Mountain Bike Eliminator – Sakarya, Türkiye

The Course and Background

For this edition of the report we also have one of the racers involved, Hannah Beck, who provided her view and input. Due to the length of the course, riders only had to complete one lap. A tarmac start turned into a short climb with overtaking limited, unless you were prepared to be aggressive. From there, the course goes into a bridge and the main part of the course- a narrow, twisty steep climb into a rock garden descent. Following this riders go onto another bridge and a technical descent from it and finally a 180 degree turn before the final sprint to the finish. 

Hannah’s view: “great weather for a bike race. The track has a very very long start. The uphill is very steep so if you want to be going to the next round you have to be in position one or two going into the rock garden. The decision was made before the rock garden almost every single time so that was one of the important things.”

A lot of big names from the circuit were present at the race including both men’s and women’s World Champions – Titouan Perrin-Ganier and Gaia Tormena. A win here wouldn’t be easily gained and although it sounds short – the course took the quickest rider in the seeding rides one minute 21 seconds – the repeated efforts will take their toll. 

The Races

Women’s

Quarter-finals

Four women from the 20 were eliminated from the qualification rides to make the field of 16. There weren’t too many surprises but one shock was that Marcela Lima Matos was 12th seeded but she is a great racer. However the races went largely according to seeding in the first round with the only changes to that being Holmegård got knocked out with Sarkulova winning that heat and Fromberger in second. In another heat Simoes was knocked out by Schrotzenberger. For the favourites though this seemed to be fairly routine and safe passage was secured. 

Semi1

From the line everyone sprinted and Sirvel snapped her chain which meant she left the race with a mechanical; Tormena and de Vries took the lead with Popova just behind. In the end, Tormena had it easy and could save energy, Didi got pressured but got through to the major final – Popova progressed to the minor final.

Semi2

Fromberger had her typical slower start but made sure she was second into the main part of the course behind van Dienst. Sarkulova was in third, closely behind, and Schrotzenberger was comfortably in fourth- in some ways that could be a blessing because you can save energy knowing you’ll be in the minor final. 

Minor Final

Popova took the lead and from that point on it was ever thus. Sarkulova challenged her for a short while but fell back on the climb and Schrotzenberger was unable to close the gap from the initial sprint. There was no fourth rider in this race as Sirvel broke her chain in the previous round and didn’t finish. 

Major Final

This was the showdown and as fortune would have it, it was between the top-four qualifiers from the qualification ride. Tormena worked hard to take the lead but upon being challenged by Fromberger, she hit a rock and lost a bit of speed. These two continued to duel until a small amount of contact in a racing incident saw Tormena go off course and out of the reckoning entirely and allow Fromberger to lead. Behind them van Dienst and de Vries battled hard with van Dienst winning out for second against her compatriot and incidentally the current national champion de Vries.

Hannah’s view: “I’m very happy that I had my 13th position in the time trial. Happy that I got qualified and also happy that I was able to have some girls behind me. But, I do have to admit that my time trial run was not perfect- I did some small mistakes, it’s still a big gap to the top riders, I’m looking forward to making improvements and I hope that I’m able to close that gap a little bit on the next few rounds of the World Cup. 

“I made it to the quarter finals but I had a very fast heat with Marcela (Lima Matos), Didi (de Vries) and Iryna (Popova) from the Ukraine, so not an easy one. It was very very fast, I had a bad start – the first few metres were not good at all but I was able to catch up, which I’m very happy about. But after half a lap I was not able to follow anymore.

“I think if you compare my heat from this year to my heat from last year in Turkey it’s a lot better already and it’s nice to see my progress. We will see what I’m capable of during the season.”

Men’s

Quarter finals

A big field of 26 meant ⅛ finals happened first with some riders getting eliminated due to mechanical issues – Theo Hauser and Felix Klausman left the competition at an earlier stage than they’d like despite their high seeding.

The races were predominantly about the starts, with whoever took control of the race early on being one of the riders who would qualify. It was borderline impossible to come past and get ahead if your start puts you at a disadvantage. In the first heat Perrin-Ganier took the lead and eased off once safe and Turkish rider Aydogan took the win. Heat two saw the safe passage of Tarassov and Gegenheimer. The fourth heat was similarly straightforward for Steible and Schrotzenberger to qualify from, however heat three had all sorts of drama – a crash, a rider running, mechanicals. It’s something you have to watch to believe. 

Semi1

Perrin Ganier got the holeshot, Aydogan aimed for second but Gegenheimer did enough to get ahead and force him into third. Tarassov went easy, in an attempt to save energy and the two leaders relaxed a little when it looked like they were comfortably going to qualify. All in all, very straightforward as a race. 

Semi2

Steible took the lead but Schrotzenberger and Akcam didn’t want to make it easy for him. Yuca frustratingly pulled his foot off his pedal at the start and lost a lot of momentum and could never get back into contention. One mistake is all it takes in this sport. Then on the main climb chaos was brought forth. First Schrotzenberger attacked on the small flat just before the climb and put in a huge effort, then struggled with his rhythm and came unstuck, having to dismount and run his bike to the top- somehow he was able to retain the lead and despite the best efforts of an upset Akcam; Schrotzenberger and Steible took a French 1-2 to make it to the final with fellow compatriot Perrin-Ganier and Gegenheimer.

Minor final

Tarassov seemed a little fresher, perhaps from taking it easier in the semis and took the win to finish fifth, Aydogan had to hold off his fellow Turkish rider Yuca for sixth and seventh respectively. Akcam suffered from his earlier exertions and did not finish but by virtue of qualifying for the minor final still got registered as finishing eighth. 

Major final 

Three Frenchmen and a German lined up to start and the holeshot was taken by current World Champion, Titouan Perrin-Ganier, with last year’s World Champion, Simon Gegenheimer, sitting in second. These two had already gained a gap on Steible and Schrotzenberger. Unfortunately a mistake on the climb lost Gegenheimer a lot of speed and Schrotzenberger was right on him but unable to get past. It finished the way it started, Perrin-Ganier in first, Gegenheimer second, Schrotzenberger third and Steible coming fourth. 

Featured images courtesy of Tala Güler, courtesy of City Mountainbike