The first round of this year’s UCI Trials World Cup took place in Vic, Spain, this weekend with the big names of the sport – Borja Conejos, Jack Carthy and Nina Reichenbach – once again showing why they’re at the top of trials competition.
Qualifications set the tone
Events started on Friday 27 May with the Men Elite 20” quarter-finals. Riders were looking to join the likes of Spain’s Conejos in the semi-finals; the home rider had already been granted a semi spot due to his high ranking. After two laps of the technical Vic course, Spain once again showed why they’re arguably the leading trials nation in the world as Antonio Fraile Arnay, Marti Riera Roura, Ion Areitio Agirre and Domenec Llado Comas made it through to the semi-finals as the four highest points scorers. Fraile Arnay looked in stellar form, recording two laps of 300 points for a flawless 600-point total.
First event up on Saturday was the quarter-finals of the Men Elite 26” category. Like Conejos, the likes of Britain’s Carthy were granted a passage straight to the semi-finals by courtesy of their high rankings. So it was left to France’s Nathan Charra to take centre stage as the French rider, who’d recently finished fifth in the French Cup in Saint-Gervais, unleashed two perfect laps for 600 points. Charra was followed by Spain’s Sergi Llongueras Campmajo (580 points) and Great Britain’s Andrei Burton (550 points) in second and third, respectively.
Women vie for place in the finals
Come the afternoon, it was the turn of the women to face the technical Vic course in the semi-finals. All the talk beforehand was about the battle between Germany’s Reichenbach and Spain’s Vera Baron Rodriguez. Baron had pipped Reichenbach to the world title in Vic last September, denying Reichenbach a fifth UCI World title. Reichenbach is one of the most competitive riders on the circuit but if she needed extra motivation, that was it. It seemed to do the trick as she topped the semi-final leaderboard with 550 points. Baron sat in second with 530 points.
Sweden’s Hilda Andersson qualified in third (470 points).
First UCI World Cup leaders of 2022
Sunday started with the Men Elite 20” semi-finals and Spain’s Alejandro Montalvo Milla grabbed the headlines as he qualified for the final in first position thanks to a score of 490 points. Dominik Oswald (Germany, 450 points) and Spain’s Eloi Palau Pinyana (410 points) qualified in second and third, respectively. Perhaps surprisingly, Conejos was down in fourth with 390 points.
The Men Elite 26” semi-finals took place soon after with Carthy destroying his rivals with 530 points. That was an incredible 150 points ahead of the second and third qualifiers, Marti Vayreda Vendrell (380 points) and Daniel Baron Rodriguez, both from Spain.
Then it was finals time with the Women up first. It was a mirror copy of the semi-finals as Reichenbach always looked in control to take top spot with 180 points. Baron finished second and Andersson in third.
As he’s shown time and time again, when the pressure’s on, Conejos turns on the style. He did so again to win the Men Elite 20” final with an impressive score of 240 points. Montalvo Milla followed in second with 200 points, while Palau Pinyana came third with 190 points.
The memorable three days of action concluded with the Men Elite 26” final, with Carthy taking the honours. The Brit’s 280 points headed second-placed Baron Rodriguez by 90 points, with Vayreda Vendrell in third (170 points).
Carthy’s victory brought round one of the UCI 2022 Trials World Cup to a close. The next round, in Copenhagen, Denmark, takes place 26-28 August.