Triada Paltinis

Triada Paltinis is arguably the most prestigious mountain bike race in Romania. The XCO course is renowned for its complexity, and the marathon is one of the most challenging. This year, instead of participating in the marathon, I opted for the eBike race to finish what I started last year, when my engine gave out.

Friday: Familiarization Day

Friday was dedicated to getting acquainted with the XCO and eBike XCO courses. Unfortunately, there was no time to inspect the eBike marathon course, even though it was essential for a good overall performance.

Saturday: XCO Race Day

Saturday morning marked the second round of the XCO Romanian Cup. My goal was to perform at my best, despite the high temperatures and altitude taking their toll pretty early on. Despite these challenges, I managed to win my category and secure second place overall—a result I was pleased with.

Later that afternoon, it was time for the eBike race. Without any kind of specific training for this discipline, it was fun. Donning my skinsuit and activating Turbo Mode felt fantastic, but fatigue was setting in. The start was chaotic, with a lot of aggressive riders and powerful bikes. A few crashes early on (from the riders in front) caused me to lose contact with the leading group. During the second lap, I caught up with a rider, but his defensive tactics almost pushed us both off the course. In the final laps, my upper body was exhausted, making it hard to control the bike on descents, although I enjoyed them. I finished 6th.

Sunday: eBike Marathon

On Sunday, we tackled a 27km course with 1350m of climbing in the eBike “marathon.” I attempted to pace myself at the start, but this strategy backfired. On technical climbs, I lost valuable seconds due to other riders’ issues.

During the first descent, a tree branch struck my collarbone. I was fortunate it didn’t hit closer to my neck, which could have caused serious injury. The longest descent from Saua Batrana was incredibly tough as my arms were numb, and I nearly lost control of the handlebars. Despite pushing hard on the rest of the climbs, I lost more time on a technical descents due to a crash on wet roots. I finished 7th out of 37 riders, six minutes behind the winner. Though close to last year’s winning time, it wasn’t enough this year.

Conclusion These races taught me valuable lessons. My focus now shifts to the rest of the XCO season and the National Championships (XCO + XCC).

Many thanks to my family for being next to me, including the feedzones where Filip was cheering, Simona gave me the bottles and Felix was there with water to be able to splash myself. It felt fantastic.

Also huge shoutout to my sponsors for making this and all the races possible with the best racing material and financial support.

I’ll keep working.

Cheers,

Vlad