After her success at the start of the season in Banyoles, Spain, Kira Böhm confirmed her good form and finished 3rd in the elite women's race at the first round of the international MTB Bundesliga in Obergessertshausen.
Â
Shortly before the end of the registration period for the international MTB Bundesliga race in Obergessertshausen from March 9-10, 2024, Kira Böhm and team manager Sam Weber decided to enter the young rider from Weilheim in the elite women's race. "This has the following background. In the U23 race, only the first 5 riders receive UCI points, which are important for the starting line-ups, especially in the World Cup. After the registrations for the first Bundesliga race in Germany were a bit slow and not absolute top stars of the scene had registered, we registered Kira in the elite because of the points. Here, points are awarded up to 15th place in a C1 race and it was realistic that she could collect more points here due to the starting field," said Sam Weber, underlining the decision.
Â
The student, who lives in Freiburg, had already competed in the XCC Shorttrack in the town of Krumbach on Saturday. After a little difficulty at the start, she proved her ability to suffer and finished the race in 5th place after around 20 minutes.
Â
On the following race day, the two Cube riders Finn Treudler from Switzerland and Fabian Eder started first. Unfortunately, Lars Gräter from Schwäbisch Hall had to drop out at short notice due to knee pain, which prevented him from starting. Finn Treudler, together with his two Lexware teammates Lennart Krayer and Paul Schehl, was one of the top favorites at the start. The spectators were treated to a three-way battle at the front between the aforementioned rivals right from the start. The lead changed hands time and again and the Swiss rider had problems following the German riders, especially in the technical section. Two laps before the end, Finn Treudler got into difficulties due to the high speed and crashed. He was able to recover quickly, but the Swiss rider was unable to close the 20-second gap even after a self-sacrificing fight and lost even more ground in the end. However, third place was not contested and he crossed the finish line in third place.
Â
Fabian Eder from Bavaria fell a little short of his expectations and finished the race in 7th place. After a long winter season with several cross-country races, he definitely lacked the race hardness, which will hopefully come in the near future.
Â
Kira Böhm started after the U23 riders and together with Nina Benz and Lia Schrievers she set the pace from the start. The trio were able to break away immediately and for two laps the young rider from Weilheim in the CUBE Factory Team was part of the leading group. After that, the big girls were too fast for her and she had to ride at her own pace. In the middle of the race, the gap to the fourth-placed rider was briefly reduced to 10 seconds, but then Kira Böhm found her way back into the race and extended her lead to fourth place. In the end, she was able to secure a confident third place and score important UCI points for the season.
Â
In the elite men's race, Norwegian champion Knut Rohme and Sven Strähle from Böbingen competed for the team from Schwäbisch Hall. Luca Schwarzbauer, a top star from Germany, was at the start and the race started quickly here too. The two teammates Rohme and Strähle were able to hold their own in the top 10 and completed their laps here. Neither of them were able to make a really spectacular attack further ahead, as the field spread out quite quickly. In the end, Norwegian champion Rohme was almost able to move up to 6th place, but his rivals finished just ahead of him and he ended the race in 8th place. Sven Strähle crossed the finish line two places behind him.
Â
"We have now started the season and have been pretty successful. We still have a few races left in March before the majority of the team heads to Brazil for the first two World Cups of the season in Maripora, SP and Araxa, MG at the beginning of April.
