Wet days will come. For the fifth and penultimate race of this year’s series, the course at the MTB trail center Kočevje got soaked by rain, and the riders got wet in training, so it will go in the books as muddy and challenging.
The joy of the return of the SloEnduro series to Kočevje after two years without a visit to the local trail center was diminished at least a little by the weather forecast. As a consequence, the list of entries has also shrunk. Quite a few then changed their minds after Saturday’s training, so that 139 riders from four countries started on Sunday, some of whom did not make it to the finish. The weather forecast for Sunday was dry and the sun did indeed shine, warming up the autumn air nicely. However, the special stages and the Friderik climb remained muddy, with mud sticking to the tyres and in many the trails were very slippery.
In our sport, races like this come with less enjoyment, and some people do better than others. As a rule, it’s the ones who don’t let more wasted energy, less bike control, occasionally hitting the ground and muddy clothes ruin their day who come out on top.
King Vid Finishes Season on top
Vid Peršak (Unior – Sinter) came to Kočevje with a nice lead in the overall standings, and with his fourth win he increased it even further and has already won the overall title. So instead of competing in the final he will take time for the surgery on his ankle, which has been bothering him for a long time.
Vid had built up a lead of just under 6 seconds over Hungarian youngster Áron Babó (Rad Company Racing Team SE) in the first two special stages of the day, then dropped the pace a little and recorded two second places, but Babó was unable to capitalise and stayed behind. In the end, the Hungarian took another junior victory and second place in the overall long course classification, 16.66 seconds behind Peršak.
Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) held on to third place from the first stage and won the last and longest stage of the day with a time of 8 minutes and 5 seconds. He finished the day in third place overall, 24.62 seconds behind Peršak.
Smrdel’s clubmate Jernej Kavčič and Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš) followed, both already more than a minute behind, then the second and third junior respectively, Maks Struna and Juš Ažman (KK Završnica). The fourth placed junior Van Prosenik (Golovec trails), the second fastest two weeks ago at Enduro Golovec trails, started well and was halfway through the race ahead of the two Završnica riders, but at the end he missed his second junior podium by only half a second. National team rider Tian Pečnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem), second from the junior standings behind Babó, messed it from the second stage on and finished in 11th place overall or as the fifth junior.
The stage winners on the long course with 1250 vertical metres of climbing included not only Peršak and Smrdel, but also the junior national downhill champion and winner of the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series Matej Osolin (Calcit Bike Team), who was the fastest on the third stage of the day, but did not do so well on the other three and finished in 12th place.
Vid Peršak Said After the Race…
“I think I rode really focused all day. I believed I could ride well, I convinced myself in the morning that I had to ride the same as I would in dry conditions, so I rode really well. I had a little bit of time left at the end to get to the finish calmly, so I’m pretty happy. It was a nice day, a nice race.”
On the end-of-season surgery: “I’m going to have a minor ankle surgery, nothing major. I knew before the season that I had to go, but now I’ve got an appointment, I’ll be out for about a month. The injury has been a problem for me for the second season, it required a lot of physiotherapy, without my physiotherapist Ajda it would have been difficult, and without the block from my doctor in Slovenj Gradec I probably wouldn’t be riding today.”
In Men’s Overall Rankings Before Final
As said, Vid Peršak can already look forward to his fifth overall title. He held it from 2015 to 2018. In between, Austria’s Max Fejer won the series in 2019, there were no points in 2020 and Miha Smrdel has finished on top of the standings for the last three seasons.
Smrdel is in second place with 115 points ahead of Babó ahead of the final, with Kavčič on Babó’s heels, just 35 points behind. Leban is fifth, 125 points away from the podium. But with a daily total of 400 – 300 – 250 – … points, there are many possible outcomes.
Babó is firmly in the lead among the juniors, followed by Struna and Pečnik with 380 and 420 points respectively.
Only a Duel in Women’s Race
Four female riders came to Kočevje to race the long course. The leader of the standings, Maša Komel (KK Črn trn), unfortunately fell ill after training and did not make it to the start on Sunday, so it was clear that SloEnduro would have a new race winner. Lucija Mlinar (KK Ravne na Koroškem) withdrew after a crash, leaving only Austria’s Sabrina Eberhard (Radlager Racing Division) and Slovenia’s Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh) on the hill. The Austrian was more agile in the mud.
