The Orbea Oiz is proclaimed World Champion in the discipline where hardtails reign

The Ukrainian Mariia Sukhopalova, 20 years old, and the Swedish Edvin Lindh, 25 years old, are the new UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country Eliminator World Champions. A World Championship held in Sakarya (Turkey) that was even more explosive than usual for its short and technical course.

Sukhopalova and Lindh crowned XCE world champions in Turkey

In the women's category, the absence of top favorites like Gaia Tormena (injured) and Madison Boissière opened the door to new protagonists. Sukhopalova shone brightly, dominating the final by more than three seconds over the French Isaure Medde. The podium was completed by another Ukrainian, Maria Sherstiuk, in a historic result for her country. "It's incredible, I did it, I'm in shock," said the emotional new champion.

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In the men's competition, the Swedish Lindh achieved his long-awaited redemption after a fall in last year's final. He convincingly beat the Austrian Theo Hauser by five seconds and the Slovenian Matic Kranjec Žagar, who finished third. "I can't believe it! I dreamed of this day since I fell last year," Lindh confessed after crossing the finish line.

The Orbea Oiz takes the rainbow jersey in a discipline where rigid MTBs reign

As we mentioned at the beginning, this World Championship, held under the sun of the Black Sea coast, offered a shorter and more technical course than in previous editions, which led many participants to choose rigid bikes. The world champion herself, Mariia Sukhopalova, decided to race with a rigid model.

But Lindh climbed to the top of the podium with one of the most versatile full-suspension mountain bikes on the market: the Orbea Oiz.

Once again, the Oiz proves that with its geometry and carefully studied rigidity, it is capable of competing in a XCO World Cup, a race as long and demanding as the Cape Epic, or a race of just a minute and a half like the XCE ones.