World Cup XCE Round 2, Eliminator - Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czech Republic Report

Words and Photographs by Anna Buick

With changes from last year - including big berm and a small dirt jump section follwed by a rock garden - the XCE course at Nove Mesto Na Morave was technical as well as fast, and with that came the feel of proper mountian bike racing. 

In the women's race it was World Champion Alexandra Engen who once again set the fastest qualifying time and progressed through the heats with a clever combination of tactical nous and a blistering turn of speed. She was, however, not the only Swede with speed. Jenny Rissveds was second in qualification and in each of her heats ripped up the tarmac climb at the far side of the course with astonishing pace. Having worked for her each time previously, she once again lit the burners in the final and jumped clear of Engen and Round One's second place finisher Kathrin Stirnemann up the climb. Rissveds appeared first over the bridge and into the finish straight with a lead that could not be overcome despite the flat out two-up sprint for second between Stirnemann and Engen. Stirnemann took second on the line, Engen was third and Eva Lechner rolled in fourth, the smile of an XCO win in Albstadt last weekend seemingly not having left her face! 

In the men's race the qualification times often held little relation to how far the riders progressed through the heats. Third fastest qualifier and Begian National Champion Fabrice Mels suffered a catalogue of misfortunes in his 1/8 heat and exited the competition, and Philip Buys was second in qualification but lost out in the 1/4 finals. On the other hand, 26th placed Christian Pfaffle found himself in the major final and last week's winner, who qualified down in 16th won the minor final.

In amongst this unpredictability was Kenta Gallagher, whose fast sprint was called upon in the heats, and duly delivered him into the major final. The four riders - Gallagher, Pfaffle, fastest qualifier Miha Halzer and German Champion Simon Gegenheimer - were all together up the start straight, over the log jumps, down the log drops and into the dirt jump section. At the end of the rock garden disaster struck for Halzer whose rear mech met an untimely end after a forary into his spokes, and then Gegenheimer suffered a similar fate when he dropped his chain. This Left Gallagher and Pfaffle to fight it out. They descended through the woods and entered the finish straight together where Pfaffle opened up his sprint. Gallagher tucked in and looked to have a lot to do to get round the German. But get round him he did! The Brit took the victory by a couple of metres and crossed the line, arms out, tongue out and with the look of slight disbelief! 

Perhaps the waiting is all part of what makes Eliminator racing exciting; it builds tension, it requires riders to stay focussed and channel their nerves, and when, as a spectator, you are rooting for someone it is quite the emotional rollercoaster! It doesn't appear to be protocol to shout "YESSS KENTAAAA" in the photographers zone at the finish line, but I really don't care, it was awesome to see a Brit win! I did manage not to shed a tear though, which is more than can be said of Kenta...

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