During the weekend 9-10 of January the top mountain bike athletes met in the Ostermundigen suburb of Bern.
For the first time not only invited Pros came to the race, also amateurs ventured to join in a pre-qualification
race on Friday, racing for a spot in the big final on Saturday
Friday was the qualifying day for both women and men. The women races took place for the first time at the
Greenhouse event. The inner circle of the race track offered a challenging course. Angie Hohenwarter from Austria won the qualifications with Geraldine Fink, Switzerland on second position.
After the late cancellation of participation from the professional René Wildhaber, there were 17 startpositions
for Saturday race open. The amateur race was challenging and the quickest rider was Chaney Guennet, France,
followed by Lutz Weber and Lukas Jäger, Switzerland.
On Saturday the track has lost some humidity and the races were getting faster and faster.
After training,
the women opened up the Race Night. With spectators crowding the indoor track, Emilie Siegenthaler (third
place in the friday qualifications) won, followed by Angie Hohenwarter and Geraldine Fink. The woman race was
appreciated among both spectators and riders, surely next time there will be more participants.
Just in time for the Mens Race start, the race area – consisting of two greenhouses, flower preparation room
and five external tents – was filled with spectators. The spirit of the race was high and the spectators followed
the pumptrack race directly and through the many monitors showing all angels of the race. Exiting turns,
jumps, a log-section and high class mountainbike racing was enjoyed by both riders and spectators.
Right before the end of the race, Adrien Loron, France, was leading the final at the split time until an small
error in one oft he deep burms brough him to the ground, leaving the number one position to Noel Niedereberger,
Switzerland who already won the qualification race on Friday.
The small final was won by Chaney Guennet, France with Brendan Fairclough, UK coming in fourth and David
Graf, Switzerland came in fifth position.
Text: Press Release Photos: SR Suntour – Hoshi Yoshida
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