Joost Wichman - 2013 UCI Fourcross World Champion
Joost Wichman is your 2013 UCI MTB 4X World Champion! Last Saturday in Leogang Austria, the 35-year-old Dutch mountain biker outsmarted his opponents in a thrilling final.
Wichman rode a tactical descent and waited for his opportunity. After the first corner he was still last, but he pushed into 2nd place after Slavik and Mechura tangled up. His ultimate attack, at the end of the last straight, was just enough to take the lead and cross the line in first position. Michael Měchura from the Czech Republic was second, Frenchman Quentin Derbier was third.
This is what Joost had to say: "It has been a long time coming, but I finally got it now. Before the race I talked to Katy because she was very nervous. I told her that she only could control her own racing and that she did not have control of other the riders and other factors like the weather. It's no use getting stressed about how fast someone else is or if it's gonna rain or not, because this is something you do not have control of.After I did this pep talk I started thinking about myself, that this is actually true.. and this gave me a very strong and confident feeling. Besides this i knew this was going to be my last 4X World Championships…before the race I wrote on the back of my number plate "LAST CHANCE", my trainer wrote me a text: "do not screw this up!". That was the only thing what was on my mind, I did not wanted to cross the finish line with the feeling, WHAT IF… Also if I did not win still, I wanted to say to myself that I gave it my all.At the end of the day it all worked out. After winning the euro champs and winning world cup races I can finally say I AM YOUR NEW 2013 WORLD CHAMPION!"
The world title may be seen as absolute highlight of Joost's career. In 2011 he crashed during the world championships while leading which left him with a disappointing bronze medal. This year he rode less races, due to injuries and the combination with his position as team manager of the Rose Vaujany Mountainbike Team.
It was a great day for the team, as Katy Curd took 2nd place in the final for women. After a bad gate gate jumped past Anneke on the big 12 meter Pro jump! Respect for this! Caroline Buchanan (reigning World Champion BMX) was fastest, but Katy rode well and fought back to second position, thanks to an outstanding jump. It was a good end to a fantastic season in which she scored 15 victories.
We would like to thank all our Rose Vaujany Team partners, friends, team staff, riders en everybody who supported us!
