Začátek Tour 2024 Stupno

Cink got the home fans on fire, Anne Terpstra didn't make it...

Stupno hosted the "opener" of the XCO season in the Czech Republic during the weekend of March 30-31. The first UCI points were thus distributed in our country as part of the race Horská kola Stupno.

The series thus continues in its II. year, when Ondřej Cink is its patron, and as organizers, we worked over the winter on the preparations, the overall concept, when they try to go in the direction and stamp the slogan: More than a race.

And what was it like in Stupno? Rodeo again.

As summer weather prevailed throughout the weekend, temperatures rose up to 25°C, this of course contributed to Saturday's massive number of fans in the area and around the track, when the local star Ondřej Cink from Rokycanští and the surrounding area did not want to miss the ride.

If a family with children arrived on the premises, everyone was taken care of. The adults ran to catch a glimpse of the elite riders before the start, who took off on trainers in a huge Raben truck, which was like a box WARM UP zone right next to the start.

The children went on a giant inflatable slide, face painting, or to take pictures with the giant furry dog Alfík, who ran around the campus both days. The expo, where you could take a look at a lot of partner stands, was also very popular.

Competitors who had finished the race could give their bike maximum care in the Cyklostar - Karcher Sedláček washing zone, which was deployed in the same capacity as at the NMNM. 5 boxes with cleaners, vacuum cleaners and, now, an air compressor.

Registered competitors were from a total of 11 countries: CZE, POL, GER, NED, DEN, AUT, SUI, SVK, UKR, LAT, GBR.

The Saturday program started at 9:00 a.m. with a large field of cadets, followed by an initial group of OPEN men in 4 categories 19, 30, 40 and 50.

The cadets were dominated by a fast-flying bounced pair from the HEAD PRO team Opava, who flew past the finish line in order of Josef Kuchař and Sebastian Dvořák took the silver.

At 11:00 a.m., 48 juniors from 5 countries took off. The Czechs rode as part of the staged race for nomination to the EC in Romania. David Friedel (Ostra - Multicraft Čeladná) performed superbly, winning the gold with almost a minute's lead.

This was followed by the announcement of the morning block, when the new serial inflatable arch with the fabric tarpaulin of the partners, a branded podium and also a design box to display the winner's bike was introduced.

After the announcement, Tomáš Eibl started his street-trial show, who bounced for the audience on car crashes, obstacles, turns and also jumping over the fans themselves lying on the ground next to each other.

Subsequently, Tomáš took back the microphone and continued in the hosting duo with his colleague Michal Berka.

At 14:00 the Elite women started with the junior and cadet women. The area began to fill up more with fans and the biggest surprise at the start was definitely the world-class star Anne Terpstra, who took the start in Stupno "only" 6 days after her victory in the most difficult stage mountain bike race - Cape Epic.

"Even on Thursday evening, Anne wrote back that she had just returned home and was going to ask the trainer if she could go, but she didn't see it. Subsequently, on Friday morning, I had a message in my email that she had received the green light from the coach and that she is coming, she is very excited" said the director of the series Ondřej Paur.

Among the Elite women, only Jitka Čábelická, a contender for the Olympics in Paris, was missing from the Czech Republic. On the other hand, everyone was looking forward to the battle of other names, paper favourites, but also possible adepts for Paris, namely Adéla Holubová and Simona Spěšná - both natives of Pilsen, thus the native and Jana Czeczinkarová.

However, the victory was "blown away" by the flighty Patrícia Srnská, who, immediately after the first circuit out of six, crossed the finish line with a lead of 20 seconds over the chasing group and increased the final lead at the finish line to 2 minutes over the Polish racer Gabriela Wojtyla. Adéla Holubová took the bronze.

The star Anne Terpstra was around 5th place from the start, then dropped slightly until she withdrew from the race.

,,It really didn't work today, it was still probably soon after the victory at the Cape Epic, which definitely took a lot of strength from me. Although I felt that it could work and above all I was really looking forward to Stupno, my body said no. I couldn't refuse the invitation, I've already started here several times and won, and it's a really original race, you can see the personal commitment of the organizing team, you never get bored here, very beautiful area and track, everyone enjoys it, families with children, just great. I will definitely want to come in 2025 as well. I think there would be a suitable C1 category race next year," said a sympathetic competitor from the Netherlands.

4:00 p.m. Elite men's start = crowded Ultramarinka sports complex, which is characterized by the silent historic chimney of a former factory. Ondřej Cink received the biggest ovation just before the start, who was the last to leave the starting zone in a truck, which was visible to all the fans who were crowded on the barriers around the start/finish line.

The ceremonial ribbon cutting of the Men's Elite Race took place 2 minutes before the start in the presence of the Deputy of the Pilsen Region, representatives of partners AC Heating and Raben, together with Ondřej Paur.

Here, local Ondřej Cink confirmed the paper assumptions, who, also alone at the head of the race, went on a solo ride for the whole race and his final lead was 2:21 min over the second Jan Zatloukal.
,,After the race in Langenlois I felt even better today and I'm very happy with the result, or the overall feeling - the numbers. Everything is going well for the first saint in Brazil. I was really looking forward to Stupno, the local group of organizers, my friends, led by Lampík and Jarda Ryba, pushed the race a little further, especially in terms of technical and visual aspects, and I also watched the marketing for the event, where Stupno was written everywhere, it made me very happy I'm going to quickly rinse and change clothes, because the guys have prepared a novelty: a stroller race and we want to participate as a family with our daughter Nelinka, that's a big added value for this event, I see a lot of families and fans here who don't even ride a bike" pointed out Ondřej Cink.

The announcement of the afternoon block followed again, for which the area was already full, all the fans returned from the forest from the most attractive section - the big wooden jump.
The announcement was followed by an autograph session by Ondřej Cink in his background Autosalon Klokočka.

Sunday belonged entirely to the children's program from the category pupils II to 6 years and younger, including children´s scooters.

,, We are satisfied, we think that the first race went well, the summer weather certainly has a lot to do with it. A lot of "non-cyclist" fans came and that makes us even more happy. All Saturday there was a queue for an inflatable slide, face painting - there the young lady reported that she had never run out of paints, that it was a massacre . Food and beer were crowded, people were laughing and it was a great experience and spectacle - this is the way we want to go. We are honored that there were 450 competitors from 12 countries on the starting line, we consider it a great success.
I would like to give a big shout out to our entire organizing team for their great work and patience, it's the work of dozens of people. Certainly also to the partners of both the series and the race, without whom, as all the organizers always repeat: it wouldn't be possible, but the last 3 years have been very poor for securing sponsorship, it's getting harder and harder, most companies only go online , but in this way all events outside will gradually die out - that is forgotten. I believe that our outputs will show our partners the way, why it is good to be "physical" among people and not just to print flashing PPC campaigns on "those internets". I keep my fingers crossed for all other organizers in the implementation and preparation of other events.

With great humility and respect, when we have the UCI logo on the finish gate, we continue with our "orange" AC Heating cup tour to Stříbro, where the race will be of the exact same format, only category C3" said series director Ondřej Paur .