Jure Žabjek Retires from World Cup Racing After a Decade

PRESS RELEASE: Unior Sinter Factory Racing

The world cup season will start shortly and for the first time in more than a decade, it will be without Jure Žabjek at the start gates. Jure is not just the best male Slovenian downhiller of all times, he made a name for himself with European titles, top-10 results in the World Cup and countless fantastic results. He might not race at the highest level anymore, but his passion for cycling is still strong!

History of our team (Unior Tools Team, Unior-Devinci Factory Racing and now Unior-Sinter Factory Racing) is inseparably connected with racing career of Jure Žabjek, born & raised in Ljubljana, Slovenija. A place that is also a home for Cycling club Rajd and base for Unior-Sinter Factory Racing. Jure has joined the team at the start of the 2013 season, at the time as a junior. He got noticed at early years, at the youngest of the fast Žabjek brothers. It's easy to say that everything from there one is history, but it really is. Jure continued the legacy of Nejc Rutar and Žiga Pandur, both pushing the levels of Slovenian downhill scene. Jure pushed it even further and became a respected rider on the world cup circuit. His influence among younger generations is immeasurable as many look up to him and dream of being as good. Some dream to be even better, which is going to be very hard.

Jure has tons of ups and downs in the eleven years on the world cup circuit. He took top-10 twice, in Leogang and in Lenzerheide. He won the European downhill title in 2015. He won number of iXS European Downhill Cup races and Slovenian races, including national champs. But for the real fans his best result might be the presence at the top of the world cup standings that lasted for years! Just take a look at his racing photos, so many will have plate number starting with digit 1 or 2. Jure was also one of the main riders in the Slovenian national team, he wore the national team jersey on countless World & European Championships. These are results that are going to be hard to beat by any of his successors. With less bad luck with the injuries, Jure could do even more. Much more!


We at Unior-Sinter Factory Racing want to say THANK YOU JURE for all the hard work, commitment & passion that led to so many great results. It was a great run, and we’re sure that eventually the start number will be back on your bars, in one way or another! Good luck Jure!