The opening round of the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup, organised in Baj, Hungary, was won by the German duo of Michael Birkner and Robert Mlady.
It was a career best result for the duo from RMC Immergrün Stein, who are coached by clubmate Gerhard Mlady, himself a regular on the UCI World Cup podium before retiring from competition 18 months ago. To celebrate receiving the UCI World Cup leaders’ jersey, the winning team invited their coach onto the podium. Gerhard Mlady, two-time UCI World Champion, last stood on a UCI Cycle-ball World Cup podium in November 2023, when he took third place in the final tournament – his farewell competition - together with cousin Bernd Mlady. https://www.instagram.com/p/DHy-LQfNM5p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Challenging path through the competition
At the start of the 2025 UCI World Cup season, Gerhard Mlady had to show strong nerves in his role on the sidelines. Even reaching the semi-finals was something of a nail-biter.
Three years after their last UCI World Cup season, Birkner and Mlady prevailed in their preliminary round group, 4-1 against Pascal Fontain and Patrick Köck, of Dornbirn II (AUT). They followed up with a 7-2 victory over Vilmos Toma and Tamas Árendás, of Tata (HUN), then a 6-1 win over Romain Doell and Michel Luther of Cronenbourg (FRA). However, they then lost 3-2 against Radek Adam/ Tomáš Horák, of Zlín (CZE).
The three teams from Stein, Zlín and Dornbirn II were all tied with nine points each, but a direct comparison of matches saw Birkner/Mlady and Adam/Horák move through to the semi-finals. In their match, Stein prevailed 4:3 over Group 1 qualifiers Kevin Bachmann and Michael Velte, of Sulz (AUT).
In the final, a co-favourite was waiting for them: Altdorf II’s Fabian Hauri and Jon Müller, the 2023 Swiss Champions who finished seventh overall in the 2024 UCI World Cup. They had been unbeaten in the preliminary round and defeated Zlín 4-1 in their semi-final match. However, Birkner and Mlady managed to defeat the Swiss outfit 5-4 after an open exchange of blows in a thrilling final.
Pride for Hungarian local heroes
The local heroes Vilmos Toma and Tamas Árendás secured a place in the match for seventh place, where they lost to the only representative from Slovakia, SK Chodsko (Jan Holar and Martin Kobes) by a narrow margin of 2:3. It was an exciting conclusion to the Hungarians’ appearance in the first ever UCI Cycle-ball World Cup hosted in their country.
The second round of the 2025 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup will be held on 11 May in Hong Kong. The aim is to qualify the best Asian team for the UCI World Cup overall final. Host Hong Kong will receive two starting places, five teams will come from Japan, and Malaysia will send one representative. Two European Under 23 teams will be playing in Hong Kong as guests.