The German pro rider Simon Gegenheimer (GER/29) again secures a podium position at the UCI MTB Eliminator World Cup finals in Brazil. After winning sprint gold last year, Gegenheimer is now second overall and thus confirms his constant world cup level performance.
It was a thrilling final round of the Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup in Brazil. Around 300 kilometres away from Rio de Janei- ro, the world’s fastest mountain bikers met again to fight for the crown for the strongest MTB sprinter of 2018. The course lead- ing around the pilgrimage church Bom Jesus de Matozinhos was anything but easy. The riders had to climb up the hill to the UNESCO World Heritage Site before sprinting over rough cobblestone. Due to pouring rain, the track was extremely slippery and difficult to ride.
“We used all our experience to master the race. Steffen and I did our best regarding the choice of materials, riding technique and tactics. That's why we made it to the podium of the 2018 overall World Cup,” said the four-time German champion Gegen- heimer about his success. During the race, the team Thum/Gegenheimer did a great job and thus saved energy for Gegenhei- mer’s final. Thum took the leading position as often as possible and having a team colleague with you alone reduces the stress throughout the race. In the end, Gegenheimer lost some energy while riding out of the last corner, which increased the gap to the overall World Cup winner Jeroen van Eck (NED/25). Therefore, he focused on the French champion Lorenzo Serres (FRA/20) that came from behind and thus set the third-fastest time of the day and finished second overall. Yet, Gegenheimer was satisfied and rather saw the team’s success over the course of the year. His team colleague Steffen Thum commented on Gegenheimer’s performance as follows: “The entire team is characterized by athletes like Simon and we’ll stay true to our principles in future. Year after year, Simon shows high professionalism on an international level. I’m proud to have such kind of athletes in my team and Simon knows that he can rely on us, just like we can always rely on him,” said the team captain who was more than happy with his role as a domestique at the World Cup in Brazil.
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