After more than one month of absence, the iXS European Downhill Cup finally returned with another race. The second but last race of the season invited 300 riders from 25 different countries to Spicak (Czech Republic). Johannes Fischbach and Veronika Widmann are the winners of an exciting weekend.
Long time no see… the last round of the European Downhill series already seems ages ago. Last time, the EDC took us to the French version of the Crankworx Festival in Les Deux Alpes. Now, we are back with yet another possibility to climb up the ladder of the rankings with another race in Spicak. The bike park near the German border provided a difficult track: not only with a length of 2 kilometres and another 320 m of descend, but also with a lot of stones, roots and rocks on top of slippery ground conditions. The race was all about the careful choice of the perfect line and the right amount of speed, especially because the track is not as steep as most of the others.
Veronika Widmann
Friday’s training session was the perfect opportunity to show some skills and first ambitions and of course to check out the strongest competitors. With temperatures around 30 degrees and the overall dryness during the past weeks, the overall conditions were extremely dusty. Even after some rainfall on Friday night, that did not seem to change that much throughout the rest of the weekend. Saturday afternoon brought the qualification runs, which were of extreme importance especially to the Elite Men who fought for the 30 seats of the Super Final on Sunday. The current German Champion Johannes Fischbach (GER – Ghost RRP) was the fastest rider of the day with a best time of 3:04.300 minutes. Jure Zabjek (SLO – Unior Tools Team) followed only split seconds slower and seemed to be one of Fischbach’s strongest competitors for Sunday’s Super Final. Meanwhile, the Elite Women category was dominated by Veronika Widmann (ITA – Bike Club Egna Neumarkt) who set a time of 3:43.319 minutes and finished 4 seconds faster than Jana Bartova (CZE – RRP Ghost). Odds-on favourite Carina Cappellari (SUI – Radon Magura Factory) ended up in 12th place.
Sławomir Łukasik
Race Sunday started with thick fog and rain. The training sessions during the previous days with hundreds of riders riding down the hill combined with rainfall turned the track into a muddy nightmare – conditions far from easy for the upcoming race. From dust to mud – this weekend was all about skillful riding and conquering the track with your bike.
Due to a thunderstorm, the race had to be postponed for half an hour, but fortunately the sky cleared again and the race was finally on. The fastest rider of the Masters category was Mads Weidemann (DEN – madsweidemann.com) setting the best time of 3:24.120 minutes, followed by Michal Śliwa (POL – Myślenice – Top Riders).
Jana Bartova
Max Hartenstern (GER – MTB-Bande Schatzki) succeeded in the U17 with a time of 3:28.816 minutes, while Alessia Missiaggia (ITA – Jump DH Team) as only female rider of the category gave a solid performance. Next year, she hopefully will have some more competitors in the U19 category.
This year, however, the U19 was dominated by Loris Revelli (ITA – Argentina Bike) who can already celebrate his victory in the overall standings. Congratulations!
The Elite Women also had to cope with the rather bad conditions. Nevertheless odds-on favourite Carina Cappellari (SUI – Radon Magura Factory) set a time of 4:02.533 minutes and waited for her strongest competitors in the Red Bull Hot Seat. And she did not have to wait too long: Harriet Rücknagel (GER – Rad-Art Ilmenau) beat her time by split seconds. At the end of the day, however, the both of them ended up in fifth and sixth, while the upper podium went to the Italians this weekend: Italian champion Veronika Widmann (ITA – Bike Club Egna Neumarkt) set the best time with 3:53.526 minutes and a 1-second gap towards Eleonora Farina (ITA – Mangusta Bike Team) in second place. Farina now sits atop the women’s standings. German champion Sandra Rübesam (GER – Rose Factory Racing) completed the podium in third.
Johannes Fischbach
The last category was of course the Elite Men with their Super Final. First dusty training sessions, then a foggy race – demanding conditions even for the elite, who nevertheless proved their skills in a last hot competition. Similar to the Elite Women, the result was a national double – but not for Italy. After ending up in second in 2013, then in third place in 2014, Johannes Fischbach (GER – Ghost RRP) finally made it a first place in 2015. As the reigning German champ already got full credits for his victory in Kranjska Gora he currently leads the rankings after this weekend. Jasper Jauch (GER – Team Liteville) made it a German double with the second place, followed by Slovenian champ Jure Zabjek (SLO – Unior Tools Team) and Slawomir Lukasik (POL – NS Bikes FroPro), who is still in reach of the upper rankings. Another candidate for the champion of the season currently is Loic Bruni (FRA – Lapierre Gravity Republic).
The Small Final of the Elite Men also held some surprises. Ales Virtic (SLO – Supertrail79) and Lukás Studnicka (CZE – 101undergroundriders) dominated the race for a long time with an incredible gap of more than 10 seconds. In the end, however, Jakub Riha (CZE – cyklošvec) beat their time and succeeded.
Women’s podium
Another weekend has passed and another race is in the books. And soon, it will be time for the final race of the EDC season in Leogang. Let’s see who will collect some last points to finally be crowned champion 2015. For more information, please visit ixsdownhillcup.com.
Results: ixsdownhillcup.com
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Photos: Thomas Dietze extreme-pics.de