In the Romanian city of Ceile Gradiste, it continued to rain heavily on Thursday, which turned the XCC cross-country track into a real mud bath. Even without all the mud, the circuit was quite difficult. In several places, riders overcame stone sections, and there was no shortage of other obstacles.
In the men’s elites, the best 40 athletes qualified for the main XCC cross-country competition. Mārtiņš Blūms fought his way to 11th place in his qualifying run after falling in the first lap. On Thursday, the česi player started with starting number 22.
On the track, the Latvian cyclist rapidly improved his position in the dynamic competition. The fight for the prize was also very real. The Dane Simon Andreasen, who also won the previous round of the World Cup, gained an unusually large advantage for XCC cross country, approaching 40 seconds. The Danish athlete won a very safe victory. He spent 23 minutes and 47 seconds on the track.
Second place went to the German Julian Schelb (+00:00:38), who beat the Italian Luca Braidotta in the finish sprint. Mārtiņš Blums fought for the fourth place in the last seven laps. On the muddy track, the Latvian won the sixth place in an intense finish. The student of coach Jānis Mūsiņa lost 56 seconds to the winner. 18 seconds separated the Latvian from the medal.
In the first half of the day, in the XCC cross-country competition for juniors, Kristers Celitāns, starting from the very end, finished in 34th place on the rough track. For the Latvian cyclist, this is the first experience in the European championships, and entry into the main competition should be evaluated positively.
On Saturday, Celitāns will start in XCO cross country. Meanwhile, for Mārtiņš Blum and Evelina Ermane-Marchenko, the XCO cross-country competition at the European Championship is expected on Sunday. The elite men’s race will be broadcast live on the “Eurosport” channel.
Tags: Blum wins high #6th place European Championship XCC cross country Diena
