06-07.05 second stage of European downhill cup in Slovenia, Maribor! I have been racing in Maribor many times before and because of that, I would say that I felt confident about the upcoming race. For the past three years, they haven’t changed the track, but this time the top part of the track was new. Upper part had a soft loam, then came the legendary rock garden and finally it had a superfast forest sector. What made it more interesting, was the fact that the track had a lot of compression holes which can be very difficult to handle for the whole body and not to mention that bike needs to be perfectly set for this.
First day of training was really nice- the track was clean, dry, and the sun was shining which meant that with every ride I was able to gain more speed.
After the first training day it started to rain and it lasted until the end of qualifications. Track was very muddy and it was only possible to go through the upper part with the help of legs pushing the bike from one curve to another. It reminded me of the World Championships in Leogang with snow and rain so all in all, riding conditions were bad. My final place in qualifications was 16th with a time of 3:51.927 and I lost 17.489 seconds to the winner.
On the day of finals the track was drying and wet mud turned into sticky mud. I was tired and couldn’t get myself together for the trainings. Riding in muddy conditions has never been easy for me and If I add my tiredness to it, then it is clear that the trainings did not go well before the finals. Before the ride I had a goal to give my best and take the maximum of it, but unfortunately it didn’t go as planned.
In the first sector I got stuck in a rut, which was not so bad if we looked at the situation. But after this, in the second part of the track I was supposed to brake my speed nearly to zero to enter safely to the rock garden, but when I started to brake, my rear brake was gone and because of that I went off the track. I got stuck in the tapes with my bike and what is more, my brake rotor was bent. After driving off the track I decided to roll down safely because of the long upcoming season and i didn’t wanted to crash anymore. I finished 29th and had a time of 4.19.144 and lost 51.995 seconds to the winner. Next opportunity will come at the beginning of Junne, when I will compete in the third stage of European downhill cup in Austria, Semmering.
Now I drove back to Estonia to fix and prepare the bike, finish my high school final exams, rest, and get ready for the long season. At the beginning of June I will be back in Europe and plan to stay there for the whole season so I could race as much as possible!