A look at the statistics from previous years reveals that Patrick Schnetzer and his current partner Stefan Feuerstein are the clear favourites for the 2023 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup overall victory.
A win for the defending champions from RV Dornbirn, Austria, would mean their third consecutive overall UCI World Cup victory since first joining forces in 2021. Their attempt at the hat-trick will be made at the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup final in Zlín, Czechia on 25 November.
Schnetzer, the most successful cycle-ball player in the world, has claimed eight overall UCI World Cup victories with various partners since 2011, as well as twice finishing second and once in third place. This season, the RV Dornbirn duo has clocked up two tournament victories and two second places, meaning they missed out on first place in the overall ranking. But the counters are set to zero at Saturday’s final, and the pair will also be wanting to make up for the disappointment of the UCI World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in August, when they finished in third place despite winning the preliminary round undefeated.
Retiring Mlady and Kopp pairings want top spot
Meanwhile, first place in the UCI World Cup ranking is occupied by two-time UCI World Champions Gerhard and Bernd Mlady from RMC Stein. The German cousins missed out on their sixth UCI World Championship appearance this year, but prevailed in each of their three UCI World Cup appearances.
The overall victory in Zlín would not only be the icing on the cake for the pair, but also the first German overall UCI World Cup victory since 2011. In their eight successive finals to date, Mlady/Mlady have only been on the podium twice, as runners-up. A long-awaited first place would be a magistral way to mark the end of their career playing together.
The reigning UCI World Champions André Kopp and Raphael Kopp (RV Obernfeld/GER) are also speculating on the highest podium finish before bowing out of competition together. This pair – also cousins – are playing in their tenth and last UCI World Cup final together in Zlín. So far, three third-place finishes (2017, 2019 and 2022) are their best results.
Beyond the favourites
Outside of the three most favoured teams, also vying for success in Zlín are the silver medallists from the UCI World Championships Timon and Yannick Fröhlich (RS Altdorf/SUI) and fourth-placed Tomáš Horák / Radek Adam (TJ Sokol Zlín/CZE). There’s also Sven Holland-Moritz/ Marius Hermanns (RSC Schiefbahn/GER) who are in third position overall in the 2023 UCI World Cup ranking. For these three teams, the minimum goal is to reach the semi-finals.
The field in Czechia will also include Quentin Seyfried and Mathias Seyfried (VC Dorlisheim/FRA), who finished fifth at the UCI World Championships, as well as Björn Vogel/ Rafael Artho (RMV Mosnang/SUI), who secured the last qualifying places via qualification. As the best team from the Asian tournament in Japan at the start of the season, the B UCI World Champions Yusuke Murakami/ Yuma Takahashi (RSV Osaka/JPN) will also be present. The tenth starting place is taken by the second team of the final host, TJ Sokol Zlín II (Ludvík Písek / Vojtěch Baxa ) as a wildcard.