Just a few weeks after their triumph at the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Bremen, Germany, the Germans from RMC Stein, Raphael Kopp and Bernd Mlady, ended their season in style by winning the 2024 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup final in their first year of collaboration. This victory marks the end of a dry spell for Germany in this competition, as the country had not won the trophy since 2011.
In Ailingen, a small town near Friedrichshafen in southern Germany, the UCI World Champions defeated the Austrians Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein (RV Dornbirn) 6-4 in a repeat of the UCI World Championships final. This result ended Patrick Schnetzer's winning streak, as he had finished at the top of the UCI World Cup general classification for Austria every year since 2016 (with Markus Bröll from 2016 to 2019, and with Feurstein from 2021 onwards).
The third place went to the winners of the German Cup, Sven Holland-Moritz and Marius Hermanns (RSC Schiefbahn), who defeated the Swiss duo Severin Waibel and Peter Jiricek (RMV Pfungen) 5-3 in the match for third place.
A farewell tour...
Kopp and Mlady's victory also marks the beginning of a farewell tour. Shortly after the UCI World Championships in Bremen, the duo, who had only teamed up at the end of last year, announced that they would only compete for one more season. "When we started our 'Team Indybike' project in December 2023, we wanted maximum sporting success and, above all, to have fun," the two men explained. At that time, Kopp had just won the UCI World Champion title in 2023 with his cousin André Kopp. Bernd Mlady had been crowned UCI World Champion three times in the previous years with his cousin Gerhardt Mlady.
They achieved the goals they had set for themselves. The "super duo" Mlady-Kopp have won almost every title possible, with the exception of the German Cup, where they had to settle for second place. Three victories and one second-place finish in the UCI World Cup allowed Mlady and Kopp to finish in first place in the overall standings. The final victory in Ailingen completed their collection of titles.
...and a farewell duel
The match for third place was also a collective farewell. After more than ten years of collaboration, the Germans Sven Holland-Moritz and Marius Hermanns ended their joint career. Starting next year, they will continue to compete, but with different partners. In 2013, they began playing together in the third league and rose to the first league. They played key roles there, even becoming Vice-Champions of Germany in 2021. Their best performance was a second-place finish in the 2023 UCI World Cup final. Today, they added a third-place finish to their record.
On his side, Severin Waibel was competing in his final tournament. The 32-year-old Swiss wanted to win the UCI World Champion rainbow jersey with his brother Benjamin Waibel this year, after having won silver and bronze medals in previous years. But things turned out differently. The goalkeeper Severin successfully came back after tearing his cruciate ligament in April 2023. Then, in mid-September, Benjamin had to withdraw early due to back issues. Former UCI World Champion Peter Jiricek (Winterthur) stepped in to ensure a place for the team at the UCI World Championships. Waibel participated alongside Jon Müller, 21 years old, and won the bronze medal.
"I still don't know if I can be happy about it or not," Severin said, referring to his UCI World Cup semi-final loss to the German team. With their fourth place in the UCI World Cup final, the Waibel-Jiricek duo again competed at the highest world level.
Michael Brugger and Markus Lang participated in the event thanks to a wildcard for the host club, RVI Ailingen. The team, which had been promoted back to the German first division, set the goal of reaching the match for seventh place and exceeded that goal by reaching the match for fifth place, where they got defeated 6-3 by the 2023 UCI World Vice-Champions from Switzerland, Timon and Yannick Fröhlich (Altdorf II).
2024 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup final
RMC Stein/GER (Raphael Kopp and Bernd Mlady)
RV Dornbirn/AUT (Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein)
RSC Schiefbahn/GER (Sven Holland-Moritz and Marius Hermanns)
RMV Pfungen/SUI (Severin Waibel and Peter Jiricek)
RS Altdorf II/SUI (Timon Fröhlich and Yannick Fröhlich)
RVI Ailingen/GER (Michael Brugger and Markus Lang)
RS Altdorf I/SUI (Fabian Hauri and Jon Müller)
RV Sulz II/AUT (Philipp Schwendinger and Max Schwendinger)
TJ Favorit Brno/CZE (Robert Zvolanek and Ludvik Pisek)
RSV Osaka/JPN (Yuma Takahashi and Yusuke Murakami)