This week saw the Youth European Championships in Capriasca, Switzerland. The competition included 5 days of racing in the gruelling 35°C heat, including a Time Trial, Eliminator and an XCO. Most riders were in teams of 3 that were a mixture of both boys and girls in order to do an extra race- the Team Relay. There was a large number of Brits racing which was great to see! Well done to all competitors.
Time Trial (XCT)
After course practise for many on Sunday and Monday, Tuesday saw the competition officially kick off with the Time Trial (XCT). This was a short 600m race with riders set off 30 seconds apart. This race determined the gridding for the team relay so it was crucial that riders put out their best effort. With it being such a short course, the riders only took between 60 and 90 seconds to complete the time trial meaning every second counted! This race also determined which riders qualified for the eliminator race- only the top 32 girls and 64 boys in each category were allowed to race in Thursday’s eliminator. The combined Time Trial time of each team also determined where the teams were gridded for Wednesday’s Team Relay.
Results
U15 Boys U15 Girls
1. Lukáš Vorel – Czech Republic 1. Meta Tancik – Slovenia
2. Šimon Lehky – Czech Republic 2. Zoe Roche – Great Britain
3. Maksymilian Matysik – Poland 3. Johanna Pininger – Austria
U17 Boys U17 Girls
1. Hugo Franco Gallego – Spain 1. Kateřina Duskova – Czech Republic
2. Keije Solen – Netherlands 2. Hanka Vikova – Czech Republic
3. Timo Brandel – Germany 3. Sirin Stadler – Switzerland
British Riders
U15 Boys U15 Girls
Leon Atkins – 20th Zoe Roche – 2nd
Jacob Steed – 76th Katie Allsop – 80th
Tomas McIntosh – 103rd Daisy Wilkinson – 87th
Arthur Limb – 106th Zoe Blyth – 112th
George Cooper – 150th
Rupert Hext – 215th
U17 Boys U17 Girls
Ben Coppola – 35th Daisy Taylor – 7th
Alex Hart – 133rd Lacey Holmes – 84th
Lewis Tinsley – 139th Lucy Allsop – 101st
Rory Ogilvie – 169th Tulsi Bakrania – 107th
Innes McDonald – 181st
Milo McIntosh – 196th
Oliver Blyth – 208th
Ruan Vorster – 212th
James Foster – 239th
James Kiehlmann – 240th
Team Relay (XCT)
Wednesday kicked off with the Team Relay. This consisted of each rider in the team taking it in turns to complete a lap of the XCO course before coming round to the finish and tagging the next rider to set off. The course took around 16-20 minutes to complete a lap which was made even harder by the extreme heat and the techy descents. Riders were given an individual time at the end of their lap as well as the team’s time combined to give an overall team placement. The individual time from the Team Relay and the individual time from the Time Trial determined gridding for Friday and Saturday’s XCO races. The winning teams in each race became the European Champions in XC Team Relay.
Results
U15 Teams
1. CZECH REPUBLIC NATIONAL TEAM A U15 – Czech Republic
2. TEAM SUD FRANCE U15 – France
3. HRM-GERMANY 1 POWERED BY STOP&GO MARDERABWEHR – Germany
U17 Teams
1. CZECH REPUBLIC NATIONAL TEAM A U17 – Czech Republic
2. SWISS CYCLING NATIONAL TEAM 1 – Switzerland
3. AUSTRIA 1 U17 – Austria
British Teams
U15
RIDEFORCHARLIEUK – 29th
SHERWOOD PINES WXC – 43rd
A TO Z – 100th
U17
RFC SCOZIA CENTRALE – 53rd
SHIRES RIDE FOR CHARLIE – 59th
TEAM MTB UK – 77th
RIDE FOR CHARLIE SCOTLAND – 106th
Eliminator (XCE)
For those who qualified, Thursday brought the Eliminator race. This was raced on the short 600m course that was used for the Time Trial earlier in the week. The Eliminator ran in a series of heats that included the top 32 riders from the Time Trial for the girls and the top 64 riders for the boys. Each heat had 4 riders racing with the fastest 2 qualifying for the next heat and the slowest 2 being eliminated. This meant that the winner of the boys categories had to race 5 heats in total and the winner of the girls had to race 4 heats. The winning riders in each category became the European Champions in XC Eliminator.
