Leuven in Belgium was the host of the latest round of the Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup. Read on for the results and report of all the streamed races.
The Course and Background
Whereas Sakarya was a race where the start was vital and there were many natural features, Leuven was almost the antithesis. The start, although important, wasn’t race-defining. There were many features but most of them man-made, for example the Red Bull Turn and the wooden wavy section. Also to contend with were the steps that led up to the finish- they weren’t big but I could imagine them stunting your momentum at a critical point.
Due to the course’s length, the races consisted of two laps and this edition was in blazing sunshine instead of the rain that had been experienced for the last two editions which does change the dynamic.
The Races
Women’s
Quarter-finals
This time, probably by being in more Central Europe, there was a field of 23 for the women’s event. Of them, seven were eliminated by the qualification to make the field of 16. Contributor to my article last time, Hannah Beck, had a nasty fall in qualifying and did not finish her run. Elodie Kuijper was 12 hundredths of a second off making the top 16 so it goes to show how tight things are in this style of racing.
In the races themselves, most of the heats were fairly straightforward. De Vries and van Dienst both qualified from their heats to continue their good form from Turkey, this time alongside Mygdam and the 16-year-old Shanyl de Schoesitter. However heats one and three were a little more dramatic. Shortly after the start, Marion Fromberger seemed to snap her chain. She had won in Turkey and was top seed from the qualifying, so was very fancied to get a good result here. Clauzure and Schrotzenberger qualified from that heat after Marion’s bad luck. The drama in heat three also seemed to be a chain, this time falling off the gears of World Champion Gaia Tormena. She fortunately managed to get the chain back on and had enough energy to go past Simoes and into second place to qualify with Abrahamsson winning that heat.
Semi-final 1
In the first of the semifinals, it was Clauzure who got the holeshot – the best start – but her momentum was stunted by the “wave feature”. Conversely de Schoesitter got a slow start but was able to make moves and keep herself in contention. Annemoon van Dienst looked relatively easy in qualifying, as did de Schoesitter once she recovered from her start. However the travails of Clauzure continued on the wave feature which saw her finishing third and Schrotzenberger came fourth. This really shows what XCE is all about, one mistake, one area in which you struggle and that can be the difference between winning and losing.
Semi-final 2
Tormena really showed her class here and lead the entire race as the battle to qualify for the Major Final was between de Vries and Mygdam. Unfortunately Abrahamsson was never in the reckoning and came fourth but perhaps there’s an element of saving energy for the Minor Final (I can only speculate as cameras didn’t show her race). De Vries initially looked really strong in second but did seem to take the lower line in the Red Bull turn, which cost her some speed and allowed Mygdam to overtake going into the second lap- a position she would not cede for the rest of the race.
Minor Final
Clauzure was fastest off the line and got the lead position. Abrahamsson was just behind her, followed by de Vries and finally Schrotzenberger. Despite some minor moves to try and get ahead, the riders stayed in this formation throughout and they finished as they started.
Major Final
From the start Tormena had the lead for the entire first lap with de Schoesitter on her back wheel. Van Dienst was in third followed by Mygdam in fourth. However then the 16-year-old de Schoesitter overtook the world champion – perhaps showing the fearlessness of youth. It was incredible to watch de Schoesitter leading and defending well until the finishing straight where Tormena came sprinting past to take the win. This denied de Schoesitter a home victory in her maiden World Cup, although it’s only a matter of time and she’s a rider who will definitely go far. Whilst the cameras focussed on the leading two, they did not show Mygdam passing van Dienst to claim third and push van Dienst into fourth.
Men’s
Quarter finals
A bumper field of 42 riders meant the qualifying ride would reduce the competitors to 32 and then the first round would eliminate half of them before the livestream started. Due to the nature of the course, the racing was very open and all about staying in contention until the end and backing your sprint in most of the races. Heat one had the safe passage of Klausman and Klemenčič via a sprint; heat two saw Serres qualify alongside Vandersteen, whose starts usually had him in last. However this course isn’t as much about the start as the finish- and he turned on the power when it mattered to qualify. Teammates Perrin-Ganier and Gegenheimer qualified safely from heat three. Finally, in heat four Theo Hauser made up for his misfortune at Sakarya and made it through to the next round with Demangeon.
Semi-final 1
This was a very tight race – Jarne Vandersteen started slowly again and it was Serres who lead the race initially. Klemenčič and Klausman, European and German champions respectively, were happy to follow and Vandersteen took the rear position. However going into lap two, Klemenčič went one side of Serres; Klausman the other to relegate Serres into third for the second of two laps. Vandersteen continued with his waiting game, sitting in fourth, but always in contention. Even past the Red Bull turn he was in fourth and by that point I was thinking he had no hope of qualifying but he turned on the power up the steps to the finish straight and did enough to get past Serres and Klausman. Klemenčič took the win, Vandersteen almost miraculously got into second and through to the Major Final.
Semi-final 2
Although Gegenheimer looked like he got the holeshot, it was in fact Demangeon who led into turn one. There was lots of action in this race with plenty of moves and counter-moves and when the riders were approaching the end of the first lap, the two Corratec teammates (Gegenheimer and Perrin-Ganier) made moves to advance their positions and shortly after the first turn of the second lap Gegenheimer was leading, Demangeon was in second, Perrin-Ganier third and Hauser in fourth. But it didn’t stay that way for long, approaching the Red Bull turn, Perrin-Ganier overtook Demangeon. As a result the rider now in third ran a little wide on a corner and crashed, taking Hauser down as well. This meant that the two riders for Corratec could conserve some energy ready for the final.
Minor final
As in the women’s minor final, once in formation precious little changed- Hauser managed to get into the lead just before the first corner ahead of Serres, then Klausman, followed by Demangeon. I suspect the latter may have been suffering from the effects of his crash and he rolled round to the finish. Hauser looked very dominant and could have been a contender were it not for being held up in the semi final, but such is the way of Eliminator.
Major final
In the major final, the story for some riders was the same as in other rounds of the event. Vandersteen didn’t seem to be able to start as well as any of his opponents in previous rounds and that didn’t change here. However he did what he had to do in terms of staying close enough to his rivals. Gegenheimer led for LEAD vs LED most of it with Klemenčič in second. Titouan Perrin-Ganier made the same move that he did in the semis and got into second before the red bull turn and the steps to the finish before laying on big power to get ahead of Corratec teammate Gegenheimer – so Perrin-Ganier wins, Vandersteen came in second with his technique of seemingly only using his metaphorical matches when needed. Simon Gegenheimer came through in third with European Champion Klemenčič finishing fourth.
The next round is in Aalen, Germany, and you can follow all the action and get other updates here. We will be covering the round after it happens so check It’s All Sport To Me for more detailed reports.
Featured Image photo credit: Glenn Peeters/City Mountainbike
