Australian champion Harry Doye is winning in Stříbro, Zdeněk Štybar is also in the area...
The beautiful April weekend of April 13-14 was accompanied by almost summer weather on the hill Ronšperk over Stříbro, when the temperature reached 27°C.
Thus we started II. AC Heating cup race – Stříbro, Velká cena KION Group.
Over 300 competitors from a total of 5 countries, including the champion of Australia, came to the racetrack.
Saturday morning belonged to the OPEN men and the cadets. Subsequently, the lunch break was full of accompanying program. Tomáš Eibel once again demonstrated his trial skills, who jumped over people during his show and allowed himself to be lifted "on forks" to a height of over 3m on a forklift from the general partner KION Group, where he balanced on the back wheel!
Those who came with a hungry belly did the right thing, because DOBROTY TUREK once again took care of luxurious refreshments in the form of burgers, goulash, pasta and everything possible.
Those who lacked juice could get a "cycling" coffee from DOSTY COFFEE.
Attractions for children and adults – inflatable slide, bouncy castle, partner stand LAWI sport and general partner KION Group had its product on site – a forklift with which you could try handling – a special exercise on how to skillfully control the movement of huge forks. At the KION Group stand, there was also a heap of gifts for fans - cheerleaders, pendants and much more...
The junior category was trampled again, and it continued the popular nomination for the 2024 European Championship.
A great honor for the organizers was the participation in the start of the Australian junior champion Harry Doy, who dominated the race in Stříbra in a start-finish style. He left behind a strong duo of Czech competitors - Kryštof Bažant and third in the order Patrik Lienert.
The junior women's race was dominated by Poland's Alicja Matula, ahead of Amália Gottwaldová and Hanka Viková. The podium TOP5 was completed by the competitor from Israel, Munira Yasin.
A very large Israeli team arrived in Stříbro, a total of 11 competitors.
The women's race was dominated by the experienced Czech racer Aneta Novotná from ASPIRE OPPURTUNITY BRNO ahead of two Polish racers.
At 4:00 p.m., the Elite men's start was scheduled, when the ribbon was ceremonially cut by the race partners 3 minutes before the start. Representation of the general partner of KION Group - Zdeněk Franče, then the deputy mayor of the city of Stříbro and at the same time a great cyclist Karel Lukeš and the last of the trio Zdeněk Štybar senior, who as one of the partners of the event - for Penzion Štybar, was in the area all weekend and actively participated in the preparations action.
The elite men's race was eventually dominated by Jan Škarnitzl with his persistent "DIESEL" style, who worked his way to the front until the end of the race. The second place went to the team Expres CZ BMD Kolín, thanks to Patrik Černý, and the third place went to the winner Škárna, in the same team colors of the GAPP SYSTEM Kolofix bronze Lukáš Kobes.
One of the most difficult sections on the track was the OMEXOM climb - the exit from the tracks to the top of the hill to the depot under the huge high voltage pylons.
The star-studded Saturday was closed by the KION trail run, which the runners completed along the same circuit as the bikers. At the start, a large number of KION Group t-shirts could be seen, who, as Zdeněk Franče mentioned, trained honestly.
Sunday was once again marked by children's competitions, from categories of pupils II to bouncers.
She was sunburned again and attracted even more fans.
"The whole race weekend went without a hitch. We had half a year of preparation and we approached the event with respect - we knew that a bunch of competitors from all over Europe and the whole world could come to us. We delegated tasks correctly and everything went smoothly. It was a whirlwind, already from Wednesday - from morning to evening, we were building the entire complex here, we stopped for implementation only on Friday at 5:00 p.m. Then, when the race is underway, one is happy, what a colossus one managed to run. I would definitely like to praise our entire team of organizers and volunteers," said Miroslav Rébl, technical director of the race.
"We live by cycling, we like bikes. When the gauntlet was thrown down by Ondřej Paur (director of the series) after the last 1st year, that we could do an international race under the worldwide UCI federation, it was a big challenge. Big school and motivation for us and the boys, but we went for it. We are very pleased that the criticism from the international head referee from England was generally positive. Basic scrolls, of course there is always room to move.
We worked as a strong team, including the girls in the office, where registration was also a breeze," praised event director Jiří Kalista.
Now we have a 1.5 month break and the weekend 1. – 2. June the AC Heating cup continues with the 3rd race in AŠ, also category C3.