The last of four tournaments of the 2025 UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup was a competition of farewells. The UCI World Cup Final hosted by RSV Öschelbronn, Germany, saw three Act-4 teams, a pairs team and two individual athletes compete in their last competitions.
Single Men: Swansong for Köcher, top spot for Rapp
Just one week after the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Göppingen, Germany, the international Elite met for the final time this season on 15 November. The focus was on Simon Köcher from the host club RSV Öschelbronn. The 24-year-old had announced a few weeks ago that he would end his successful career. “A decision that I really didn't make easily, but which has actually crystallized for me for a long time,” described last year's UCI World Cup overall runner-up. “The past few years have been marked by physical complaints that have set me back in my development again and again.”
Köcher has been a member of the German national team for almost ten years. His record includes two silver medals at the Under 19 European Championships and numerous national medals. At the end, he once again showed an almost flawless freestyle in front of sold-out stands and was rewarded with standing ovations, applause that lasted for minutes, and third place in the 2025 UCI World Cup overall ranking.
The UCI World Cup winner is the newly crowned UCI World Champion Philipp-Thies Rapp (Tailfingen/GER), who achieved a world best of 212.92 points. He has been unbeaten in this season’s UCI World Cup. The second podium place went to Jonas Beiter (Trillfingen/GER).
Paris Women: Fond farewell for Swiss duo
The next farewell was in the Pairs Women competition. The recently-crowned two-time UCI World Champions Antonia Bärk and Henny Kirst (Bonn-Duisdorf/GER, 136.25 points) also repeated their UCI World Cup overall victory with their last freestyle. Their German teammates Kim Schlüter and Neele Jodeleit (Knetterheide, 129 points) finished second again, ahead of the Swiss duo of Larissa Tanner and Simona Lucca (Stäfa/ Dürnten - 115.51 points).
Another Swiss pair, Romina Ledergerber and Hana Gedawy (Löhningen/ Schaffhausen), who finished fifth, were also greeted with appreciative applause as they ended their competitive careers in Öschelbronn.
Act4 open: Season’s spectacular finale
The spectators were treated to a spectacular final in Act4. The defending UCI World Cup winners Tijem Karatas, Milena Schwarz, Stella Rosenbach and Annika Rosenbach (Mainz-Ebersheim/GER, 239.83 points) prevailed by the narrowest of margins. The 2022 UCI World Champions took a form of revenge after the recent UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships, winning by 32-hundredths of a point over the two-time and reigning UCI World Champions from Switzerland. Wearing the rainbow jerseys, Stefanie Haas, Valerie Unternährer, Selina Niedermann and Sarah Manser (Uzwil, 239.51 points) ended their careers with second place in the UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup overall ranking.
Nadine Jenchen, Hannah Schulze, Anna Kathleen Buchwald and Charlott Boden (Wiednitz/GER, 229.07 points) moved into third place in the day's standings ahead of another German quartet Carolin Schmid, Alina Bötzer, Franziska Bötzer, Sabrina Bürßner (Aach, 223.40 points), who were performing together for the last time in this line-up.
However, it was the Swiss quartet of Karina Keller, Rosanna Schönborn, Chiara Villiger and Flavia Schürmann (Lucerne/Baar) who finished third in the season’s overall rankings.
Single Women: Füller and Dandl share the year’s honours
Lara Füller (Poppenweiler/GER) goes into the winter break with a bitter-sweet victory. The 2024 UCI World Champion missed this year's UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships having finished only fourth in the German qualifying series. At the UCI World Cup final, she came close to her season's best with 192.75 points, distancing herself from her competitors. Thanks to the double point award, she passed defending overall winner Ramona Dandl (Bruckmühl/GER), whose successful performance (187.96) put her in second place on the day. Alessa Hotz (Baar/SUI) finished third in Öschelbronn ahead of Jana Pfann (Bruckmühl/GER).
Despite scoring the second-best performance of the day, the new UCI World Champion Dandl had to settle for fourth place in the overall UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup ranking because she had missed a round earlier in the year.
Pairs open: Rödiger and Styber show their class
Despite making some minor mistakes, the UCI World Champions Nico Rödiger and Lea-Victoria Styber (Langenselbold/GER) remain undefeated in the UCI World Cup, winning in the final with 141.51 points.
The UCI World Championships bronze medallists Niklas Kreuzmann and Celine Stapf (Soden/GER, 128.08 points) were second, and, somewhat surprisingly, Pavel Šin and Vojtěch Blazeck (Brno/CZE) finished third overall. The two 15-year-old Czechs are the youngest ever athletes to earn their way onto a UCI World Cup podium.