(Photo UCI)
The fifth and final day of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saw world titles awarded to China’s Sun Sibei and France’s Anthony Jeanjean in BMX Freestyle Park, and Elite trials rainbow jerseys won by Spain’s Alba Riera (Women), Great Britain’s Charlie Rolls (26”) and Spain’s Alejandro Montalvo (20”).
In Abu Dhabi last year, Riera beat Vera Báron by just 10 points to claim her first Women Elite world title, at the expense of her Spanish countrywoman. Fast forward almost a year to Saudi Arabia and the two athletes were favourites again.
Riera hit 60 on section 1, and 2021 UCI World Champion Báron replied in kind. After three of five rounds it was 170-160 in Riera’s favour, both having scored two 60s, with France’s Nina Vabre the closest challenger on 100 points.
Throughout the tense final two sections, the Spanish pair was evenly matched. Báron gave everything but slipped on the last obstacle, and Riera, the youngest rider in the final, maintained her 10-point advantage just as she had 12 months earlier. Vabre took bronze ahead of Czechia’s Eliška Hríbková.
After watching Riera and Báron dominate the Women Elite final and Spain win all three Junior trials titles on Friday, fellow Spaniards Daniel Báron, Martí Veyreda, Toni Guillen and Julen Sáenz had a lot to live up to. Facing them was a strong British contingent: although reigning World Champion Jack Carthy was absent due to illness, young Oliver Weightman, and the in-form Charlie Rolls, recovering from a knee injury, had high ambitions.
After Guillen hit a maximum 60 points on the first section, Sáenz matched him, then swapped the lead with Rolls over the following three rounds. After they both scored 60 on the penultimate round, Sáenz scored 40 in the last round, putting him on 230 in provisional gold position with just two riders left to go… the Britons.
Weightman started on 180, needing 50 to go to the front, but trouble in the sandpit saw him running out of time. His score of 30 put him in bronze medal position that he couldn’t lose. The pressure was on the last rider, Rolls, who achieved the 40 points to give him the Elite rainbow bands for the first time.
“I’ve been so close, I’ve been in grasping distance, but wow! It’s unbelievable to actually make it, get the gold, bring it home to the UK, it’s amazing!” said the jubilant UCI World Champion.
Four different nations were represented in the Men Elite 20” final, starting with the Austrian powerhouse Thomas Pechhacker, followed by the first Italian in a UCI World Championships 20” final, Marco Bonalda, then Finland’s young Niilo Stenvall.
They were up against the three formidable Spanish riders: Borja Conejos, Eloi Palau and 2022, 2023 and 2024 UCI World Champion Alejandro Montalvo – who had scored three completely clean rounds in the semi-final.
UCI Trials World Cup overall winner Montalvo cleaned the first two sections, but hit 40 on section 3 to total 160. With Palau on 150 and Stenvall on 140, there were just 20 points between the top three riders with two sections remaining. It went down to the last section where 40 points each meant Montalvo claimed his third successive UCI world title with 260 points, pushed all the way by 2022 UCI World Champion Palau (250), and Stenvall (230).
“I’ve been working very hard all year.” said Alejandro Montalvo. “Now I can be happy, all the work is paying off, I won everything this year.”
Amongst the 12 finalists, China was the best represented nation with four athletes, including the two highest qualifiers, Sun Jiaqi followed by Sun Sibei. They faced Japan’s Miharu Ozawa along with riders from the USA, Australia, Hungary, Germany and Colombia.
With the evolution of women’s BMX Freestyle Park in the last two years, 720 barspins, backflip tailwhips and truckdrivers over the 3.5-metre high spine don’t guarantee a podium spot: Ozawa landed those tricks but it wasn’t enough to compete with the Chinese delegation. Six-time UCI World Champion Hannah Roberts USA) made a mistake in run 1 and was under pressure to give everything in run 2, but ended in 10th position.
China’s Fan Xiaotong tore the park apart with tricks including cliffhangers over the box – one that only a few male riders can do – a no-handed backflip, a frontflip and an opposite flair. That was good for a bronze medal!
