cup in a country of only 16 million. These 800 young riders can go within two hours to 12 races over the season. It is very economical to go to race and compete every weekend. In the U.S. that’s not the way it is. The distances make it harder for younger riders to go around to different events. Every single Swisspower Cup is probably bigger than the NORBA national races these days in the U.S. Having a good racing infrastructure develops good talent. That’s the fundamental of the sport. If you have good races you’ll have more teams, more riders, and that’s why we have every year or every couple of years a junior world champion coming out of Switzerland. The resources are just bigger here than in the United States. And that’s the same in Germany, Italy and France. Everything happens in a smaller area, which is why it is easier for young athletes to go and race. In the U.S., it is just too hard to find high-quality races without traveling all over the country.

VN: Where do you hope to see the sport in five years?

TF: I would like to see some more TV presence. It’s a great sport that needs a bigger public following. So far, mountain biking has quite a big market in Europe, but we just don’t have enough room in the media and television. Not as much as we should get.