Hutt Valley teenager, Erice van Leuven produced a superb performance to win the junior women’s downhill at the second round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Switzerland.
Remarkably, it is not her first World Cup triumph this year, with van Leuven having won a round of the UCI Enduro World Cup in Tasmania in April, and now she currently leads the world standings in both junior elite Enduro and Mountain Bike World Cups.
The 16-year-old, in her first Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup, was second fastest in qualifying, five seconds down on top qualifier, Colombia’s Valentina Roa Sanchez at the famed Swiss resort of Lenzerheide.
Van Leuven, who rides for the French professional team Commencal Les Orres, nailed her run in the final to win by 4.2s from the Colombian.
“It was an insane run,” said van Leuven. “Sometimes you have runs where you can’t remember anything because it just works so good and that was one of them so I was really stoked.
“One section where I crashed in quallies yesterday I did, like for me, perfectly. So I was really happy.”
Van Leuven was the only New Zealander to qualify for the downhill finals in junior women or junior men.
Wanaka teenager Kalani Muirhead was the best of the kiwis in qualifying for the elite downhill. She was 22nd fastest in the qualifying run with national champion Jess Blewitt 26th fastest as Swiss rider Camille Balance set the pace. Muirhead misses out on a semifinal spot, with Blewitt a protected rider on world ranking.
Rotorua’s Tuhoto-Ariki Pene was fastest of the elite male gravity riders in qualifying. He was 31st fastest ahead of fellow MS Mondraker professional Brook MacDonald, but some six seconds behind pacesetter Andreas Kolb (Austria). Rotorua’s Lachie Stevens-McNab was 51st fastest just ahead of veteran Sam Blenkinsop, with this quartet the only kiwis to make it in the top 60 for the semifinals.
Meanwhile UCI Short Track World Champion Sam Gaze came down on a fast corner while leading the men’s elite short track cross country race.
The Alpecin Deceuninck professional quickly returned to the fray, working his way back up to 14th to earn a second row start in Monday’s full distance race (NZT). Trek Factory professional Anton Cooper, the Oceania champion, had a strong ride to finish 22nd which will qualify him for a third row start.
Taupo’s Sammie Maxwell was seventh in the elite women’s short track race to earn her a front row start for tomorrow’s race while in under-23 short track races, Matthew Wilson led the kiwis in 15th place just ahead of Team Talleys NZ MTB Collective teammate , Ethan Rose and Caleb Bottcher.
Action reverts to the downhill course on Saturday night (NZ time) from 8.45pm for the semifinals and finals of the elite competition, while the cross-country under-23 races start from 6.30pm on Sunday with the elite women from 11pm and elite men from 1.30am Monday (NZT).
Results:
Cross country, elite men short track: Luca Schwarzbauer (GER) 19:47, 1; Jordan Sarrou (FRA) at 2s, 2; Fini Carstensen (SUI) at 4s, 3. NZers: Sam Gaze at 22s, 14; Anton Cooper at 28s, 23.
Men U23: Dario Lillo (SUI) 20:21, 1; Adrien Boichis (FRA) at 7s, 2; Carter Woods (CAN) at 9s, 3. Also NZers: Matthew Wilson (Team Talleys) at 48s, 15; Ethan Rose (Team Talleys) same time, 16; Caleb Bottcher st, 17.
Women U23: Ronja Blochlinger (SUI) 21:10, 1; Ginia Caluori (SUI) at 11s, 2; Heby Pedersen (DEN) at 12s, 3. NZers: Sammie Maxwell (NZ Mtb Academy) at 43s, 7; Mia Cameron (Team Talleys) 34; Amelie Mackay (Team Talleys) 37.
Downhill, junior women final: Erice van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres) 3:22.247, 1; Valentina Roa Sanchez (COL) at 4.2s, 2; Lisa Bouladou (FRA) at 5.4s, 3.
Elite women qualifying: Camille Balance (SUI) 3:12.136, 1; Rachel Atherton (GBR) at 5.04s, 2; Valentina Holl (SLO) at 6.01s, 3. NZ riders: Kalani Muirhead (KiwiDH) at 28.60s, 22; Jess Blewitt at 31.30, 26.
Elite men qualifying: Andreas Kolb (AUT) 2:44.411, 1; Loris Vergier (FRA) at 0.482s, 2; Angel Suarez Alonso (ESP) at 0.823s, 3. NZ riders: Tuhoto-Ariki Pene at 6.86s, 31; Brook MacDonald at 7.1s, 33; Lachie Stevens-McNab at 9.33s, 52; Sam Blenkinsop at 9.453s, 55