As the sun went down in Riyadh, two Suns shone in the Women Park finals as Sun Jiaqi and Sun Sibei battled for the gold medal. Sibei’s 360 tailwhips, 720s, flairs, a huge 360 over the spine and double barspins were all executed perfectly in her second run, and her score of 95.86 won her the 2025 UCI World Championships title. Jiaqi’s run with double tailwhips, 360 double whips on the box, backflip with an X-up mixed in, and a tailwhip to barspin earned her 93.08 and the silver medal to confirm a full Chinese podium.
On his second run, 9th – placed qualifier Anthony Jeanjean scored 94.44 and became the one to beat for the men’s BMX Freestyle Park rainbow jersey. The Frenchman’s run had opposite tricks and unique lines that were performed in a smooth and clean way, including his double flair on the quarter.
Marcus Christopher came closest to Jeanjean, but the American’s score was 0.43 short of victory. Christopher’s first run was amazing but his second didn’t go to plan and he settled for 2nd place. Former UCI World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Logan Martin of Austria grabbed bronze, edging out former World Champions Rimu Nakamura of Japan, Brandon Loupos of Australia and Justin Dowell of the USA, with 2024 Olympic Champion Jose Torres Gil of Argentina in 6th place.
Meanwhile, the 2025 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships kicked off in Göppingen, Germany.
In their farewell Act 4 performance, Switzerland’s Stefanie Haas, Valerie Unternährer, Selina Niedermann, and Sarah Manser claimed a third consecutive world title, a perfect ending to their glorious careers.
After a shaky qualification round left them in second place behind Germany, the Swiss team produced a near-flawless routine in the final to score 239.54 points. The German team, silver medalists in 2024 and UCI World Champions in 2022, composed of Milena Schwarz, Annika Rosenbach, Stella Rosenbach and Tijem Karatas, scored 237.75 points to again take silver medal.
A tense battle for bronze saw Hong Kong (So Cheuk Lam, Wong Cheuk Sze, Ho Dong Qing, and Lam Cheuk Yu) edge out France (Justine Martz, Alice Rieb, Valentine Rieb, and Thérèse Rietsch) after the French quartet suffered several falls, ending with 84.56 points to Hong Kong’s 86.51.
Favourite Philipp-Thies Rapp of Tailfingen/Germany, two-time silver medallist, topped the Single Men qualifications with 206.23 points, and enters the final as the clear favourite.
In his first Elite UCI World Championships, Linus Weber of Kirchdorf/Germany also made a strong impression despite a fall during the “Maute jump”. With bonus points from a six-fold twist jump, he finished on 188.48 points to qualify for the final.
The remaining places went to Yat Nam Chan of Hong Kong with 165.01 points and Czaba Varga of Hungary with 160.90 points, while Austria’s Marcel Schnetzer made a noteworthy comeback, securing fifth place with 155.27 points.
The reigning Pair World Champions Lea-Victoria Styber and Nico Rödiger of Germany dazzled the audience with multiple handlebar turns and impressive transitions, scoring a new World Championships personal best of 161.47 points to lead the Pair Open qualifications.
Fellow Germans, last year’s World Championships silver medallists Niklas Kreuzmann and Celine Stapf, finished second with 132.58 points.
Brothers Tsz Hin Jeff Lim and Tsz Leung Ron Lim competing for Hong Kong placed third with 130 points, while their compatriots Chun Wai Hui and Chun Yin Hui secured the last final spot with 114.46 points, despite a crash attempting a double Maute jump, which cost them ten points.
The arena was deafeningly loud at the first cycle-ball games of the new Elite League.
Defending champions Bernd Mlady and Raphael Kopp of Germany came from behind to beat the French duo of Quentin and Mathias Seyfried 6–1.
In Group B, Switzerland’s Fröhlich brothers, Timon and Yannick, narrowly defeated Austria’s Patrick Schnetzer and Stefan Feurstein 7–6 in a thrilling duel between last year’s top contenders. In the other duels, Hungary beat Japan 5–1, and Czechia outperformed Slovakia 6–1.
In the Women’s event, World Champions Danielle Holzer and Judith Wolf (GER) opened with a 3–1 win over Japan (Sayaka Tokuhiro/ Nana Yamashita), while Switzerland’s Sava Baumann and Chiara Dotoli dominated Czechia (Blanka Adamova/ Veronika Kripnerova) to win 5–0.
