Check out last week’s events with our weekly recap!
October 12th |Italy
At long last! Bauke Mollema turned pro in 2008 and since then has won two Grand Tour stages (at the Vuelta Ciclista a España and the Tour de France) as well as the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian in 2016. He is an attacking cyclist and a regular in the top 10 at events, but to date he had never won a Monument. Now he can add that achievement to his CV, the 32-year-old Dutchman taking the 243-kilometre Il Lombardia – the "Race of the Falling Leaves" – in Italy.
Mollema, who rides for Trek-Segafredo, went solo around 20 kilometres from the finish and quickly established a 20-second lead over his rivals during the penultimate climb of the day, the 4.2-kilometre ascent to Civiglio. He then maintained his intensity to hold off the pack, crossing the line 16 seconds ahead of UCI 2018 World Champion Alejandro Valverde (Spain, Movistar Team) and the winner of this year’s Tour de France Egan Bernal (Colombia, Team Ineos), who joined him on the podium.
October 12th |Saint Gallen, Switzerland
The final of the sixth round (out of eight) of the 2019 Cycle-ball World Cup thrilled the crowd with a match that ebbed and flowed and saw a veritable avalanche of goals. At half-time, Germany’s RMC Stein (Bernd and Gerhard Mlady) were already 7-5 ahead of their Swiss rivals RMV Pfungen (Benjamin and Severin Waibel), and by the final whistle that lead had stretched to 11-6!
Another Swiss duo (Roman Schneider and Paul Looser, RS Altdorf 1) took third place, defeating RSV Waldrems from Germany (Marcel Schüle and Björn Bootsmann) in a much tighter contest that finished 2-1.
The tournament held in Saint Gallen was the 15th UCI World Cup event, and brought together 10 teams from seven different countries (Germany, Austria, France, Japan, Liechtenstein, Czech Republic and Switzerland). Since Saint Gallen’s own team would not have been up to the standards of the competition, there was a wild card for the youngsters from RMV Mosnang’s U-23s who are based in the same canton, and who repaid the confidence shown in them by finishing in a very creditable 7th spot.
With two rounds still to go, (in Höchst, Austria and Möhlin, Switzerland), RC Höchst 1 (AUT) currently sit atop the table ahead of RV Dornbirn 1 (AUT) and RMC Stein (GER).
October 11th-13th|Il Ciocco, Italy
The UCI Trials World Cup came to an exciting conclusion with the third and final round of the series held in Il Ciocco, in Tuscany. There was quite an upset in the women’s event: defending UCI World Champion Nina Reichenbach from Germany ended up being overhauled at the top of the leader board by her Spanish rival Vera Barón, who rode to victory in Italy and scooped her maiden UCI World Cup into the bargain, at the tender age of 15. It can hardly be classed as a surprise result however, since the young cyclist has been grabbing the headlines ever since the start of the season. In the Men Elite – 20", Borja Conejos came home ahead of fellow Spaniard Alejandro Montalvo (ESP), the latter making a couple of errors which cost him victory both on the day and in the overall World Cup standings. This was just Conejos’ first win of the year, but his consistency throughout the season saw him finish on top of the 2019 UCI World Cup standings. There was a more predictable outcome in the Men Elite – 26", Great Britain’s Jack Carthy taking the spoils ahead of Frenchman Nicolas Vallée. Carthy has swept the board this season, bestriding his category like a colossus and winning every leg of the series.