Day four of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Chengdu, China, saw every category of the trials World Championships decided on courses that got wetter and more slippery as the competitions progressed. There was so plenty of action in BMX Park, with Women’s qualification and semi-finals and the Men’s semi-finals.
Defending Trials Men Junior 26” Champion, Oliver Widmann, successfully retained his title. Despite not having the best of starts – only picking up 20 points in the first of five competitive sections – The German rider quickly got back to his best and put in a series of clean runs, only dropping 10 points thereafter.
Trials Men Junior 26” podium
1st Oliver Widmann (GER) – 250 points
2nd Vito Gonzalez (SUI) – 180 points
3rd Daniel Barón (ESP) – 120 points
With last year’s winner, Alejandro Montalvo of Spain, now in the Elite category, an enthralling battle ensued between Charlie Rolls of Britain and Spain’s Toni Guillén.
Both riders scored a perfect 60 points in the first section and 50 in the second. But after Guillén went out with 10 points in section three, Rolls could not capitalise, falling on the first obstacle. The Briton then showed his full capability in the final, getting two perfect scores to take the title
Trials Men Junior 20” podium
1st Charlie Rolls (GBR) – 230 points
2nd Toni Guillén (ESP) – 190 points
3rd Antonio Fraile (ESP) – 140 points
With six riders each from as many nations in the Women Elite final, the defending and three-time UCI World Champion, Germany’s Nina Reichenbach went head-to-head with this year’s World Cup winner, 15-year-old Vera Barón of Spain.
After three rounds the pair were tied for the lead. In section four, Barón blinked first, taking a big fall on the third obstacle and finishing with 20 points. Reichenbach showed the consistency that has made her the dominant force in Women’s trials for so long, only dropping points on the final obstacle. In the fifth and final section, Barón secured a 50-point ride to put her on the podium – which Reichenbach confidently matched to claimed her fourth consecutive UCI World title
Trials Women Elite podium
1st Nina Reichenbach (GER) – 230 points
2nd Vera Barón (ESP) – 200 points
3rd Manon Basseville (FRA) – 190 points
After dominating throughout 2019, Jack Carthy was the firm favourite to take his fourth world title in row. But the wet course caused the British rider problems as he fell in the first and second sections, scoring well behind the leader Sergi Llongueras of Spain. However, Carthy was back in contention when France’s Nicolas Vallée went out on zero points in section three and Llongueras did the same in section four.
Going into the final section, only 10 points separated the trio. With Vallée taking 40 points, Llongueras thought he’d scored the perfect run required for guaranteed victory, but the judges spotted an infringement on the final obstacle to give him 50 points.
Carthy who needed a 60-point ride to take the win and incredibly he appeared to have done so… but after a lengthy discussion, the judges concluded that Carthy had made a five-penalty-point infringement on the second obstacle giving him a section score of just 10 points – meaning that Llongueras had secured his first world title and Vallée took second place.
Trials Men Elite 26” podium
1st Sergi Llongueras (ESP) – 180 points
2nd Nicolas Vallée (FRA) – 160 points
3rd Jack Carthy (GBR) – 130 points
The 20” final looked open with the reigning UCI World Champion, Thomas Pechhacker, qualifying in fourth place. The Austrian continued to struggle initially as Spaniard Borja Conejos set the pace, closely followed by Dominik Oswald of Germany. However, Conejos took a nasty fall in section four, handing Oswald the lead.
Ion Areitio of Spain put in a dramatic 50-point ride in the final section to put him in prime position for the win – but Oswald responded with the same score to claim the UCI World Championship title. Conejos recovered from his crash to put in a perfect run for the silver medal.
Trials Men Elite 20” podium
1st Dominik Oswald (GER) – 190 points
2nd Borja Conejos (ESP) – 180 points
3rd Ion Areitio (ESP) – 180 points
The Men’s semi-final saw 24 riders battle for the 12 available spots in Sunday’s final.
Martin Logan (AUS) finished with the top qualifying score of 95.00, followed by Rimu Nakamura (JAP) on 94.30 and Nick Bruce (USA) with 92.50. Current UCI World Champion, Justin Dowell (USA), finished fourth with 90.24.
Meanwhile, top spot in the Women’s semi-final competition was secured by Hannah Roberts (USA) on 89.95 points, with Charlotte Worthington (GBR) 86.20; Lara Marie Lessmann (GER) 78.14 and Perris Benegas (USA) on 77.85 points rounding out the top four.
Full results