And so it began! On a beautiful yet demanding course above the Soča, with a record number of riders, a strong international field, and the world’s e-MTB elite at the start.

Members of the Nova Gorica-based TCS Trail Builders Association enjoy building and maintaining trails, riding them, and taking the organization of every event very seriously. They approached this year’s opening race of the 14th SloEnduro season—the Slovenian Cup in the mountain biking discipline of enduro—as if they were hosting a major international championship. Perhaps this was also due to the accompanying first race of this year’s European e-MTB Enduro Tour, which brought some of the biggest names in the sport—including both current world champions—to the Solkan Kayak Center and the slopes of Skalnica, Škabrijel, and Sabotin mountains.

For all 350 participants from sixteen countries, they put on an unforgettable weekend, though a grueling one due to the substantial amount of climbing (nearly 3,000 meters of elevation gain over two days on the long course, and nearly 4,000 in the elite e-MTB category) and difficult conditions on the special stages as well. As if the demanding trails weren’t enough, the very dry conditions added slippery dust on the rocks, and a bit of rain fell at the end of Sunday’s race. So, unfortunately, the rescue teams weren’t sitting on their hands either.

The Challenger From Bologna

Even looking at the list of registered rider, it was clear that three-time Italian champion Mirco Vendemmia, 27, would be among the favorites alongside the usual suspects in the SloEnduro series—the Slovenians, the Slovaks, and, of course, the Hungarian. A member of the Appennino Bike Gravity Team from the Bologna area, he has finished in the top ten of the World Cup several times, and he stood on the podium once in the under-21 category at a World Series race on Austrian-Slovenian border eight years ago.

Vendemmia has started by winning the first of six Sunday stages. He was the only one to complete the day’s longest stage, the Piazza Direct from Škabrijel, in under six minutes. He remained unbeaten until the end of the day. His lead over his pursuers, who took turns hot on his heels from stage to stage, only grew. He was initially followed by last year’s winner in Nova Gorica, Slovakian Ľuboš Staňo (MTBiker), who was in 3rd place from the third stage onward but slid to 5th place after an unfortunate final stage. From the third stage to the finish, the Italian was followed by last year’s overall series winner, Hungarian Áron Babó (Rad Company Racing Team), who made his debut in the elite category; at the finish, he was 29 seconds behind in second place. Slovenian champion Vid Peršak (Rajd Ljubljana), who had been finishing stages between second and sixth place, secured third place overall, 33 seconds behind the winner. Ahead of Staňo was another Slovak, Maroš Krupa (Bikeroom Hornonitrianske Stopy), who finished second in the last two stages and was 35 seconds behind.

Apart from Vendemmia’s lead, the gaps were small, with only ten seconds separating second and seventh place. The top five were followed by two more Italians, Daniel Tortora (AB Gravity Team) and Simone Leo (Bike O’Clock), then in 8th place, the junior category winner and second-fastest Slovenian, Ian Laharnar, and in 9th place, his peer Blaž Stres (both Kamplc Racing Team); David Ivartnik (Golovec trails) rounded out the top ten among the 131 men who finished the long course.

We haven’t seen such strong competition in a long time; missing from the top was last year’s runner-up, Miha Smrdel, who is still recovering from wrist surgery he underwent after the season. Also absent was Tim Jež, who chose to compete in the e-MTB elite category.

Winner’s IG post

 

Nežka, Unbeaten or Unbeatable?

Junior World Champion Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem) continues her winning streak into the new season. This time, much like last year, she beat second-place finisher Valentina Grendová of Slovakia (MTBiker Team) by a good minute; third place went to Darja Kodrič (MTB Trbovlje), followed by Gaia Asaro of Italy (ASD Natisone Bikelab) in fourth and Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh) in fifth.

Overall Results on the Long Course

Men

  1. Mirco Vendemmia (Ita, AB Gravity Team) 16:47.91
  2. Áron Babó (Mad, Rad Company Racing Team) +29.04
  3. Vid Peršak (Slo, Rajd Ljubljana) +33.61
  4. Maruš Krupa (Svk, Bikeroom Hornonitrianske Stopy) +35.01
  5. Luboš Stano (Slovakia, MTBiker) +37.92

Women

  1. Nežka Libnik (Slovenia, KK Ravne na Koroškem) 19:57.15
  2. Valentina Grendova (Slovakia, MTBiker) +1:08:56
  3. Darja Kodrič (MTB Trbovlje) +2:51.00
  4. Gaia Asaro (Ita, ASD Natisone Bikelab) +3:16.51
  5. Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh) +4:16.34

In Long-Course Categories

The fastest juniors of the day were thus Kamplc’s Ian Laharnar and Blaž Stres, followed in third place by a newcomer among the juniors, last year’s overall winner among the U17, Lenart Sever from the second Ajdovščina club, Črn trn. Ajdovščina domination!

