RESULTS: Red Bull Cerro Abajo Genova

The Cerro Abajo is usually associated with early spring time racing somewhere in South America, but as Red Bull continues to grow the series it has now landed in Europe as well - in the mountain town of Genova in Italy, to be precise. On the topic of growth, two interesting topics were discussed during the pre-race show: apparently the series is set to get "massively bigger" next year, and it seems like a women's category may well be introduced too. That's great news on both fronts, as this series continues to prove itself as a very entertaining format and Red Bull are doing a great job with it. Funnily enough, it naturally lends itself to some of the aspects that the UCI and WB/Discovery are pushing for in the UCI Downhill World Cup: smaller fields, and manageable track lengths that can be fit nicely into a TV broadcast format. Not to mention the excitement of bringing bike racing right into main population centers. Urban DH was once a fringe sport, and although it would be a stretch to call it mainstream now, it has certainly turned into a major production.

Even though the Genova track was actually longer than the average South American tracks, Red Bull did a great job with camera placement to really showcase what the builders had come up with. Big drops, shark fin gaps and high-speed stair sections we all on the menu of course, and we got to see pretty much all of the sub-3 minute runs live - even the drone shots were mostly enjoyable thanks to the skill of the drone pilots and the keen eye of whoever was mixing the images in the production truck.

As for the racing, there was a lot at stake. The overall title was up for grabs, as was the glory of winning the first-ever European Cerro Abajo race. Colombian phenom Juanfer Velez threw down a fantastic run, risking it all with trademark aggression in his bid for the overall title, and although he came up just short of the top step of the podium today, it was enough to secure the series title for the second time in his career.

juanfer.jpg?VersionId=CT4s5j — Juanfer Velez

Tomas Slavik is a legend of urban DH (not to mention UCI Four Cross World Champ and World Cup overall winner, Four Cross ProTour winner, King of Crankworx, etc. etc.), but he hasn't had it all his own way this year as a snapped chain at the Valparaiso stop set him back in the hunt for the overall title. Today in Italy he proved to be the man to beat however, laying down a run that combined technical skill with that legendary four cross pedaling power to seal the deal. Well done Tomas, and congrats to the organizers for pulling off this new race with great success. We can't wait to see more urban DH racing in 2025!