MARATHON RACE HIGHLIGHTS | UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country Marathon Nové Město na Moravě

The opening round of the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Cup, in Nové Mĕsto Na Moravĕ, saw a pair of close, hard fought, tactical races that were only decided in their later stages. 🇨🇿

Next week we head to Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland, Austria for a double header weekend of UCI Downhill and Enduro World Cups! 🔥

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The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series unites mountain bike’s major formats under a single brand for the first time. The new UCI Mountain Bike World Series includes the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for Cross-country Olympic (XCO), Cross-country Short Track (XCC), Cross-country Marathon (XCM), Downhill (DHI), Enduro (EDR) and E-enduro (E-EDR).

Comprehensive coverage from the races captures the excitement through exclusive interviews, analysis, reactions and event highlights. In-between events and through the off-season there are regular features covering technical and rider-based topics. All embedded with the latest mountain bike action from the world’s best riders.

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[Music] [Music] welcome to the first round of the UCI mountain bike marathon world cup of 2024 here in Nova Mesto no matter of [Music] it as our Elite athletes prepared themselves for what theye the sun Shone brightly drying out the previous days of heavy rain the race would take in two Loops of 60 km finishing on the EXO start Loop in the famous B aflon arena with plenty of the XY Rock and Route sections to keep things exciting [Music] our Elite woman was set off early in the morning with familiar faces Leila chinich Janina ver and verosa taking to the start line with their game faces on [Music] [Music] buff Mega’s team Rosa voran took a commanding lead setting the early Pace but Luca and kinich were hot on her heels pushing the tempo with Janina followed closely behind at the first time check voran chinich and W would be separated from the pack after the demanding climb deep into the first 60 km Loop shortly after our Elite men took to the [Music] startup uh yeah super excited to be here back in overo um I mean we’re at the last here the first World Cup also here in noo and um yeah so we know the course quite well it looks a bit muddy out there but I’m looking forward to a Fast and Furious race I hope to not overp paace in the begin because position is important but to have the energy after 120 Cas is also important and so it’s a bit of gambling uh in which position you are and saving some energy but also don’t be too far off after last year’s uh win here I will try my best to do it again but yeah it will be really hard uh because uh the the Riders uh all the best Riders are here so yeah it will be a big fight this one is always really challenging because uh high speed a lot of Rider weather looks uh not so bad right now so hope for s s during the 4 4 and a half hours of racing for sure the longest R Garden will be really important you cannot win the race there but you can for sure lose it there so that will be the key point of the race [Music] [Music] the pace was hot from the start and the first time check was jaob Hartman who took the lead with favorite Fabian Ren Steiner sitting in 12th Place [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the technical Rocky descents would test and th the pack allowing Philip Adel Fabian Reen Steiner and white Alman to sip away from a leading group [Music] on [Music] yeah we are now uh waiting in the feed Zone uh five and uh obviously from the feed Zone all of the team managers and and guys are just keeping eye on the on the life tracking and as far as for our team all three of our guys are in the front group uh which is quite big at the moment I think it’s over 20 20 guys and I think now the in the second half we will see more more splits but in general this race kind of uh uh favors into like a bunch bunch riding tactical riding and uh we I think we will have to wait until the very last kilometers for the final decision all of our Riders have chosen uh the full suspension bikes because uh the course is uh quite some rough sections routy sections with uh and then uh then raw Gardens so there was no question other than choosing the canyon locks yeah we have two girls that are on the front lead and Rosa and also we have four boys that are still on the front group so at the start of the second lap we are really happy how is it going let’s see in the finish line for this really long race we have prepared a special setup with a 12 Forks because there are a lot of rocks and Roots here in Czech Republic and also a lot of feeding from sponsor we are using a lot to feed the adlet during the 5 hours that we spec for the woman and for for the voice yeah we we have three riders in the race Simon schella is at the moment in front in the first group uh our FR Frenchie Axel is uh just behind it some some seconds and alvan lataa our our big ex world champion is uh around uh 28th 30th Place and uh yeah it’s quite tricky with a lot of Rock Gardens and and roots and um yeah we we came 3 days ago uh checked everything and did the bikes ready for today at a halfway point 60 km in the elite women’s standings were looking like this Rosa van Doran taking an early lead followed closely by Jina ver in second with veroa in third just 2 seconds behind and in the elite men’s things were still wide open the leading group were knitted together and kept up an unrelenting Pace Philip ha was in the lead of the pack and re stea back in 11th place at the halfway point heading into the second half of the race chinich lucer andoran pushed on and increased the Gap to the main pack The Familiar Grounds of the previous LOF would allow chinich to shine smashing the rocky climbs and descents to keep her lead but with Luca and voram hungry for the win and following closely the day was far from one [Music] in the men’s there was an allout battle Raven Steiner despite his best efforts could not break away on his own and find porro and Miller on his wheel the pace was relentless and after another testing climbing descent littered with rocks they separated themselves from the pack [Music] [Music] our last kilometers of racing would take our Elite athletes to Familiar Grounds as they raced the start Loop of the exio race that would take place later in the day lited with technical descent and even more Technic and UNP punishing climbs this is where the race for the win would be decided as they approached the Finish Loop chinich was in the lead lucer was in second vanor was in third chinich and Luca stayed bar toar until the last punishing climb where a stumble from chinich would allow Luca to get ahead [Music] [Music] in the elites men’s Ren Steiner kept his lead no matter what the course thre it him Samuel porro kept him close in the battle with Alex Miller following closely [Music] [Applause] even after over 100 kmers of racing it all came down to the final kilometers last year’s Champion chichic put on a show but it was verosa who had bester for the win Rosa van dor would finish in third place we were around six Riders going to the second last and then eventually it ended up being three and after the rock garden um the big one not this one in the Finish Loop um I got a little Gap and I thought I might as well just try pull it through but Leila was so strong she just rode me back in so I was like 20 km in the front and then she came back and then I knew it would come down to the tactics and the and the Finish Loop that we did through the CR Country course here and I know I’m technically quite good and I know my Sprint is good as well so I was then just hoping on that but that climb up to the top of the canel section really really hurt and then coming up the rouy section again and your legs are just burning after 5 and 1 half hours of racing but then I got a gap there I could ride most of it and then I just flew and I just knew from here I just have to put the H I think we were all like oh what they’re putting a cross country section into our race especially at the end which is quite hard but I think it suited me because I I’m good at the technical stuff I I rode it with my friend who races cross country she showed me the best lines so that was amazing and that definitely helped today [Music] as por midle battered their way down the Finish Loop it was neck and neck for second place but it would be reigning Champion overall Raven V ster who would take the first wi of the season with style Miller would take second place after attacking on the bridge leading to the finish with poro having to settle for third it was a really tough race but uh yeah in this Techni technical part uh I can make a little difference just in the first loop I was maybe one of the only guys who can ride really smart all the downhill and yeah a lot of guys was working and uh I think this was uh uh a biger Advantage was a perfect group was also my teammate inside and then uh we had a good collaboration and uh yeah then we fight uh on the last on the the star Lo from the co count we fight for the was a super hard attack in the end and I can manage to [Music] win and our overall Championship look unsurprisingly like this with ver luer in first place and chinich left hungry for more in second [Music] we have Raven Steiner sitting in a familiar position in first place followed by Alex Miller and Italy Samuel por what a fantastic start to The Race season here in NE Mesto Namar and join us next time in maev for the second round of the UCI mountain bike Marathon World Cup in June we’ll see you there [Music]