Sabrina Eberhard:
“In the rain it was already very difficult in training, the stages were very challenging. I really wanted to win a SloEnduro race once, now my dream has come true and I am very happy. Unfortunately I can’t make it to the final race, I can’t let my volleyball team down, we have a league match then. Mountain biking is my second sport, but I love it!”
Women Before Final
Maša Komel stayed in the lead despite a zero from Kočevje, but she will have to play smart in Grožnjan for the title as Maja Vojska came within 30 points of her. Third-placed Sabrina Eberhard will not be in Grožnjan, so Lucija Mlinar will be going for third place, and practically all she has to do in Istria is to get to the finish.
Other Long Course Categories
Among the amateur men, Nejc Šikman (ŠD Grabit) won for the fourth time this year, confirming his overall title.
Among the youngest veteran men (Master 1), Rožle Mesec (Golovec trails) won, who has been focusing on downhill this year and made his first appearance in the enduro series, while the second-placed Tilen Marzidošek (KD Brez zavor) came out on top overall, but he will have to defend his 130-point advantage over Croatian Luka Španjol (Adrenalina MTB Team) in Grožnjan.
In Master 2, for the third time this year, Hungary’s Balázs Ziskó (FRO Racing) was the fastest, he also leads the standings and will be relatively safe in the final from the first pursuer, Marko Munih (Pedal Racing Team), who was second in Kočevje.
In Master 3, only Martin Brus (Kamplc Racing Team), who now has all 2000 possible points on the grid, went to the start in Kočevje and can appear in Grožnjan just »for the photos« to take another title.
In the e-bike category there was nobody at the start in Kočevje.
On Shorter Courses
It was again intense among the U17 men, who competed on three stages, with 32 of them making it to the finish. Serial winner Ian Laharnar (Kamplc Racing Team) won for the fifth time after handing the second stage to Lenart Sever (KK Črn trn). In the end, Kamplc took all three podiums, with Laharnar followed by Aljaž Prosen and Blaž Stres.
Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem) also won again among the U17 women, in difficult conditions with an even bigger advantage. She was followed by Neža Štern (MTB club Kranj Scott Team) in second and Lana Kuzma (KK Črn trn) in third.
Both series winners were already calm before the race in Kočevje with the maximum number of points possible for the overall victory.
Among the U15 boys, a week after his first downhill victory, Nejc Mozetič (KK Črn trn) won his first enduro race. He beat Jakob Praček (Kamplc Racing Team) by 55 seconds, Jakob Pristovnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem) was third, one minute and 27 seconds behind. They competed on a course with two stages, the second one being the longest one from the top, which only Nejc completed in less than ten minutes.
Praček is already the overall winner in this category, but it will be quite a competition in Grožnjan for the second and third places in the series standings, with five or so riders in the game. The best positions are held by second-placed Žiga Munih (Pedal Racing Team) and third-placed Pristovnik.
In the U15 girls’ race, Eva Podvornik (427 Savage Squad) edged out Gaja Šuštar (Golovec Trails). Maribor’s Eva is already the overall winner, while Ljubljana’s Gaja has already secured second place on the leaderboard, which currently has four girls.
In the unlicensed 4Fun category, which shares the course with the U15 category, the victory stayed at home in the MTB trail centre with Matej Južnič.
The youngest U13 category also had two special stages, but shorter, with less than 300 elevation meters in total. Only the boys took part, with Tjaž Stres (Kamplc Racing Team) winning ahead of his clubmate Rene Kovač, with Gal Novak (Rajd Ljubljana) third, who started the day with a win in the first stage. Kovač leads the standings ahead of Stres, with a 100-point gap, while Max Sliško (427 Savage Squad) is third, 310 points behind the leader.
Shimano SuperStage
Vid Peršak and Nežka Libnik were the fastest on the special stages, which this time was shared by three courses (all except U13) and earns points for the Shimano grand prize.
All SloEnduro Kočevje 2024 Results
All 2024 SloEnduro Series Standings (5/6)
Thank You, Kočevje!
Organising a race in the rain is a thankless task. The renewed Kočevje team behind the Trail Center Kočevje club, mainly also the build and maintenance crew of the centre, did a great job and did everything to make the race as race-like as possible under the conditions.
See You in Grožnjan!
Just one more autumn classic to go, the SloEnduro Grozni in Grožnjan in Istria, Croatia. Training will take place on Saturday 12 October and the race on Sunday 13 October. There will be four more or less known special stages plus a new one on the long course. Propositions and registration here
Photos by Matej Lovrič
