When the mountain bike elite meet for the World Cup in Leogang, the pulse of the scene at this biking hotspot beats even faster than usual. The closer the race weekend gets, the more fans arrive at the foot of the Asitz. In the end, 23,000 mountain bike enthusiasts cheer on around 1,100 athletes over the four days in June. 40 of them on e-bikes - for the first time at a Triple World Cup, which brings together the disciplines of cross country, downhill and enduro with all their race formats in a single event.
E-racing becomes a World Cup discipline
The reason for this was the sensational decision by the International Cycling Union (UCI), which announced shortly before Christmas that the Enduro World Series would be integrated into the World Cup. And thus also the E-version. "A huge step forward," says Claus Fleischer, CEO of Bosch eBike Systems, who remembers exactly how he, together with EWS initiators Enrico Guala, Chris Ball and Fred Glo, had campaigned hard just a few years earlier for the world federation to recognise e-bikes as bicycles in the first place.
Enduro riders will therefore be competing for World Cup points on five dates this year - on bikes both with and without motorised assistance. "It's fantastic to be part of the World Cup scene," says a cheerful Fabien Barel at the start in Leogang. The two-time downhill world champion actually only wanted to compete at the World Cup premiere in Finale Ligure two weeks earlier - and use it to celebrate the premiere of his brand new Canyon Strive:On on the race circuit. But then things went so well for Barel that, after his victory in Finale, he decided without further ado to take part in Leogang as well. And Barel is not the only prominent biker in the e-racer paddock this weekend. The list of starters includes numerous other illustrious names: for example, former downhill world champion Tracy Moseley, Flo Espiñeira, who won the EWS-E last year, e-MTB world champion Gérôme Gilloux and motorbike enduro world champion Manuel Lettenbichler. Plus Ines Thoma and Johannes Fischbach from the German gravity scene.
More attention for e-racing
So the conditions are good for e-racing to finally get some attention when the racing teams set up their huge tents in Leogang. But the first disillusionment for the e-racers comes when they look at the official World Cup programme: there is no mention of the start of the e-race! So it's no wonder that the e-racers keep to themselves - and Ines Thoma draws a rather sobering conclusion at the end: "To be honest, apart from the moment of the award ceremony together with all the enduro racers, you didn't notice much of the e-bike race." The Allgäu native, who has been fully committed to e-bike racing since this season, had a lot of fun on a technically demanding course: "The race day itself was mega!"
Own concept for e-racing
But riding fun alone does not make a good race concept. One question that comes up again and again in e-racing: do the e-races in the World Cup have the right format? No, says Ines Thoma. "In Leogang, we rode 1800 metres of elevation gain and over 6500 metres of descent," calculates the Canyon rider. "You can basically do that on a normal bike too." And indeed, the e-enduro race in Leogang takes place on a course that is almost identical to the normal enduro race. Only enriched with two power stages. These are contrasted by eight stages that are virtually all downhill. In concrete terms, this means that the uphill skills only play a subordinate role in the timekeeping, with just over two minutes out of around 40 minutes.
E-racing could therefore sharpen its profile with more exciting uphill stages. After all, there are surprisingly few time differences between the normal and e-enduro disciplines in downhill racing. "It's crazy how fast people ride here," says Johannes Fischbach about his first experience in the E-Enduro World Cup. "Fischi", who was still flying the German flag in the Downhill World Cup until last year, describes his first E-Enduro season as an "apprenticeship year". There are various reasons why he switched from the downhill spectacle to e-racing: Simply because of the economic importance of e-mountain biking for the bike industry, it can be assumed that e-racing will also gain in importance sooner or later. At least the professionalisation of the racing teams can already be seen in Leogang.
The best example: Fischi's sponsor Gasgas is represented in the World Cup with two racing teams together with co-sponsors Sram and Motorex. Not only to promote the development of bikes, but also to cultivate the image of e-mountainbikes. Team manager Marlene Metzler says: "We want to push the racing scene to show what is possible with an e-enduro bike."
The e-bike trend applies to all age groups
And Claus Fleischer, head of the e-bike division at Bosch, is positive about the fact that e-mountainbikes are becoming more and more sporty. "E-biking is the only trend we know of that goes from old to young," he says. And the appeal of an exciting racing series is fundamentally important for this development. Especially when it is organised under the umbrella of the UCI.
"The market is huge and the industry is really keen on this type of race format," Ines Thoma has also experienced. And the Allgäu native is convinced that consistent further development of the race format will attract more and more top riders. "The fact that people like Fabien Barel are racing here says it all." And the level of performance among the women is also top: "The riders who are on the podium in the E-Enduro race would also finish at the top in the normal Enduro discipline."
Despite all her critical thoughts, Ines Thoma has a happy glow on her face after a ten-hour race day. And she has every reason to be: her second place puts her on the podium, and she had a lot of fun to boot. Just like everyone in the Leogang field of riders. Manuel Lettenbichler, the motorbike rider, Flo Espiñeira with her victory in the women's competition. And of course racing icon Fabien Barel, who also won the race in Leogang after the World Cup in Finale Ligure.
The winners of Leogang
Men
- Fabien Barel
- Michael Hannah
- Tiago Ladeira
Women
- Flo Espiñeira
- Ines Thoma
- Tracy Moseley
