The first of six rounds of this year’s 20chocolate Downhill Cup is in the books. Not just a new venue and a new track, the race was hosted by the newly formed 35 Crew.
Among the women, last year’s overall winner Maša Komel remains on the throne, while the winner in the men’s category is the same as in last year’s final race – Marko Niemiz. Both winners are from Nova Gorica region, Maša from the town Nova Gorica and Marko from Goriška Brda. In the increasingly difficult conditions, the juniors took the cream in the overall classification, while the categories that had been on the track earlier were even faster.
Fast, Exciting Track… and Rain
It was a real duel between most of the fastest Slovenian and Croatian riders right on the border in the east of the Gorjanci mountain in Southeast Slovenia. From the top of the hill above the village of Planina in Podbočje, just above the start of the course, on a sunny day, there was a beautiful view to the start of the course on Sljeme above Zagreb in Croatia, which will host the final of the series in four and a half months. The two venues are separated by just over 30 kilometres as the crow flies.
Some riders were missing due to other commitments these days, last year’s series winner in men’s elite Miha Jerkič is unfortunately injured, a few of them were competing in the World Cup… and junior Max Žvegla, after not qualifying for the final in Poland on Saturday, showed up to the national race on Sunday to spice up the competition.
113 riders competed on a course of about 3 kilometres with 500 metres of elevation drop and several wild, fast and technical sections. It took a lot of effort to get times under four minutes. When it started to rain harder in the final and the track got wet and more slippery, it was even more so.
The spectators who stuck to the track even in the rain could see some daring runs and some crashes.
Maša Dances Through Trees
In the women’s competition, five riders competed, with the fastest being last year’s overall winner Maša Komel, who changed teams after last season and is now a member of the Maribor-based 427 Savage Squad. She built up a nice 22-second gap over the runner-up, but newcomer to downhill, Croatian cross-country rider Larisa Bošnjak (BBK Šišmiš), who recently tried enduro for the first time, was also happy with her second place. As well as junior Neža Štern (MTB club Kranj Scott Team) with third place just two seconds behind Larisa.
Maša says:
“The weather was definitely a bit of a handicap, but we girls were lucky that the rain didn’t catch us. A good day is behind us, and company with the girls is always the best. The course was crazy good, there was speed everywhere, you had to study everything, mistakes and falls would probably have hurt here, but I didn’t have that in my head. I wanted to do the best I could and I think it paid off. Also, I don’t always do 100 or 105 percent. I do the qualifying like I do the training, then in the final I add on the sprints and that’s it.”
Maša is now training more in Maribor, which is probably also good training for Planina.
»For sure, it’s a different surface than at home, where we are used to more rocks, we have almost no roots. Maribor is the opposite, which complements the training.«
What is coach Jure Logar’s advice for such a track?
“Pumping. Pump track and more pump track paid off here. There are banked turns and compressions on the track, if you pumped here and did what you needed to do, it launched you to first place.”
Maša’s performance at the next round in Ravne na Koroškem in two weeks’ time is not certain, as she will be in the middle of her final exams.
Marko Sticks to His Enduro Bike
The downhill bikes were undoubtedly the top choice this time due to the speed, but in the men’s elite category, Marko Niemiz (Rajd Ljubljana) was still the top rider in both runs, on the same enduro bike he used to return to downhill racing last year, winning the series finale in Sljeme, above Zagreb. He set the best time of the day with 3:38.02 in the seeding run, and was the last man on the track in the final, clocking 4:06.59 in difficult conditions, which was enough for the win. Gašper Jurečič (ŠD Grabit) and national champion Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš) followed in second and third place, 6 seconds behind and just 5 hundredths of a second apart.
Jurečič, a local from Podbočje, who moved to Maribor for his studies and for work in the Bike Park Pohorje Maribor, was also second two years ago in the 20chocolate DH Cup race in Maribor, this time he earned his second podium finish among the elite. The experienced national champion Leban is always a force to be reckoned with anyway, although this time he didn’t even finish the seeding and was first on the track in the final.
The phenomenal Niemiz, who has missed almost four full seasons of downhill racing since he entered the elite category until last year’s DH Sljeme, has this to say about his enduro bike:
“I’m a downhiller, but if you don’t race regularly, a downhill bike just doesn’t make sense. So an all-round enduro bike is the solution for me. Last year in Zagreb I saw that the speed was there, it pulled me back a bit. In the winter, I waited for the calendar, checked the locations, saw how many tracks suited the enduro bike, and then decided which races to go to. For fun. You won’t see me on a downhill bike this year, but next year it’s almost certain.”
Marko says he will almost certainly be at the second race in Ravne na Koroškem.
Fast Juniors, U17 and Others …
In the rain, conditions slowly deteriorated from category to category, with no significant differences within categories. The rules for the overall podium of juniors and elite are such that conditions can change between the start of the first and the start of the second. So this time the juniors took the lion’s share of the prize money.
In his second season among the junior men, Martin Mark Milar (Rajd Ljubljana) took his first Cup victory at the finish line by the beehive farm, also his first overall victory, with his time of 4:04.66 almost two seconds faster than Niemiz’s. Last year’s fourth place finisher at the National Championships in Kranjska Gora was third in the seeding behind Maks Struna and Anže Kofjač (both KK Završnica), but both of them were slower than the Ljubljana man in the wet final. The top three reversed the order, with Kofjač second only 12 hundredths behind and Struna third. The same in the overall classification with the elite, where Niemiz was fourth and another junior Sven Podvornik (ŠD Grabit) fifth.
Milar is undoubtedly fast since his U17 years, but he is accompanied by bad luck and 4th place finishes. This time it worked out.
“I am happy and quite proud of this result. It took a while, but I finally did it. The final run was pretty wild, it was slippery, but with a bit more head on it was possible to ride. I prefer dry conditions, but it can be done like this. This year I’m focusing on racing in the European Cup, but I’m also aiming for the top three in the Slovenian Cup, also at the national championship.”
Among the U17 men, the most numerous category with 27 riders on the start list, last year’s Cup winner Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (Bikehanic Lumar) put together a great ride in the final, even half a second faster than Milar. He was followed on the podium by the Croatian champion Šimun Juras (BK Fortica) in second and newcomer in the category Jakob Rozman (MTB klub Kranj Scott Team) in third.
The U15 boys, who opened the finals at 4 pm, raced on a dry track. Team 427 Savage Squad achieved a double victory with Nik Brumen in first place and Max Sliško in second, with Nikolaj Vukojević (Golovec Trails) in third place. Nik set the overall best time of the final.
After them came the amateurs, won by local Gal Jevšenak Kodrič (35 Crew), followed by the women, and then the master men, where Sebastian Prinčič (MTB klub Boshk) won ahead of returnee Saša Merljak (Wolf Racing Team) and Jure Logar (427 Savage Squad).
All DH Planina results
From Dolenjska to Koroška
The downhill racers have successfully discovered the charms and digital detox of the Gorjanci mountain above Krško, and in two weeks’ time they will compete again at another new venue. But it will be very different. The Poseka Bike Park in Ravne na Koroškem in northern Slovenia is well known to gravity riders, they have a t-bar lift adapted for mountain bikers, and the track will be less than half in length and elevation compared to Planina.
On the first of June, it will certainly be a very different, but no less intense racing. All about the first DH of Poseka in the propositions, registration included (until 25 May).