First top10 in the XCC World Series - P14 in XCO

It was Nove Mesto na Morave-time, the first UCI Mountainbike World Series in Europe this season and for sure one all the riders, including myself, did look forward to a lot. And it didn't disappoint. A brilliant weather forecast, the iconic course with the biathlon stadium and the famous technical climbs and downhills with many rocks and even more exposed roots than last year and a crowd that showed what it means if mountain biking comes to one of its actual homes.

The schedule showed a different setting compared to South Korea due to no downhill but a Junior World Series event this weekend. That meant track practice on Thursday and Friday noon and the XCC on Saturday followed by the XCO race on Sunday afternoon, instead of the XCC race on Friday. I spend my training laps, 4 on Thursday and 3 on Friday, to find a good setup with suspension and tires as usually – for tires I chose the Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.50 prototype with a soft rubber compound - but mainly to find the best lines. This is particularly demanding in Nove Mesto to the huge number of roots and rocks and the wide course with many just slightly different line options. But the actual difficulty lays in most of the lines only feel smooth at racing speed, but you can’t do every training lap at that speed – maybe one or two. So partialy you need to assume what’s most efficient and most important, especially on the climbs: you need to know exactly where you want to go and stick to your line. Because otherwise, you hit roots uncontrolled with your wheels, you lose momentum and energy you can’t afford to lose in a field where 10 riders reach the finish within just 25 s. After the last training lap, I was quite happy with most of my lines and the rest was also quite ok – one thing you sometimes need to accept on a course as demanding as this is that not every meter feels perfect, because you need to make compromises.

Even though I had a really good day in Heubach the weekend before, I wasn’t perfectly confident for my XCC race on Saturday. I chose extremely light tires, the Schwalbe Thunder Burt in 2.1 width only weighing 550 g, so my bike in total would weigh less than 10 kg. As the decrease of weight was also in rotating mass, it makes a huge difference to the acceleration of the bike. But it also comes with less grip, less protection and less comfort on bumpy terrain.

Starting from the last row, the tactic for the relatively flat and tactical course in Nove Mesto was clear: Save energy in the first third of the race, move forward in the middle and see what’s possible in the last third. Everything went according to plan. I always hope riding at the end of the field is not that hard but then I’m a little surprised how hard it actually is. So, my expectations went down a little in the beginning, thinking I don’t feel as comfortable as hoped. But then there is almost always the point, when I start to make my progress in the field. At first it wasn’t very fast, but I was always quite close to the leaders and so with 1,5 laps to go I decided to make another move forward. It was a situation where the field was quite packed, and I had good momentum and suddenly I had the chance to move in first position with really a minor effort. For the first time in the race, I had no stress to fight my position for through the technical parts of the course, and I went quite quick on the climb. I thought about going all out there with one lap to go and try to break free, but I hesitated and then the moment was gone. Although there was a second chance for that, coming onto the finish straight with a little gap behind P2, the other guy wouldn’t help me lead and so I took out some speed again. In the final lap I lost some positions already before the final climb and a few more there, finding myself on P10 going into the final descent. I thought that I would be able to overtake again two riders in the sprint for the finish, but it wasn’t enough by less than a wheel length and I finished my first top10 short track of the season.

After the short track it was of course the most important thing to quickly and properly spin out the legs, eat something and initiate the recovery for the next day. Luckily, I felt quite good again already in the evening and after a good sleep I also felt good at my morning spin on Sunday, 5 h before the race. But already in the morning, you could feel, that the sun was powerful and it would become a hot race day, where cooling and not overcooking in the beginning of the race would be decisive. But with no start loop to elongate the field before the first technical parts, it was also important to push hard in the beginning for a good position into the first narrow climb and downhill. I think I entered that around P10, but I lost a few positions in the so called “Expert Climb 1”, because another rider pushed me a bit and I step off the bike and run for a few meters. My excessive search for good lines already paid off in the next downhill though, when I was actually able to overtake someone in the famous first long rock garden – it’s a little bit visible on the TV coverage. ;) The next tactical step was to let myself fall back a few positions on the next climb to save energy and not go even deeper into my energy reservoirs after the fast start. So, I went through the start/finish area around P20 after the first lap, which was a promising situation for a good result. Nevertheless, it was clear that throughout the whole race the field was quite packed, and I had to be very careful with those energy saving moves, because if I would have played it too much, I would have found myself behind P30 within seconds. But I found my rhythm and was able to swim between P19 and P23 for the next few laps before trusting myself enough to move forward little by little. It was also important but difficult not to make too much work by myself on the head wind parts of the course but still make progress. Luckily, I managed my energy well and was able to go the fastest in my final lap, even riding a sub-10’ lap, securing P14 and my first top15 XCO result of the season with only 12’’ behind the top10. I’m verry satisfied with that result, too, and it’s a really good step into the right direction and I’m getting closer to where I want to be.

Now, it is again three weeks’ time before heading to the next World Series event in Leogang, directly followed by Lenzerheide. I’m looking forward to both events, as I have good memories to both of them and I’m happy to be back in the alps again soon. Naturally, until then, I will have a bigger week of training now with a little bit of intensity, followed by a regular week, already recovering for the World Series. Normally, I expect to not need another race now before the next World Series, as my points gained in Nove Mesto should be enough to secure a starting position in the short track in Leogang.

A big thanks to all my partners for brining me this far already this season, German Cycling for the support at the event and my dad for being my chauffeur this week. :)

Pictures by Thomas Weschta.