Less than one month to go until the official unveiling of the WES 2025 cross-country round at the mountain resort of Cheile Gradistei - Brasov County, which will open the upcoming WES UCI E-MTB XC World Cup season, managing director of the WES World E-Bike Series, Italian Valentina Conti declared in Bucharest that she is certain that Romania will successfully organize the two races of the event, after passing with flying colors the task of hosting the European Mountain Bike Cross-country Championships last year.
Conti was at Cheile Gradistei for an inspection on site, together with Tudor Oprea, who is responsible for organizing the two stages of the E-MTB World Cup. Back in Bucharest, Conti declared in a press conference that E-MTB is a niche sport that has developed due to the explosion of the electric bicycle market; she also voiced her confidence that the event at Cheile Gradistei will be a success.
''It is an excellent opportunity for us to expand to Eastern Europe. This is the first time that we are coming to this part of the continent and I think it is crucial for a market in full growth and expanding. Everyone in cycling knows that electric bikes are now the pinnacle and the peak of production. And I can practically say that most bike brands in our series are definitely part of the business where companies do research and development. We are sure that this event will provide an excellent opportunity for the entire market and for the local national markets as well," Conti said, adding that she and her fellow technical delegate were very impressed by the technical condition of the track as well by the general facilities, the welcoming people and the support received during preparations for this event.
She invited all mountain biking afficionados to join either as World Cup wildcards or world-ranked cyclists, stressing that feedback from participating athletes is overwhelmingly positive, although eMTB is a mountain biking niche.
Tudor Oprea, the first Romanian MTB representative at the Olympic Games, 2004 edition, multiple national and Balkan champion, promised the event will be spectacular: "We're talking about a World Cup stage, in a new power driven discipline that's on the rise, so to speak. (...) I know that we have to put up with this trope that it's a sport for lazy people... Well, I invite you to come and I hope that you'll attend the event in as high numbers as possible, to see what we do there, to see the trails, because we are talking about something completely different. And you'll also be able to see the amount of effort such a competition requires. What I can tell you from my and other people's experience is that at the end you will experience leg cramps just like in standard cycling, but the upper body is much more under stress than in any other cycling discipline.''
The E-MTB Cross-Country World Cup, which will kick off in Cheile Gradistei (June 14-15), includes a total of nine stages, including two in Monaco's Maritime Alps and three in Italy, in Olbia and Massa Marittima Trail Area.