Leogang MTB World Cup – the major mountain bike event of the year

In an interview, Raphaela Richter made her season goal quite clear: The podium in the Enduro World Cup. At the 4th round of the EDR in Austria, she turned on the gas tap properly again. The podium was within reach. Why it did not work out you read in Raphaelas 2ten “racing is live” blog. Text: Raphaela Richter Pictures: Niklas Wallner

Our Athletes Blogs

. In our magazine we not only show the most exciting bikes of the season. It’s also where some of the best athletes from around the world tell us about their lives on the track. While Lukas Baum and Georg Egger report in the “Glagow Goals” from their way to the Marathon and Cross Country World Championship, Raphaela Richter blogs from the Enduro World Cup. You can read Raphalela’s back story here in the interview. If you subscribe to the newsletter in the footer, you will not miss any of these reports.

It’s going to be tight in Leogang

. Ever done a World Cup race on a Thursday afternoon? I have now. But to be honest, it was never an item on my list. Since the announcement of the Triple World Cup event in Leogang, I was excited to see how it would be implemented. Already with only DH and XC in previous years, I had the impression that the space is hardly enough. So on Monday the Enduro teams were allowed to park their pits 1.5km downstream, taking over the former Privateer campsite and displacing them.

Shakedown and training at the Epic Bikepark Leogang and Saalbach

After a small team shakedown ride on the open bike park trails on Tuesday, I wasn’t feeling great on my bike. A few points I found that I wanted to do better in training the next day. For the training, for example, I adjusted my suspension a bit to the tracks and focused again on riding technique basics like gaze control and braking points. Overall, this improved my riding and confidence again, but some stages were unfortunately very angular and sometimes unnecessarily stupidly marked out. Fortunately I was able to get through the day without crashing and become one with my Ibis again. Due to the overlap of our last stage with the lower part of the downhill course, we could only finish our training in the evening around 6pm.

The race morning, my best friend

. Unlike the race in Pietra Ligure, there was again more line choice on the tracks in Leogang. With the lines in mind I woke up for the first time already around 4:30 and could hardly sleep since then. Besides excitement shivering in bed, nausea was then added to the mix. My rollout wasn’t until 10:55, so I had a few hours to kill. I struggled with my breakfast for almost an hour, only to get rid of it after the last bite. Knowing that I had a long day ahead of me (start of the 6th stage was at 19:53), it didn’t help me to feel more confident. I felt like I was doing another breathing exercise every 30 minutes to somehow get myself down.

Get on the bike and finally make it happen

. The wait is over and after just the first minute on the bike I was already feeling a little better. From our rollout to the start of the first stage, we had 3 hours – 45 minutes of which we waited at the start of the stage. The transfer times were generally very generous. So the challenge of the day was to warm up again and again and also to turn on the head again. My own assessment when I drove out of the first stage did not match the result at all. I started the day with a 3rd place, but really didn’t think I drove such a good pace. It was basically flawless but it still didn’t feel fast to me. Stage 2 wasn’t the longest on paper, but because of the many hits, it was at least felt to be the longest and hardest on the hands. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a good flow on the stage and I lacked the necessary watts in the pedaling passages. Place 7 in Stage 2 and well seconds to the top cashed. The livetiming didn’t pass me by this time and I knew about the state of affairs, but I could handle it very well and was able to motivate myself super for the rest of the day. Stage 3 was the longest of the day with a length of 4km and about 700 deep meters and offered a mix of bike park flow and rocky forest sections. 4th place with a mostly clean run in this stage. In the 20 minute lunch break I could finally venture to eat something while my mechanic Anton checked my bike.

At the halfway point in 4th place

. I was then actually looking forward to the remaining 3 stages on the Leogang side. The way there was difficult due to partly bad signage in Saalbach, but we all arrived and the mood among us girls remained good. In Stage 4 I had found my laser focus and was able to ride almost perfectly, which then led to the stage win. The podium seemed out of reach for me that day, but I was ready to fight with Hattie Harnden for another 4th place. However, my 10 second cushion on the British rider was wiped out by 0.5 seconds on stage 5. So now everything depended on the last short downhill stage. With good memories of this stretch, I felt at an advantage and even managed to keep up the race vibe at just before 8pm. I offered caution in the loose spots and pushed where everything held and my tactics worked. I secured 4th overall with a second place finish on the stage and two seconds faster than Hattie.

Raphaela’s conclusion of the Enduro World Cup in Leogang

. After such a start to the day, I am more than happy with my physical and mental performance and was able to get back into the top 5 in the world. Of course there are points I can work on and these I will take with me for the race in Canazei next Sunday (25 June). Cool to see was also the performance of the other German racers: Helen Weber could now get a 16th place after her 17th place in Pietra. Texi again showed his mega strong pace on some stages, but unfortunately lost a lot of time due to a flat tire – still top 30! It was also pleasing to see how Max Pfeil was finally able to better exploit his potential again and rode to 43rd place. Ines was able to turn the tables in the e-bike race after a bumpy start to the day and finished in a mega 2nd place! I could write so much more now, but basically I can only say: The enduro potatoes find their strength and the cohesion and moral support among themselves is mega nice to watch!

The fastest bikes from the World Cup in Pietra Ligure

. On bike-test.com is actually the full focus on the material. Therefore, we always present you the fastest bikes from the competitions to our blog series. So you can not only dream of the equipment, but also compare the geometry of the bikes one to one. One thing is clear: the pro bikes differ minimally from the equipment. Isabeau Courdurier wins on Lapierre, Scarsi Gloria, becomes second on Canyon and Charre Morgane completes the podium with her Pivot. For those seriously considering getting a new enduro, here’s a complete buying guide to the best 2023 models. Sign up here for our newsletter and never miss another blog in our racing is live series.