31.12.2020

Season report 2020 – Thank you!

With a triple win at the Snow Bike Festival in Gstaad and my first World Cup podium at the UCI E-XCO World Cup in Monaco, my first elite season started very well. In addition, my new JR Racing project also worked out great.

However, after this successful start to the season, the Corona virus arrived and there was a longer break from racing. I used this opportunity to bring my performance level closer to the world’s best elite riders with targeted and consistent training. In my opinion, everything went perfectly during this race-free time and I had the feeling that I’ve never been so fit. But as you might remember, things turned out differently when I came back after the Corona-race-break at the Swiss Bike Cup in Leukerbad.

 

With a huge mental slap I finished the race in Leukerbad as a lapped rider on the 62nd place. Normally I can put such failures away, but this time it was different. I struggled with myself for a long time and even thought about what my life would be like after competitive racing. In retrospect, I can say that the race in Leukerbad made me stronger and I was able to learn a lot from it.

Especially the weeks after Leukerbad, where I found my way out of my crisis again, were great and I still think back to it very grateful. I spent many great days in the mountains, had an amazing training camp in Les Gets, France and also made an experience to the Enduro World Series. I would like to thank everyone for these incredible experiences and am already looking forward to more of them.

Despite the special situation with many race cancellations, I'm very proud that in the second half of the season I was able to match or even overreach my performances from the U23 category.

Thank you to all the people for their trust and support this season. It's always great to share my passion for cycling with such enthusiastic people.

After I found my way out of my crisis, I really gained new confidence and was able to finish my season on a high level. Right after the Enduro World Series in Zermatt, I celebrated my biggest success in my career so far. I was able to win my first international XCO race in the elite category in Langendorf. The performance at this race gave me again the needed self-confidence and the easiness that I don’t have to hide from the world’s best elite riders. So I tackled the last races of the season. I finished 4th at the Proffix Swiss Bike Cup in Hochdorf and 5th at the E-XCO World Championship. I also qualified myself for my first Elite European Championship.

After the E-XCO World Championships I didn’t classify the 5th place as a success, because I lost a possible medal due to a defect. In retrospect I’m satisfied with the result, but for me it’s clear that I want to achieve even more in this discipline next season.

Sometimes I still can’t believe how I could turn this season in such a positive direction. However, it makes me very proud that I was able to overcome this crisis together with all of you and that everyone believed in me even in this difficult time. I’m looking forward to build on these successes in the coming season and also to work on my consistency in the races. The additional racing experience will certainly help me in this part.

Many have already been informed by me that I will continue with my own team JR Racing in the coming season. This project has proven to be a recipe for success and I would like to stick to it next season. I will also ride the XCO and cyclocross races again with bikes from  Thömus and compete in E-MTB races for BERGSTROM.

I’m very grateful to my sponsors, suppliers & partners that I can count on their support also in the coming season. A renewed compilation can be found on the Sponsors page.

There will be only some minor changes. For example, the company NeoFluxe, which is responsible for this great website, will join as jersey sponsor. Also, I will end my cooperation with the Hotel Park Gstaad. This hotel will focus on the road bike sector. However, there is also good news with my hotel partner. I will work with the Bernerhof in Gstaad for at least the next three years. You can look forward to exciting projects.
Once again I would like to thank all the companies and people who have supported me this season. I wish you all a Happy New Year and I’m already looking forward to the coming season together with you. Thank you very much!

//Joris 

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