The 2023 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup powered by citymountainbike.com came to its thrilling conclusion with the fifth and final round in Barcelona, Spain. The stage was set in the beautiful Parc Montjuic with its fountains and iconic diagonal stairs descent. In 28-degree sunshine the UCI World Champions Gaia Tormena (ITA) and Titouan Perrin-Ganier (FRA) both secured the UCI World Cup overall title.
Women: Faultless Tormena
Heading into Barcelona after four rounds, Tormena was already leading the overall standings, and after posting the fastest time in qualifying in the Spanish city, had an unassailable 62-point overall lead.
Despite losing a pedal in the quarter-final, the Italian moved up from last place to take the win before putting on another great show in the semi-final to go through to the final. Second in the overall standings before Barcelona, Germany’s Marion Fromberger also comfortably sailed through qualifying races. They were joined in the final showdown by Austria’s Katharina Sadnik and Brazilian Marcela Lima Braga Matos.
In the final, Tormena and Fromberger set a blistering pace from the start. Wearing her rainbow stripes, Gaia Tormena – on the course where she won her most recent UCI World title – took the win to seal her overall dominance in the series. Sadnik came through for third ahead of Lima Braga Matos.
“In the final I gave it everything one more time,” said Gaia Tormena. “To win in Barcelona is great, this is the fourth time. Thank you to everyone! The overall was not as in previous years, it’s much more difficult, as the level of racing is growing.”
Men: Gegenheimer at last
It was not such a smooth competition for the men’s overall leader going into Barcelona, Titouan Perrin-Ganier. After qualifying fourth fastest, the Frenchman looked strong in the quarter-final and semi-final but crashed at the end of lap one in the final. As the man in the rainbow jersey remounted, there were quizzical looks and quick maths amongst the fans and teams… had the overall lead changed? But no, the Frenchman was safe!
The race for victory in Barcelona was therefore down to a battle between Germany’s Simon Gegenheimer, France’s Lorenzo Serres and Austrian Theo Hauser.
Gegenheimer pushed a hard pace, determined to claim his first UCI World Cup win of the year. He was already in the lead when Perrin-Ganier went down, and stayed there until crossing the finish line. Serres came through for 2nd, with Hauser 3rd.
“It took a long time to finally win my first race this year. Every year I’ve won a race,” said Gegenheimer. “It’s good to raise the form towards the UCI World Champs. It gives confidence for me, and for the team,”
After being confirmed overall series winner, Perrin-Ganier said: “I wanted to say a big thank-you to my new team, they’ve supported me in the best way. I’m super happy to get the overall and I’m focused now on the UCI World Championships.”
2023 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup standings
Women
Gaia Tormena (ITA) 313 points
Marion Fromberger (GER) 255
Annemoon Van Dienst (NED) 144
Didi De Vries (NED) 130
Agnes Abrahamsson (SWE) 109
Men
Titouan Perrin-Ganier (FRA) 218 points
Simon Gegenheimer (GER) 207
Lorenzo Serres (FRA) 190
Thibaut Kahlhoven (FRA) 146
Quentin Schrotzenberger (FRA) 143
The UCI Mountain bike Eliminator World Championships will take place on 15 October in Palangkaraya, Indonesia.