MTB cycling: The last major event of the 20th Ziener Bike Festival Willingen was the second run of the iXS European Downhill Cup 2017 on Sunday. The Slovenians Monika Hrastnik and Jure Zabjek dominated both the qualification and the final on the former World Cup course.
For the second time, the iXS European Downhill Cup stopped off in Willingen as part of the Bike Festival at the weekend. About 300 drivers from 26 nations started. The route on the Ettelsberg is short and crisp - the downhill run is only 1.650 meters long and is peppered with powerful jumps and gaps. The riders are correspondingly fast here. A course that seemed to suit the Slovenians particularly well this weekend. Already in qualifying, Monika Hrastnik (Blackthorn) and Jure Zabjek (Unior Tools Team) prevailed - a demonstration of power that both riders also showed in the final. The 2015 European champion clocked the best time of 2:12.617 minutes and relegated New Zealand's Matthew Walker (Cube Global Squad, 2:13.296 minutes) to second place in the super final. After Kranjska Gora, it is the second win of the current season for the Slovenian. Third in the Upland was Czech rider Stanislav Sehnal (Banshee Bikes, 2:14.019 minutes).
In the women's category, Monika Hrastnik put the competition in their place. With a time of 2:32.861, the Slovenian set the best time in the Elite Women class, followed by the German Sara Böhm (Team Cube, 2:35.773 minutes) and Filipa Peres (MS Racing, 2:38.004 minutes) from Portugal. Only one lady was actually faster than the winner: the young Austrian Valentina Höll (Sram TLD Racing) in the U17 category. The talented rider set a fantastic time of 2:32.096 minutes – that would have been enough to win the Elite Women class. Respect!
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