Reigning UCI World Champions, and overall winners of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup powered by Citymountainbike.com, Gaia Tormena (ITA) and Simon Gegenheimer (GER) were favourites. While the 19-year-old Italian was able to retain her jersey, Gegenheimer lost out to Perrin-Ganier who claimed his historic fifth title.
Fast races in the qualifications
Tormena was the fastest woman in the qualifications, with a lap in 00:42.747. The winner of the last round of the UCI World Cup, Coline Clauzure (FRA), was second fastest with +0.68, followed by fellow French Noémie Garnier just over a second after. Ella Holmegård (SWE) and Lia Schrievers (GER) both registered times of +1.3.
Among the men, Gegenheimer was the fastest qualifying with 00:39.160. Jeroen van Eck (NED) finished +0.06, fully returned after the concussion that kept him out of competition in the early part of 2022. Quentin Schrotzenberger (FRA) was third, just +0.19 slower, and Nils-Obed Riecker (GER) fourth with +0.78. Four-times UCI World Champion Titouan Perrin-Ganier, who missed out on the overall UCI World Cup in a photo-finish, qualified as 11th, just over a second slower than Gegenheimer.
Tormena wins her third title
The quarter-finals went as expected with the exception of the winner from the season-opening round of the UCI World Cup in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Marcela Lima Braga Matos (BRA), who missed out in heat 4, with French duo Noémie Garnier and Léa Houyvet securing the two front places.
In the first semi-final, Tormena won over a star-studded field with Holmegård close after while Schrievers and Isaure Medde (FRA) were eliminated. In the second semi-final, three French came out on top with Clauzure and Garnier going through at the expense of Houyvet and the Netherlands’ Didi de Vries.
The minor final was won by Medde, the 2020 UCI World Champion, before Tormena, Holmegård, Clauzure and Garnier competed in the big final. Tormena didn’t let her crash in Germany slow her down, and she pushed out of the gate to take the lead into the first corner. Clauzure chased her throughout the race but just couldn’t match the pace of the young Italian who once again showed her dominance. Ella Holmegård got bronze for Sweden.
“It is incredible… I already knew that Barcelona was a track for me. I really love it, said Gaia Tormena. I tried to do my best in the final, it didn’t seem to be a UCI World Championships, I was so calm, so focussed so it was just a race. But then after the line you see the rainbow everywhere and you understand that it is a third UCI World Championships.
“The Eliminator is the one I love the most and the one that suits me the most. Today was the cherry on the cake!”
Fifth title for Perrin-Ganier
Anton Olstam (SWE) went out in the eight finals (having been drawn in Gegenheimer’s heat), as did Schrotzenberger, winner of the UCI World Cup in Palangkaraya, Indonesia. In the quarter finals, Gegenheimer won before fellow German Felix Klausmann. Van Eck looked comfortable rolling in ahead of three French riders, and Austria’s Theo Hauser won his race ahead of Perrin-Ganier, after Singapore’s Riyadh Hakim Bin Lukman took a tumble.
In the first semi-final, Gegenheimer led from start to finish, with Ricky Morales (PUR) close behind. A disappointed Klausmann came third, ahead of home rider Alberto Mingorance Fernandez. The second semi-final was won by Perrin-Ganier and Hauser stole the second place from 2021 runner-up van Eck on the final corner.
With van Eck winning the minor final, the big final pitched together Gegenheimer, Perrin-Ganier, Morales and Hauser. The French pushed the pace early on with the German just behind. Gegenheimer looked for any opportunity, right up to the final climb but Perrin-Ganier held him off and closed the door into the final right-hander, before collapsing off his bike in joy and relief. Ricky Morales took the bronze medal for Puerto Rico.
“Just amazing, said Titouan Perrin-Ganier. We have had a super long season and a lot of battles with Simon. I finished second a lot of times, but today I just said in my mind ‘full gas, full gas’. On the finish line, to take the rainbow, it’s just incredible. If you take the rainbow, the season is just great!”