On january 12th the town centre of Ostermundigen (close to the Swiss capital of Bern) saw world-class mountain biking: Olympic athletes and world champions were darting through a tent and two greenhouses and pedalling as hard as they could on rollers. Both races were won by Switzerland’s Roger Rinderknecht.
Things started on the early Saturday afternoon on the terrain of Ostermundigen’s Kiener market garden: On an entirely sheltered dirt course with banked corners and countless bumps (also known as «pumptrack») 26 riders competed for the fastest times. There were reigning and former world champions, Olympic athletes and stars of the future. Three generations of riders were darting through the party tent and the greenhouses, supported by loud and numerous spectators. And they managed to bring a sport to the wintery city that normally is being performed out on the countryside and not in winter, really.
As the evening began, the Kiener market garden filled up for the big showdown. In a head to head competition, the faster rider qualified for the next heat until the fight for the podium spots was due. In the small final, Dutchman Joost Wichman edged out Czech Michal Prokop for third. Much to the joy of the spectators, the big final of the «Bergamont Greenhouse Urban Mountainbike Race» was an all-Swiss affair: Roger Rinderknecht, who had finished his carreer after having won the 4cross World championships last September, beat junior rider Noël Niederberger by a small margin.
But that was not all yet, as the 16 fastest qualifiers were competing the «Goldsprint» right after: A virtual distance of 300 metres had to be ridden on free rollers as fast as possible. In other words: This was all about spinning the pedals as fast as possible. And while the pumptrack race had been for invited riders only, the roller race was ridden in an open format, so everybody had a chance to compete with the pro riders. Roger Rinderknecht had set the fastest qualifying time, so it was no surprise he made it to the superfinal. Before that was ridden, Lutz Weber edged out David Graf in the race for third. Then it was time for two BMX specialists to compete the superfinal: Rinderknecht and Michal Prokop. And the two were stomping the pedals as if there were no tomorrow. Rinderknecht managed to keep his Czech rival in check, thus winning his second race of the Saturday evening. After the award ceremonies, the DJs took charge over the crowded room and kept the approximately visitors moving and shaking well into the wee hours.