Nejc Huth (Golovec Trails) secured another outright victory in the youngest veteran category, the Master 1, finishing in 25th place overall. He was followed by Mitja Potočin (SD Strahovica) and Italian Riccardo Nadalin (Tecnobike Team K2) from the same age category, and then the winner of the Master 2 category, Bulgarian Ivan Kolev (Ram Bikes). The fastest in the oldest Master 3 category was Austria’s Michael Strohmayer (MK Factory Racing Team). In the Master 1 category, a record 34 competitors finished the race.

Upset Among U17

Among riders under 17 years of age, the 2026 season is also proving to be tense. Instead of the planned five stages, only four counted toward the top 50 due to a malfunction in the timing system. Who knows how the fifth stage would have turned out. After two stages, Kostja Matijevec Jerman (now riding for Rajd Ljubljana) led ahead of his teammate Gaber Novak, but Erik Žgavc (KK Črn trn) surged into the lead with a sensational 11-second victory in the third stage and held on until the premature finish. He won with an eight-second lead over Matijevec Jerman and a 14-second lead over Novak.

In the U17 women’s category, Eva Podvornik (ŠD Grabit) won by just three seconds over Maša Gregorc (SD Strahovica).

Amateurs competed on the same course with U17 for the first time; last year they raced on the long course, but five stages were more than enough for them (all their times were recorded for them). The winner was Hungarian Simon Máté (Alpinbike Team Endura).

On Two Shortest Courses

Among riders under 15, Rene Kovač (Kamplc Racing Team) won all three races, ahead of his teammate Tjaž Stres; Jaka Vujasin (Rajd Ljubljana) finished third. There were 44 participants and 39 finishers.

In the girls’ category, only Klara Pregl (Calcit Bike Team) competed.

On the same course, the fastest in the men’s 4Fun category was Hungarian Marcell Pongrácz, while the fastest among the women was Slovakian Katarina Lehocka (Medvedica).

The youngest riders in the U13 category competed in two stages, both of which were won by Nejc Sever (KK Črn trn).

All race results for the SloEnduro TCS Nova Gorica

 

E-Bike Showdown

In the first race of the second season of the European e-MTB Enduro Tour, 9 female and 25 male riders competed in the elite category, while 16 riders competed in the open category under SloEnduro’s e-bike category rules. In addition to the long course, the latter had completed an additional uphill »power stage« the day before, while the elite riders tackled two such extremely challenging and attractive stages on Saturday evening near Soča, and on Sunday they repeated two of the long course stages. So a total of ten special stages. This added up to 1,990 meters of elevation gain, or more than 26 minutes of racing time for the winner.

In the men’s category, reigning world champion Adrien Dailly (Moustache SR Suntour e-Team) ultimately claimed victory, finishing five seconds ahead of last year’s Tour winner, Italian Andrea Garibbo (Team Haibike), with another French rider Théo Ruhlmann (Rotwild Schwalbe Gravity Team) trailing by another two seconds in third place. But after winning two stages on Saturday, things didn’t go smoothly for Dailly on Sunday. A flat tyre in the first stage on Sunday dropped him to 4th place; he was then among the top three in all subsequent stages and, with a bit of luck, took the lead just two stages before the finish. Ruhlmann, who had been leading until then, slipped to third.

Last year’s overall EDR World Cup winner, Poland’s Slawomir Lukasik (Yeti Fox Factory Racing), got off to a slow start on Saturday but managed to climb to fourth place on Sunday with three stage wins.

In the women’s race, the world runner-up and winner of six World Cup races, Chilean Florencia Espineira (Cardeluka Racing Team), left no room for surprises; even with a seventh-place finish in one of the stages, she led from start to finish and won with a 21-second lead over Frenchwoman Claire Chabbert. Third-place finisher Justine Henry (Luchon Loudevielle Drag Bicycles) of France trailed the winner by a full minute. World champion George Swift (Swift Racing) of New Zealand had to settle for fourth place.

The results for the e-MTB categories are also available here

 

Euro e-MTB Enduro Tour Camera Follows Dailly on the Queen

 

Next Up in SloEnduro Series…

Unfortunately, there will be a change in May due to provisions in the revised Nature Conservation Act, which explicitly prohibits cycling events in protected areas. SloEnduro Borovci (May 9 and 10) will be reclassified as a non-competitive SloEnduro Day on Saturday, featuring timed runs on a single course. The announcement is coming this week! As for SloEnduro Gorjanci (May 30–31), nothing is certain yet.

 

Photos by Matej Lovrič/Obalna BIKE scena

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