This year the European Championships took place in the very south of Portugal, more precisely in Loulé. The program included 4 races with a middle distance, a mass start, a sprint race and a mixed relay. The summery weather with highs of 30-35°C was usually easy to bear thanks to our villa with pool and perfectly placed balcony. Only during the races the cooling possibilities were a bit limited…
Middle 26.4.
The first race over the middle distance took place around the village of Tor. The rather flat southern part was full of small walls and fields where we were allowed to ride on, and we also could ride on them fairl quickly thanks to the very dry weather. The northern part contained quite a bit of climbing and was a welcome change for me from the flat south.
I did not get a good start into the race. I struggled from the beginning to find a rythm with pushing and map reading. I couldn’t get along with the rather vague mapping style. There were crossings with strange angles or at a wrong place, moreover walls were missing or marked walls were not visible in the terrain. I also made inexplicable mistakes, especially towards the end. For me it was a race to tick off, I wanted to concentrate on the mass start as soon as possible.
Massstart 27.4.
The mass start race seemed to be tailor-made for my strengths. It was extremely hot, the start was quite late at 11:00 and the course data promised a lot of climbing. Unfortunately I made a mistake already at the 2nd control, which cost me more than 2 minutes. But as I felt very good physically and was able to overtake one rider after the other, I could almost regain contact with the front of the race. Some of the climbs were so steep that the entire elite field had to get off and push. In a steep and rocky descent I got a flat rear tire on the way to the 18th control. I had an insert in the tire, so I could still ride a few meters. I then decided not to ride with the group and climb up a very steep climb, where I could ride relatively flat afterwards to the next control. While pushing on the climb I prepared my CO2 cartridge and checked whether I need a tubeless worm in my rear tire to get it sealed. The milk did the job by itself, so I only had to put in the cartridge at the top of the climb and continue to ride. At the spectator passage I was in 8th position 35″ behind Teemu and Vojtech who were riding in 6th and 7th place. Towards the end of the final loop I decided to take a cutting route choice which was very fast and soon I was able to catch up with Teemu. At the final climb I could overtake and leave him behind, but Vojtech Stransky was already gone and I couldn’t catch up him. Eventually, I finished the race in 7th place. My best result so far, but also very close to the diplomas. Anyway I’m very happy with the results, the Diploma will come some time!
Sprint 28.4.
The sprint took place mostly on a motocross track. The extremely dense network of paths, which was laid out relatively irrationally and consisted of many loops, caused a lot of confusion. There were probably only a few riders who managed a race without any mistakes. I made only minor mistakes at the beginning, and halfway through the race I was riding together with Vojtech Stransky, who had started one minute after me. Right there I had quite a flow and rode mostly in front. The flow ended with a bigger mistake on my part, Vojtech rode correct without me noticing it, and I needed a while to find out where I was. After that I made another mistake, I was really a bit out of my depth, with the many paths and the few distinct points that could be used for orientation. The mapping of the motocross course caused additional difficulties. The mapper used different widths depending on the space conditions on the map, although they were the same in the terrain. I do not completely agree with this very special mapping, it does not comply with the rules. Even if the organizer had announced this change, it would have been clearly better to draw then all motocross tracks the same width. The way it was drawn made it even more difficult to find out where one is after a mistake.
Mixed Relay 29.4.
The Mixed Relay was the final event of this year’s European Championships. In a semi-urban terrain with a lot of cool bike trails in some parts, there were again many meters of altitude to overcome. On the start leg Ursina showed a very concentrated performance without any mistakes. Towards the end she chose a safety route on which she lost some time, but reduced the risk of mistakes significantly. With only one and a half minutes behind, she handed over to Noah. He also showed a great race, could even make up some ranks and handed over to me in 6th place. I started very well into my race and could overtake one Finnish team and catch up another one. Despite contact with my opponents, I rode my own race and found myself in a large group at the 11th control, which formed the front of the race without me being aware of it. Then at control 12 there was great confusion, everyone but Teemu and Riccardo missed the control and had difficulties finding out where we were. In the following, Finland and Italy were able to pull away, but I was the fastest to find my way back to the map and to punch the control. I was able to make up some time in the final downhill and finished the race in 3rd place, only 13 seconds behind gold, after the mistake to control 12 of more than a minute. Italy was overtaken late in the final sprint due to a flat tire that Riccardo got just before the final loop, which was very very unfortunate for them. We are more than happy with bronze, despite the missed chance for gold, also because we actually didn’t expect a medal at all. My first medal in a mixed relay after several diploma ranks was a great conclusion of very nice European Championships.
The European Championships will also remain a special memory for me because of the absolutely outstanding support. Pia spoiled us every day with 5-star menus, Chrige was able to fully concentrate on us thanks to the support of Sabrina, and we even had a 4th supervisor with us in Patrick, who not only took great photos, but was also always ready to support us. Chrige booked probably the best accommodation I ever stayed in at a championship. A (deep) pool witha nice balcony in jumping height and distance as well as a very big kitchen and large lounge area and rooms formed the basis for optimal analysis, meetings and relaxation. Thank you to all our supporters, without you all these results would not have been possible!