Serafin Schefold and Max Hanselmann took on new roles at the third round of the UCI Artistic Cycling World Cup, in Hong Kong: the Pairs Open UCI World Champions, winners of the first 2024 UCI World Cup round, did not compete themselves but sat on the sidelines as supervisors for some German athletes.
A few weeks ago, the German duo from RV Öhringen unexpectedly announced the end of their joint competitive sports career via their Facebook account: “After more than 15 years together and over 20 years on the artistic bike, this decision was definitely not easy for us. However, we are both firmly convinced that this is the right time to end our careers,” they declared.
Impressive career record
During this long period together, they won six titles of UCI World Champion, several UCI World Cups, European Championships and German Championships. They hold the world record at 173.50 points.
Last year, the two had already thought about getting off their bikes for good after the UCI Cycling World Championships held in Glasgow and across Scotland. “The further the season progressed, the more we both had the feeling that we had not yet reached the end,” they exlained.
After their victory in Glasgow in the summer of 2023, they planned to continue towards their home UCI World Championships in Bremen, looking for title number seven. But, after winning the campaign’s first UCI World Cup round this year, a back injury for Schefold in May set the duo back in their plans. Valuable time was lost, and the pairing had to cancel their participation in the second UCI World Cup in Hohenems, Austria. Gradually, they realised that they lacked the necessary ambition for another season.
“The fire was no longer there, the bite was missing,” Schefold described. “I didn't want to put all other things on the back burner for four months. I don't want to have to prove myself anymore. And what would have happened if we hadn't been successful?”
Moving from the limelight
Schefold observes: “In the past few days, I have noticed that I don't always have to think about training or preparing for competitions. That always played a role before, no matter what you did.”
Nevertheless, the two were happy to take the trip to the UCI World Cup in Hong Kong without the pressure of competing themselves.
Under their watch, the UCI World Championships Pair Open silver medalists Nico Rödiger and Lea-Victoria Styber (GER) lived up to their role as favourites and won ahead of the second German duo Niklas Kreuzmann/ Celine Stapf and the local heroes Tsz Hin Jeff Lim/ Tsz Leung Ronald Lim (Hong Kong) who claimed third place.
Varga’s unforgettable competition
In the Single Men competition, Hungarian Csaba Varga stole the show by proposing to his girlfriend on the field of play just minutes after giving one of his best freestyle performances since 2010. She said yes!
With 162.82 points, Varga left Hong Kong with fourth place (best non-German athlete) and a fiancé! The podium was once again firmly in the hands of the German riders. UCI World Champion and world record holder Lukas Kohl (Kirchehrenbach) prevailed unchallenged, remaining unbeaten since his first UCI World title in 2016. There was a surprise in second place, which went to fellow German Jonas Beiter (Trillfingen), who was making his UCI World Cup debut in Hong Kong.