282 riders from the region and beyond, from nine countries in total, registered for the 2024 season finale. Record numbers in the 4Fun and e-bike categories.
Five SloEnduro series races this season including the national championship, plus one promotional race without ranking points and three non-competitive SloEnduro Days are behind us. Now it’s all set for the grand finale on the hills of Istria: SloEnduro Grozni, Grožnjan, Istria, Croatia!
This will be the tenth edition of the classic race in Croatia, which missed only the first season of the series and then the 2020 edition. For the eighth time, the ancient hilltop town above Mirna river valley, not far from the Slovenian border, will host the series finale. The mild climate makes it the most suitable venue for the last autumn race, as the views of the Mirna valley and the sea a little further on keep cyclists riding the local trails all winter long.
In fact, the Grožnjan race is so special and popular that many people choose it as their only race of the season, or at least as a must-do.
Course and Conditions
For the tenth edition, the BBK Grožnjan crew is preparing five special stages and a sixth “power stage” for the e-bike category.
The names of the stages are familiar: Kalčini, Šaltarija, Pertići, Sv. Juraj (this time Shimano SuperStage) and Srna. Kalčini this time only on the long course with a total of about 1250 vertical metres of ascents and descents, with each of the next courses in length joining on the following special stage.
The course is not completely as we know it from previous editions, however, as there are a few new lines to try out.
The course in more detail:
SloEnduro Grozni 2024 | The Course
No one is looking forward to a wet race in Grožnjan. The course is expected to receive some rain over the next few days, but not too much, and dry weather is forecast for Friday. The weekend will be dry with temperatures close to 20 degrees. If Saturday’s practice could go on with some wet trails, they should be in perfect condition by Sunday.
Who’s Coming?
Among the men’s elite, it’s an interesting field of 25 riders, unfortunately without Vid Peršak (Unior – Sinter), who is already the overall winner, for the fifth time and for the first time since 2018. Vid deserved an early end of the season for a surgery on his injured ankle. The elite will be challenged by 23 juniors on the long course, with Hungary’s Áron Babó (Rad Company Racing Team SE) at the helm.
Without Peršak it will probably be even tighter, we can expect Babó to clash against Miha Smrdel, Jernej Kavčič (both of MBK Črni Vrh), Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn), Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš) and more. Returning is Nejc Huth (Energijateam.com), winner of Grožnjan in 2019, who missed the three summer races of the series. Last year’s winner David Ivartnik (Golovec Trails), who was injured at a pumptrack series race on Sunday, will also be here. Some of the juniors could also be involved, besides the Hungarian, probably Maks Struna (KK Završnica) and Tian Pečnik (KK Ravne ne Koroškem), second and third from the junior classification.
In the men’s overall standings, last year’s overall winner Smrdel is safely in second place, with Babó and Kavčič competing for third. Kavčič, who is 35 points behind Babó, has no easy task, as the Hungarian is clearly in form, finishing second to Peršak in Kočevje.
Judging by the pre-entries, eight women will start, six Slovenes and two Austrians. Maša Komel (KK Črn trn) will defend her overall lead against Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh). But it will be the U17 rider Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem), who is already the overall winner in her category, who will be stealing the points from the top. This time she will try the long course for the first time with a series management permission. Throughout the season she has been the mostmostly compared to the older riders at the Shimano SuperStages and she was unbeatable there.
We have published some more calculations in our report from Kočevje.
The strongest categories of Grozni will again be the U17 men with 38 riders and the U15 boys with 40 riders.
The fact that enduro riders come to Grožnjan not only to race but also to have fun is proved by the 58 riders in the unlicensed 4Fun category, who share the course with the U15, and the 15 e-bikers from six countries, including the first Grožnjan winner from 2014, from the time before serious e-bikes, Kristjan Medvešček (ŠKTD Avče). Both numbers are probably the record in the history of these two categories in SloEnduro.
On Saturday, the course opens for training at 11am, and on Sunday the first rider starts from the town centre at 9am, due to the large number of entries that is half an hour earlier than originally announced in the propositions!
SloEnduro series standings before the final
List of entries
Details of SloEnduro Grozni 2024 in propositions
Live timing on Sunday at timing.sportident.com
In photos some enduro racinh history in Grožnjan, photos by Ma_Tej, Matej Damijanić, Anže Petkovšek, Matej Lovrič and AD
