The thrilling no-pedalling racing format has exploded in popularity both within and beyond the BMX community.
The first official UCI Pump Track World Championships were held in 2019 in Köniz-Oberried, Switzerland. The winners were both American: Ohio’s Tommy Zula and the then 17-year-old Payton Ridenour, who has multiple BMX national titles along with her pump track rainbow bands. With the 2020 edition planned for Leogang, Austria, cancelled due to Covid-19, 2021 was the next opportunity for the rainbow bands battle, at the Parque das Nações in Lisbon, Portugal.
A look back at the 2021
In the Women’s final Belgium’s Aiko Gommers powered her way round in 29.75 seconds to claim the rainbow jersey, with defending UCI World Champion Payton Ridenour having to settle for the silver medal. Switzerland’s Christa von Niederhäusern won bronze, matching her position in 2019, with Merel Smulders, one of the Netherlands’ famous BMX Racing sisters, taking fourth.
Gommers, who races UCI BMX Racing World Cup as a Junior with her twin sister Robyn, won the title aged 17 – just as Ridenour had done in 2019. The winner explained that her form was a by-product of her BMX Racing.
“I just went there to have fun and to experience a big event like that. I couldn’t even imagine how big and cool it was going to be there. I always go to a pump track just to ride for fun, so not really to train… just riding my bike on a BMX track is good enough to be ready I think.”
Qualification for the 2022 event was secured in Eindhoven, with the Gommers sisters taking the 1-2.
She’s looking confident ahead of the Chile finals.
Eddy Clerté took the men’s top honours after bronze in 2019’s inaugural UCI Pump Track World Championships.
He put more than a second into silver medalist Philip Schaub (Germany), with Thibault Dupont (France) claiming bronze. In fourth was the Netherlands’ Niels Bensink who perfectly demonstrated his skills crossing between BMX and mountain bikes to win the Genk qualifier this summer.
After the 2021 victory Eddy Clerté said: “I was ready mentally and that's crucial… I compete in BMX Racing, so I prepare myself all year technically and physically, but pump track is a different sport altogether. It requires pure talent and technical skill. You have to have something special to perform. I owe a lot to my father [Mickaël Clerté], who was a BMX pro and who made me get on a bike when I was three years old. I grew up on a bike and today I'm one with it."
After the last four UCI BMX Racing World Cup races in Bogotá, Colombia, Eddy joined a training camp with the French squad.
He’s looking good now!
The track and race format
The Santa Fe track, designed by Velosolutions, is a little shorter than previous Red Bull UCI World Championship courses, with rollers designed to make a balanced battle between riders from mountain bike and BMX Racing backgrounds.
2022 saw 19 qualifying rounds in 16 countries around the world, starting in Bariloche (Argentina) in March and which will conclude in Sante Fe on 18 November, on the eve of the UCI World Championships. Other qualifiers were held in Canada, the USA and a number of European destinations.
The 2022 Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships will be contested by flying laps with the earlier rounds having an open session format, where riders can complete as many runs as they can fit in. All qualified riders will compete in the first round, with the best 16 times advancing to the 1/8 finals. The same process sees those 16 cut to 8 for the quarter-finals and ultimately to four riders who face the semis.
Here the format changes. The fastest two from the semi-finals go to the main final; the other two going to the small final. Here, riders only get one shot at a fastest run, with the slower rider from the first round starting first. That’s where the pressure is at its highest.
The action’s on Saturday 19 November with a live stream on Pinkbike.com from 17:00-19:00 UTC-3.