The countdown is on to the 2025 UCI Mountain Eliminator World Championships, taking place in Türkiye for the first time.
Cross-country eliminator (XCE) specialists will battle for the rainbow jersey on Sunday 22 June in Sakarya on the Black Sea Coast. The venue is already familiar to the riders: it hosted rounds of the UCI MTB Eliminator World Cup powered by citymountainbike.com from 2021 to 2024, and will welcome another round this August.
The circuit is in the beautiful Ayçiçeği Cycling Valley, in Sakarya’s capital city, Adapazarı. While the local organisers promise “a few modifications” to the UCI World Cup course, we’ll see familiar features: the long start and finish straights, an off-road section featuring a tough climb and a sharp drop, plus three other obstacles in front of the 9,000-seat grandstands.
Former results from Sakarya
In Sakarya’s recent UCI World Cup rounds, victories went to UCI World Champions Gaia Tormena (ITA) and Titouan Perrin-Ganier (FRA) in 2022, Perrin-Ganier again and Marion Fromberger (GER) in 2023, then Sweden’s Edvin Lindh and Tormena in 2024.
Recent and reigning UCI World Champions
But this week’s focus is not on accumulating points for overall titles, it’s a one-shot for the rainbow stripes. Sakarya follows Barcelona, Spain, where Tormena and Perrin-Ganier won in 2022; Palangkaraya, Indonesia, where the pair retained those titles; and Aalen, Germany, where Tormena won her fifth UCI World Champion title and the Netherlands’ Jeroen van Eck won his first.
Van Eck may not have been the favourite but he was a worthy winner and UCI World Champion. The 30-year-old calmly explained his approach:
“After many attempts, the puzzle came together this year! XCE has always fascinated me – it’s fast, powerful, and truly spectacular. But that also makes it incredibly hard to control. You’ve got just 2 minutes to give it your all, with intense (mental) pressure and the insane lactate build-up afterwards.”
Women Elite rainbow jersey to change hands
This year the UCI World Championships come after only two (of eight) UCI World Cup rounds. While both reigning UCI World Champions won round 2 in Leuven, Belgium, on 1 June, Tormena will be unable to defend her rainbow jersey in Türkiye due to an elbow injury sustained in training.
There is no shortage of athletes ready to take her place.
Twenty-four-year-old German Champion and UCI World Cup overall leader (190 points) Fromberger is on form, and watch Dutch Champion Didi de Vries and French duo Madison Boissière and Coline Clauzure.
Meanwhile, Mariia Sukhopalova will proudly fly the Ukrainian flag, hoping to make more history after taking her first UCI World Cup win at this year’s opening round in Dushanbe, Tadjikistan.
Men to watch
In the men's racing in Belgium three weeks ago, Edvin Lindh was fastest in the qualifiers – for the eighth successive time – yet didn’t make the final. Van Eck took control from the start of the men’s final, outgunning German Champion Louis Krauss and Slovenian Champion Jakob Klemenčič.
“Winning in this jersey feels good, especially because of the way I rode. I trusted myself and my strengths. I felt the flow, moving fast through the corners and over the obstacles,” explained Van Eck. “I also had another reason to win today. Last week, I lost a good friend from high school – only 30 years old. This win is for him too. Wish you the best, mate.”
Besides Van Eck, look out for UCI World Cup overall leader Klemenčič, with 168 points after his maiden victory in round 1, and, second-placed overall, the 2024 XCE UCI World Cup overall winner Lindh.
Romania’s Ede-Karoly Molnar is one to watch, and Simon Gegenheimer must never be counted out! Lorenzo Serres is not yet firing on all cylinders, but what about his fellow Frenchman, the 33-year-old six-time UCI World Champion Titouan Perrin-Ganier?
“It's World Championship week. Let's chase one more dream on Sunday in Türkiye.”