The final round of the 2024 UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup closed out the season for the discipline’s flagship series in Oberbüren, Switzerland, by crowning the overall winners in the single, pairs and ACT 4 competitions. Here is a look back at the season’s highlights.
ACT 4: RV Mainz-Ebersheim win the UCI World Cup
Overall victory in the ACT 4 went to the 2022 UCI World Champions from RV Mainz-Ebersheim (GER). Runners-up at the 2024 UCI World Championships, for the second year running, Tijem Karatas, Annika Rosenbach, Stella Rosenbach, Milena Schwarz and their replacement Svenja Kraus finished second in Oberbüren to secure the overall UCI World Cup title.
Winners of the final round were newly crowned UCI World Champions Stefanie Haas, Valerie Unternährer, Selina Niedermann and Sarah Manser from Uzwil (SUI).
“To be honest, today I was more nervous before our programme - also because of the great home crowd - than at the UCI World Championships,” said Selina Niedermann. “Nevertheless, we managed a great performance, and we are very satisfied.”
The Swiss riders repeated their performance from the UCI World Championships in Bremen (Germany) with 222.46 points.
In the overall classification, RV Mainz-Ebersheim came out on top with 420 points, ahead of the Swiss champions (370 points) and the Germans from Wiednitz, Anna Kathleen Buchwald, Nadine Jenchen, Charlott Boden and Hannah Schulze (290 points).
For the 2023 UCI World Champions, Switzerland's Vanessa Hotz, Stefanie Moos, Flavia Schürmann and Carole Ledergerber, the result in Oberbüren was of secondary importance as it was their last appearance together. The Swiss had already announced their retirement during the summer - and had abandoned any attempt to defend their UCI World Champion title.
“What began as a hobby should also end as a hobby,” they said. “That's why fun should come first this year.”
The young veterans took third place at the final round with 205.14 points.
Lukas Kohl back on top in the Single Men
The seven-time UCI World Champion, Germany's Lukas Kohl (Kirchehrenbach), who lost the title at this year's UCI World Championships, managed to re-establish his dominance. At the 2024 UCI World Championships, the 28-year-old showed unusual nervousness and had to settle for the bronze.
“I didn't quite manage to get into the flow at the UCI World Championships,” said Kohl. “That's why I couldn't perform normally. Only half of my programme was good. My usual concentration of 180 percent was down to 170.”
However, at the final round of the UCI World Cup, Kohl continued his winning streak with a magnificent programme. His result of 214.6 points exceeded his own starting score (213.50 points) as well as those of his competitors. Kohl once again claimed the total overall victory by winning all of the heats. Since the introduction of the UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup in 2018, Kohl has won all of the 24 rounds that have been organised.
Second place went to UCI Vice World Champion Philipp-Thies Rapp (Tailfingen, Germany) with 204.81 points. He finished ahead of the new UCI World Champion Emilio Arellano (ESP) on 199.80 points.
In the overall standings, Kohl finished the season with 500 points to take the overall title, ahead of Simon Köcher (335 points), Rapp (310 points) and Arellano (285 points).
Jana Pfann narrowly beats Ramona Dandl to take the overall title in the Single Women
The single women competition was marked by a German hat-trick. The UCI World Champions of the last three years fought out an exciting battle in Oberbüren against their Swiss and Austrian rivals. With only ten points separating the top five, Germany's Ramona Dandl (Bruckmühl), 2023 UCI World Champion, won the final round with 187.44 points, ahead of teammate and 2022 UCI World Champion Jana Pfann (186.41). The new 2024 UCI World Champion Lara Füller (Poppenweiler) came third with 184.61 points. Just behind her, double UCI World Championships bronze medallist (2021 and 2022) Alessa Hotz (Baar, Switzerland) took fourth place with 182.14 points ahead of 2024 UCI World Championships bronze medallist Lorena Schneider (Höchst, Austria) on 178.29 points.
For the 2024 UCI World Cup title, it went for the first time to Jana Pfann (460 points), ahead of Ramona Dandl (440 points) and Lara Füller (275 points). Outside of the German podium, Italian Magdalena Müller finished fourth with 270 points.
Pairs Open: 2024 UCI World Champions Styber and Rödiger take the victory
The new UCI World Champions in Pairs Open, Germany's Lea Styber and Nico Rödiger (Langenselbold), completed a hat-trick of victories by securing the overall classification of the UCI World Cup for the third time (with 400 points), despite both riders being absent from the first round in Italy due to injury.
They even went into the competition with a handicap. “We changed our programme a little due to an inflammation. We failed one exercise, but the rest went flawlessly,” said Lea Styber. “It was exciting to compete in the UCI rainbow jersey for the first time.”
With the third consecutive victory, Styber and Rödiger ousted the previous overall leaders and UCI World Vice-Champions Niklas Kreuzmann and Céline Stapf (Soden, Germany) from the lead, who had competed in all four rounds of the 2024 UCI World Cup. They fell however ten points short of the overall title, as Styber and Rödiger took double points in the final round.
Third place in the overall ranking went to former UCI World Champions Max Hanselmann and Serafin Schefold (Öhringen, Germany), who retired this summer. The men's duo of Jonas Mächtig and Simon Riedinger (Ilsfeld) completed the German triumph in this category.
Pairs Women: Niedermayer and Hasmüller claim the overall title
In the Pair’s Women competition, new UCI World Champions Antonia Bärk and Henny Kirst (Bonn-Duisdorf, Germany) won the final round with 143.52 points, well ahead of UCI World Championship bronze medallists Larissa Tanner and Simona Lucca (Stäfa/Dürnten, Switzerland) with 122.41 points.
The overall ranking was however won by Annice Niedermayer and Jessie Hasmüller (Denkendorf/Magstadt, Germany), who finished third in the final round with 113.19 points, accumulating a total of 400 UCI World Cup points. Bärk and Kirst scored 365 points to finish second overall.
To everyone's surprise, Hungary's Anna Sárközi and Anita Pőhr (Bokodi SE) took third place overall.
The full results of the final round of the 2024 UCI World Cup as well as the overall rankings can be found here.