At the Trophée de France des Jeunes Vététistes (TFJV), the KTM Youngsters once again performed well.
The TFJV is one of the most prestigious competitions for young mountain bikers in Europe. Every year this event takes place in a different location in France. This time the competition was held in Les Menuires in the Alps. The weather forecast promised beautiful summer weather with a few thunderstorms. With Niclas Look, Paulina Weigelt and Nico Wollenberg a trio of KTM Youngsters participated as part of the German team.
It started on Monday with the defilee. The theme this time was “Playground of the mountains”. Through an entertaining performance, the German team achieved a respectable fifth place. On Tuesday evening the relay was held. The German team started confidently in the U13 and passed the baton to Niclas. The latter further extended the lead with the U15 riders. The U17 with Paulina managed this and the German team won with more than two minutes ahead.
Wednesday with the trial competition has always been considered the fighting day of the German team. Especially in the U17 the standard is very high. Nico started well in the first section, but a rear wheel flat quickly slowed him down. In the following sections he tried to make up lost ground, which he partially succeeded. Niclas had a similar experience and was also not satisfied with his performance. Paulina showed a solid performance and finished eleventh.
The next day the CC races were held. Niclas started from the fifth row and put in a courageous race. He even sniffed at the top three and finished the race as the best German rider in fourth place. Paulina did it as usual and crossed the finish line as the winner with a two-minute lead. Nico had the hardest task coming from the last row. He fought and overtook more than 30 riders, but still it was only enough for 50th place.
On the last day of competition, the mountain was taken under the tires in the downhill. The stony terrain in the bike park challenged the young riders. Niclas and Paulina managed good runs. The KTM Amazon finished a good sixth with a controlled run. Nico went into his first run with the goal of “champagne or seltzer”. He then risked too much, crashed and ended up in the back half. In the second run he wanted to take a more controlled approach, but it did not come to that, because due to a thunderstorm the competition was stopped after one run.
At the closing ceremony with the award ceremony in the evening, the surprise was great when Paulina made it to the podium as second in the U17 with a narrow points gap. In the overall ranking of the respective age groups the German U13 reached first place, the German U15 third place and the U17 was fifth. As a result, the German team finished second in the overall standings for all age groups.
