25th BIKE Festival Willingen 2024: Day 2 is history, these were the highlights
Stefan Frey
· 26.05.2024
Specialised BIKE Marathon
Long before the first visitors flooded the festival site at 10 a.m., the lactate-hungry riders made their way to the start line of the Specialized BIKE Marathon. Well-known names such as Urs Huber, who was the absolute favourite, but also Dutchman Teus Ruijter and German Aaron Wilhelmi were at the start. After a total of 119 kilometres and 3,333 metres of ascent, Urs Huber pushed himself and his Bulls under the finishing arch in 5:05:52 hours, followed by Teus Ruijter one minute behind.
In the women's elite race, only two of the seven starters in the long distance made it across the finish line. Rozanne Slik from the Netherlands took the win. The German Julia Anders from Stuttgart came second.
Also at the start was BIKE Junior Team rider Lucie Hückmann, who normally competes on cross-country courses. For the 19-year-old, it was one of her first starts in a marathon, where she finished in an excellent 4th place.
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Seeding runs of the IXS Downhill
The downhillers were also allowed on the track early in the morning for the second run of the IXS Cup. The first starters were hoisted up the Ettelsberg in the gondola at eight o'clock. From there, they headed down the still very wet and muddy course. Rutted lines and extremely slippery roots made the qualifying runs difficult. Only the fastest riders were able to qualify today for tomorrow's final on Sunday, which can be viewed at www.ixsdownhillcup.com. However, the track continued to dry out during the course of the day, so we can expect an extremely exciting race on a selective track tomorrow. Will xxx be able to prevail against the competition in the end? We will report back.
Vpace Kids Cup
The Vpace Kids Cup has the promotion of young talent written all over it. The programme is hugely popular. There were well over 100 starters between the ages of five and ten at the start. As always, the atmosphere at the flutter tape was fantastic and the little shredders were highly motivated. Of course there was also a winner. But with an organiser like this, everyone should be a winner. That's why all participating kids received a medal at the award ceremony. We are excited to see what great careers will develop from this brilliant race series in the future.
Full house on the festival site
The good weather once again attracted masses of visitors to the BIKE Festival expo centre in Willingen today. The aisles between the exhibitor stands were difficult to navigate in places. The test fleets were usually sold out just as quickly as the tasty burgers on the food mile. But there was also plenty to experience and win.
Training German Enduro Championship
The training runs for the German Enduro Championship also took place today. Willingen is known for its loamy and grippy forest surfaces, but also for some extremely sloping traverses on which slippery roots tempt the riders out of line. In addition to a total of 14 women, former champion Christian Textor will also be back at the start to try and reclaim the Enduro crown. Reigning German champion Torben Drach will try to prevent that. Rafaela Richter is the favourite among the women, but who knows what surprises the hills around Willingen have in store for her tomorrow.
Stefan Frey
Editor
