Gegenheimer wins men's eliminator at Hafjell World Cup

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The final round of the eliminator series at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Hafjell, Norway, offered some of the most exciting racing of the season, with multiple lead changes in almost every race. While neither of the World Cup leaders won their respective final, each won the overall title, with Alexandra Engen (Ghost Factory) taking the women's title and Daniel Federspiel (Otztal Scott) the men's.

The tough circuit started with a steep climb before traversing the ski slopes and then taking the riders through a series of BMX jumps. From here they dropped into a rock garden, went up another short and steep climb, and then dropped down to the final finishing straight.

The men's race for the overall title was over after Federspiel made it through the first round, assuring himself of at least the single point he needed to clinch the title. He did not stop at that point, making his way into the final, along with top rival Simon Gegenheimer of Germany, Mathias Wengelin (Swedish National) and Andres Soto (Wild Wolf Trek).

Federspiel did not contest the final, content to take a victory lap to celebrate his title. At the front, Gegenheimer and Wengelin battled all lap for the race win, with the German champion finally taking the victory.

"I am so happy," said Gegenheimer. "I have been waiting so long for the first victory. After the Worlds I was a bit disappointed with my result and now I am super happy. It is a great final to the season. It was the toughest race of the year. The first uphill you had to do a lot of technical and then the second uphill it was really tough. The World Cup (overall) was close, but I lost it in the first half of the season."

"It was an amazing season, I have reached all of my goals," said Federspiel. "I won the Austrian Championship, the European Championship, silver medal in the world championship and now the overall World Cup. It was an amazing feeling."

"Yes, it is very special, it was one of my big goals this season. This was a good race from the qualification to the final. In the final I have much respect, because in the (semi) final it was so fast to the finish and with Kenta (Gallagher) it was nearly a crash. But now I finish in fourth place and I am super happy. I had fun."

Federspiel won the overall series with 183 points, followed by Gegenheimer with 159 and Fabrice Mels (Salcano Alanya) with 106.

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