Haring and Vojtášová lead the Slovak BCF National Cup in Cyclocross
Monday, 19 November 2012 15:22
Slovak BCF national cup in cyclocross, sponsored by BCF, is coming to its end. This year the National Championships will be organized by Cycling Team Banská Bystrica.
Only one, the penultimate, race in Bratislava-Petržalka is ahead of us, followed by the final race, the National Championships of Slovakia held 2 weeks later in Krupina, central Slovakia. We are soon to discover also winners of the National Cup – we have 2 riders aspiring for the victory in their respective category. Both Martin Haring in Elite Men and Zuzana Vojtášová in Elite Women are provisional leaders.
Competition in the Men’s category is really intense, each race there are more adepts for the podium. In the 8th race in Bánovce nad Bebravou, 4 racers formed a strong front of the race including Gavenda, Lami, Barényi and Haring. Haring profited of the mistakes made by his comptetitors and won. European ex-Champion Róbert Gavenda finished as a runner-up and the mountain bike no.1 Michal Lami completed the podium. Lukáš Bátora finished in a good 5th position and Róbert Glajza came in 9th. The winning Haring later said: „I didn’t have a good start, it took me one lap to get to front. We were riding in a group at first but after realizing the mistakes of my competitors, I tried to attack. I kept a safe distance to the finish. I’m really happy I won today as all my rivals and best cyclocross riders were present. I hope to repeat this result also in the National Championships.”
Tereza Medveďová (ŽP Šport) won the Elite Women’s category before the runner-up Zuzana Vojtášová and third Lívia Hanesová (both CT BB).
Slovak BCF Cup in Cyclocross continued the following day in Trenčín. This time a duo Haring – Glajza from our team was absent as they participated as part ot the Slovak National Team in a 2nd category World Cup in Austrian Stadl-Paura. They were pretty successful there with Haring claiming 5th position and Glajza 12th.
So the winner in Trenčín was to be decided between Lami and Gavenda. Gavenda defended his qualities and won well ahead Lami and Barényi. Lukáš Bátora came in 4th, Zrelica 18th, Debnár 20th and Fraňo 22nd.
Results in the Women’s category remained unchanged from the previous day – Tereza Medveďová followed by Vojtášová and Hanesová.
The contest continued the following weekend by a race in Trnava. Some of the riders warmed-up the previous day in a World Cup of C2 category in Kolín CZE, with Haring finishing in 13th position. Trnava presented a fast track appealing mostly to road racers. The very fast surface and profile didn’t allow riders to make any mistakes – in such a fast track it would be hard to chase riders of the same performance level. Fraňo encountered some technical problems in the very beginning, dropped to the back positions and only after a multiple exchange of his bike he started his chasing ride and finished in 19th position in the end. A strong trio Barényi (Trek KCK), Haring and Gavenda (Dukla Trenčín) was leading the course. Competition in the last laps continued only between Haring and Gavenda. The later came for a victory after Haring detached his tubular tyre from the wheel and lost any chance for a victory. He finished 3rd after Barényi took advantage of Haring’s technical difficulties and finished runner-up. Lukáš Bátora lost in his fight for 4th place and thus finished 5th. Zrelica 13th, Fraňo 19th and Debnár 22nd.
Similar situation in the Elite Women’s race to last weekend – Tereza Medveďová won easily. Zuzana Vojtášová was fighting hard for a second place with our olympic rider Janka Števková, but lost this battle and came in 3rd place.
Before the 10th Slovak BCF National Cup in Dubnica nad Váhom in late November, some of our riders again took part in the National Cyclocross Team in a UCI C2 cat. race in Holé Vrchy CZE. Winner of the race was again Martin Bína, an ex-World Champion, Haring finished 13th. Vojtášová finished 7th in the Women’s peloton. These riders transferred to Dubnica nad Váhom to take part in another race.
In the Elite Men’s category, five riders created a leading group – Haring, Gavenda, Lami, Barényi and Bátora. Lukáš was really unlucky later in the race – he crashed into a tree and dislocated his shoulder. He was directly taken to a hostpital for an X-ray and diagnosed torn tissues of the shoulder. Martin Haring as well made a mistake by tripping at the stair – his rivals promptly reacted to his mistake and tried to break-away. Haring successfully chased down Barényi and Lami, but didn’t have time to come back to the technically faultless Gavenda who thus won the race. Haring finished 2nd and Lami 3rd completed the podium.
An exciting fight for victory was also in the Elite Women’s category between the duo Medveďová and Vojtášová. This time it was Tereza falling and having technical difficulties in her last lap and Zuzana Vojtášová took advantage of her fault and took her first victory of the season against her biggest rival.
„All races of Slovak BCF National Cup are very tight. There are always 4 riders riding for the victory – me, Lami, Gavenda and Barényi followed by Bátora who improves each race and also waits patiently for his stronger rivals to make a mistake. So the winner is always the one who’s not only riding strong but also who doesn’t make any mistakes. Today it was me making a mistake – I slid on the stairs. I also made a mistake last weekend in Trnava with my tyre. I always fight hard, but these 2 faults have cost me the victory. I am leading the overall national cup ranking and will do all I can to keep this victory. I will also try my best at getting the Champion of Slovakia title.” were Martin Haring’s impressions in after finish.
In the overall ranking of the Slovak BCF National Cup Martin Haring from Cycling Team Banská Bystrica leads, followed by Barényi and Gavenda. In the Elite Women’s category, Tereza Medveďová and our rider Zuzana Vojtášová have identical number of points. In the Teams Classification, CT BB is 3rd.
The team manager and Chairman of the Cyclocross Committe, Martin Fraňo comments on the results of Cycling Team B.Bystrica riders: „I believe Haring will defend his previous year’s victory in the Slovak Cup and I also trust he will be in top shape for the Championship of Slovakia. Our female rider Zuzana Vojtášová is improving day by day, so I hope she as well will make a good result in the Nationals. We lost our position in the teams classification due to Ladislav Longauer’s broken leg in the beginning of the season. Also injured Bátora will be absent in the next week’s racing, I hope both of them will be able to start at the National Championship in mid-December. Considering the high number of clubs taking part in the competition (69!), I can only be happy with our 3rd place with two of our best riders being injured. We hoped for a victory in this competition as well, but now the hopes are gone. I hope we will do better in the upcoming National Championships in our twin city of Krupina and will have a really good reason for celebration then.”
Results Racing Schedule 2012.
Photos by P.Kolárik,M.Bátorová.