Results
U15 Boys U15 Girls
1. Noa Filippi – France 1. Zoe Roche – Great Britain
2. Emanuele Savio – Italy 2. Anja Grossmann – Switzerland
3. Lukáš Vorel – Czech Republic 3. Emma Mankova – Czech Republic
U17 Boys U17 Girls
1. Hugo Franco Gallego – Spain 1. Kateřina Duskova – Czech Republic
2. Killian Hampiaux – France 2. Chloe Tschumi – Switzerland
3. Niclas Pallweber – Italy 3. Mae Cabaca – Netherlands
British Riders
U15 Boys U15 Girls
Leon Atkins – 27th Zoe Roche – 1st
U17 Boys U17 Girls
Ben Coppola – 56th Daisy Taylor – 17th
Cross Country Olympic (XCO)
Friday and Saturday brought the final discipline of the week- the XCO. For U15 riders, this happened on Friday, and U17’s raced on Saturday. The XCO featured multiple laps of the rocky, techy 4km course. Riders were allowed tech/ feed assistance across multiple pits meaning it was also hard work for the parents and families having to stand in the hot sun whilst the riders made their way round the course! As there were so many entrants (over 700!) each category was split into separate age groups based on the year they were born. This meant that there were 8 separate XCO races that took place across the final 2 days. The forecast predicted rain for the Saturday afternoon- the first rain of the week- but it stayed dry and hot for the riders that were hoping for the rain to cool down! 8 European Champions were crowned in across the XCO discipline.
Results
13s Boys 13s Girls
1. Marwan Barhoumi – Switzerland 1. Shana Huber – Switzerland
2. Riccardo Fasoli – Italy 2. Mariachiara Signorelli – Italy
3. Francesco Bettinelli – Italy 3. Johanna Piringer – Austria
14s Boys 14s Girls
1. Noa Filippi – France 1. Lucie Grohova – Czech Republic
2. Elias Huckmann – Germany 2. Elinore Nilsson – Sweden
3. Mads Pé Teunissen Van Manen 3. Eva Drhova – Czech Republic
– Netherlands
15s Boys 15s Girls
1. Kryštof Bazant – Czech Republic 1. Maruša Tereza Serkezi – Slovenia
3. Federico Rosario Brafa – Italy 2. Mae Cabaca – Netherlands
3. Ettore Fabbro – Italy 3. Amálie Gottwaldova – Czech Republic
16s Boys 16s Girls
1. Albert Philipsen – Denmark 1. Arianna Bianchi – Italy
2. Nicolas Halter – Switzerland 2. Elisa Lanfranchi – Italy
3. Zsombor Takacs – Hungary 3. Kamilla Aasebo – Norway
British Riders
13s Girls 13s Boys
Katie Allsop – 22nd Rupert Hext – 84th
14s Boys 14s Girls
Leon Atkins – 32nd Zoe Roche – 30th
Arthur Limb – 42nd Daisy Wilkinson – 51st
George Cooper – 92nd Zoe Blyth – 69th
Jacob Steed – 98th
Tomas McIntosh – 100th
15s Boys 15s Girls
Innes McDonald – 29th Tulsi Bakrania – 26th
Alex Hart – 37th Lacey Holmes – 66th
James Kiehlmann – 106th
16s Boys 16s Girls
Ben Coppola – 53rd Daisy Taylor – 24th
Ruan Vorster – 73rd Lucy Allsop – 44th
Lewis Tinsley – 103rd
Milo McIntosh – 107th
James Foster – 115th
Oliver Blyth – 124th
Rory Ogilvie – 131st
Huge congratulations to all who raced- we had a great week documenting the European Youth Championships 2022 in Capriasca, Switzereland.
Let us know what other races and events you would like to see us at in the future!
