The European Bike Trial Championships took place this weekend in Zoetermeer, the town that hosted the Benelux Championship last year. Tribal Zine brought you the results of the competitions (which, true to this year’s form, were very intense) as they happened. Swiss rider Karin Moor retained her jersey by widening the gap between her and her adversaries in spectacular fashion. The very talented Abel Mustieles Garcia took the title of Junior 20” European Champion on Sunday morning, while the Junior 26” title went to French rider Anthony Grenier following a tough fight for the top spot. In the afternoon, Dani Comas won the prestigious title of Elite 20” European Champion, ahead of World Champion Benito Ros, while Gilles Coustelllier, a true master, defended his Elite 26” champion’s jersey with style! The complete results are available in the article Dani Comas & Gilles Coustellier Champions d’Europe ! which was updated ‘live’ over the course of the weekend. The sections for the Championship were set out by Ronny Belaey, one of the great UCI international competition section setters (Knokke-Heist, Courtrai, etc...), with the help of Michel Romen and the RideActive.nl (an organisation who have been promoting trials and MTB for over five years) team. Michel, who is a biketrials specialist, tells us more about the weekend and how it went and has sent us a series of great photos!

Write-up:

The organisation of the European Bike Trial Championships was a first for the Netherlands. It was a real challenge for the oranisers: never before had such a display of such a high level of sporting ability taken place in the country! The sections were taken care of by Belgian trials specialist Ronny Belaey, with support from Rideactive.nl. They put together six wonderful sections, composed of rocks, logs, concrete blocks and cable reels. This unprecedented event was opened with a display by Wesley Belaey, following which the ‘games’ began! The sun came out on saturday 11th July, just in time for the Junior and Elite 20” & 26” semi-finals and the Women’s final. Karin Moor demonstrated that her reign was definitely not over… de defended her title in the best way possible, widening her lead on the Spanish sisters Mireia and Gemma Abant Condal to more than 22 points! In the Junior class, Abel Mustieles Garcia and French rider Kevin Aglaé were far and away the strongest riders, finishing the three laps on zero and one point respectively! The Elite competitions were also a contest between the French and Spanish riders, who took the lead in the semi-finals on Saturday. Dani Comas succeeded in taking a slight advantage over his countryman Benito Ros, meaning that the final would be a battle between the two of them. Thanks to a well deserved fifth place in the qulaifiers, Dutch Hoffman rider Rick Koekoek was guaranteed a place in Sunday’s final. 26” World Champion Gilles Coustellier demonstrated his superiority once again, finishing all eighteen sections on just one point! Vincent Hermance and Kenny Belaey also showed great form, showing that everything was still to play for in the final!

On Sunday, conditions were quite extreme. Not just because the sections were run in reverse, making them much harder than the day before, but also because the riders would have to contend with the rain that had fallen over night! The sections were really slippery and the take-offs were very muddy in places, with riders having to complete two laps of the six sections. In Junior 20” class, Abel Mustieles Garcia showed the crowd his enormous talent by taking the title with just 15 points on his card. His compatriot Ion Areito Aguirre took second, with the Belgians Gil Alkema and Rodrigue Timellini hot on his heels. The future of Belgian trials looks very bright indeed! French rider Anthony Grenier took the Junior 26” title after a tough battle with Spaniard Rafael Tibau Roura and Frenchman Kevin Algaé, who didn’t seem to have taken into account the slipperiness of the sections in the final. The start of the afternoon saw a spectacular combat between Dani Comas and Benito Ros. There were just two points between the two Elites, with Dani just taking the win on the super-slippery Zoetermeer sections. Rick Koekoek fought to the end and finished in seventh place. The Elite 26” competition that followed was, as seems to be the norm this year, very intense: the fight between Gilles Coustellier, Vincent Hermance and Kenny Belaey was a real clash of the titans! The three riders were pretty much neck and neck after the first lap, each with less than 20 points. Gilles Coustellier showed everyone what he was made of on his second lap with an impressive lead, retaining his title in the most convincing way possible – eight points ahead of Vincent Hermance and ten ahead of Kenny Belaey!

Photos :

A selection of photos taken by the RideActive.nl team... Click on a photo to see the whole gallery (31 photos)! Wesley Belaey opening the European Championships…

Gilles Coustellier... masterful once again... Two-time European Champion!

Supermance... He rode exceptionally well but once again had to “settle for” the title of Vice European Champion

Kenny Belaey, third place in Elite 26”

Marc Caisso, always near the top! He no longer bows to pressure and rides purely for fun. Nonetheless, he finished in a very respectable fifth place!

Belgian rider Iciar Van Den Bergh, ninth place in Elite 26"...

Benito Ros fought to the end for the champion’s jersey, but in the end had to hand it over to a very on-form Dani Comas…

Rick Koekoek finished in seventh place in Elite 20"...

Robin Fix of Germany, eighth place in Junior 26"...

Frenchman Alexandre Fabrégas, sixth in Junior 20"...

World Champion Gemma Abant Condal was unable to beat European Champion Karin Moor, who retains her title!