The third and final round of the 2019 UCI Trials World Cup took place 11-13 October in the breath-taking mountain resort of Il Ciocco-Tuscany, Italy. With over 150 riders taking part from 21 different countries, this year’s competition had already produced some unexpected results and the last round proved to be no exception. Over three days of gruelling competition, the field was finally whittled down to six in each category.
2019 UCI Trials World Cup round three Women’s final
The riders who’d earned their place in the women’s final were Manon Basseville (FRA), Vera Barón (ESP), Nadine Kamark (SWE), Nina Reichenbach (GER), Perrine Devahive (BEL) and Irene Caminos (ESP).
Competition was intense from the onset with Barón, Reichenbach and Basseville all putting in impressive rides. One highlight saw Barón teetering along the entire log balance beam with only her right foot on the pedals, drawing gasps and applause from the crowd in stage four.
In the fifth and final stage, three-time World Cup winner Reichenbach put in an almost perfect performance but dropped points on the final obstacle. In response, Baron cleaned the round beating Reichenbach by 50 points overall. Victory in Il Ciocco became her second of the competition – which was enough to take the overall World Cup win – an astonishing achievement for the young Spanish rider, competing in her first year of Elite level competition at just 15 years old. Basseville also earned a place on the round three podium, finishing in third place. And the finishing order in Italy reflected the overall final standings:
2019 UCI Trials World Cup round three Women’s result
1st Vera Barón, Spain – 260 points
2nd Nina Reichenbach, Germany – 210 points
3rd Manon Basseville, France – 170 points
2019 UCI World Cup Women’s final standings
1st Vera Barón, Spain – 725 points
2nd Nina Reichenbach, Germany – 680 points
3rd Manon Basseville, France – 580 points
2019 UCI Trials World Cup round three Men’s 26” final
Going into the Men’s 26” final were Jack Carthy (GBR), Nicolas Vallée (FRA), Vincent Hermance (FRA), Noah Cardona (FRA), Oliver Widmann (GER) and Joacim Nymann (SWE).
The riders all excelled themselves in stage one as each put in a perfect 60-point score.
From stage two onwards though, Carthy and Vallée began to start showing what has set them apart from the rest of the field this year and why they’ve led the competition during every round. Carthy put in a storming performance and pulled off a massive hook on to a 2-metre vertical log that defeated Vallée and the rest of the competitors in stage four.
With just 20 points between them, Vallée was in touch with Carthy going into the final round, but despite closing the gap to 10 points, the Frenchman was unable to overturn the Briton’s lead. Cardona put in a typically powerful performance in the final round to score 190 points and finish in third place.
Carthy’s win added to his clean sheet of victories in this year’s World Cup which gave him the overall win. Similarly, Vallée had finished in second place throughout the competition and finished second in the final standings, while the points tally of fellow countryman Hermance saw him take third overall.
Carthy celebrated on social media, “I’ve only gone and won the third and final UCI World Cup of 2019! Absolutely buzzing to have won and to be the World Cup winner overall for season 2019”.
2019 UCI World Cup round three Men’s 26” result
1st Jack Carthy, Great Britain – 260 points
2nd Nicolas Vallée, France – 250 points
3rd Noah Cardona, France – 190 points
2019 UCI World Cup Men’s 26” final standings
1st Jack Carthy, Great Britain – 800 points
2nd Nicolas Vallée, France – 640 points
3rd Vincent Hermance, France – 500 points
2019 UCI Trials World Cup round three Men’s 20” final
The six riders taking part in the last final of the day were Alejandro Montalvo (ESP), Borja Conejos (ESP), Thomas Pechhacker (AUT), Samuel Hlavaty (SLO), Ion Areitio (ESP) and Charlie Rolls (GBR).
Montalvo and Conejos made the perfect start as the only riders to clean stage one, but it was all extremely tight after that with only 30 points separating first and third place going into stage four.
This tough, technical stage constructed from thick logs caused problems throughout, with two 2-metre-plus pillars proving particularly difficult for the smaller wheeled bikes. Each rider either failed to hook up on to them or hooked then was forced to take a dab to move on.
Going into the final round, three Spaniards were leading the field, but it was tight with Conejos on 160 points, Areitio 150 and Montalvo 140. While Areitio managed a stage score of 30, Montalvo overtook him with a perfect ride that saw him sitting in first place. The pressure was seriously on Conejos, but he more than held his nerve with a 50-point score that took him to victory in Italy and wild celebrations. Montalvo was confirmed in second place, while Areitio took third.
With three different 20” riders taking a World Cup round win this season, the overall placings were going to be interesting. The double points awarded in the final round proved to be decisive as Conejos leapt from fourth position to overall winner and saw Montalvo being demoted to second place. Third went to current UCI World Champion, Pechhacker.
2019 UCI World Cup round three Men’s 20” result
1st Borja Conejos, Spain – 210 points
2nd Alejandro Montalvo, Spain – 200 points
3rd Ion Areitio, Spain – 180 points