Erice van Leuven

Last updated

Erice van Leuven
Personal information
Born (2006-11-30) 30 November 2006 (age 18) [1]
Wellington, New Zealand
Team information
Current teamNorco Factory Racing
DisciplinesMountain Biking
RoleProfessional Mountain Biker
Rider typeDownhill (DHI)

Enduro (EDR)

Freeride
Professional teams
Norco Factory Racing
Commencal Les Orres [2]
Major wins
UCI DHI World Champion Junior Women 2023 and 2024

UCI Downhill World Cup Overall Champion Junior Women 2024 Six World Cup Junior (U19) DHI wins in 2024 in Leogang (Austria), Loudenvielle (France) and Mont Ste-Anne (Canada) and in 2023 in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), Pal Arinsal (Andorra) and Snowshoe (USA); three second places in Bielsko-BIala (Poland)(2024), Val di Sole (2023) and Loudenvielle (2023); and a third place in Val di Sole (2023) Monster Pro Downhill Series 2024 - two Pro Women wins, in Mountain Creek (NY, USA, May 2024) and Snow Summit (Big Bear Lake, CA, USA, August 2024), and a second place (Ride Rock Creek, WC, USA, April 2024)

Winner of World Cup U21 EDR race in Derby, Tasmania, and second place in Maydena, Tasmania (both 2023)

Contents

Medal record
Women's mountain bike racing
Representing Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Glasgow Junior downhill
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Vallnord Junior downhill

Erice van Leuven (born 30 November 2006) is a downhill mountain biker from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is the current UCI Downhill Junior Women's World Champion [3] , having won the title two years in a row in 2023 and 2024, and also the 2024 UCI World Cup Overall Champion for Junior Women [4] .

She has won seven UCI MTB World Cup races (six in Downhill and one in Enduro). With these achievements, Erice is part of a very small group of riders who have achieved either of those ‘doubles’ (back-to-back World Champ or World Champ/World Cup Champion in one year).

She was a finalist in Aotearoa New Zealand’s prestigious Halberg Awards held in February 2024, in the Sky Sport Emerging Talent category, and is a finalist for the same award in 205; and she was College Sports Wellington Supreme Sportswoman of the Year 2023 and 2024.

A freerider as well, Erice is the Official Whip-Off World Champion [5] [6] having placed first in the event held at Whistler in July 2024, and she also won the award for Best Whip at the US Open in September 2024. Previously she won the honour of being named ‘Dark Horse’ at the women’s Dark Horse Invitational freeride event at Revelstoke, Canada in 2022. [7]

Despite her young age, Erice is ranked the 12th best female gravity mountain biker in the world. [8]

In late 2024, Erice was named as one of eight women invited internationally to compete in the legendary Red Bull Hardline in Maydena, Tasmania in February 2025. [9]

Career

Van Leuven began riding at age 7 with her older brothers, exploring local trails and creating jumps in her family's garden.

At age 10, a YouTube video of her riding trails in Rotorua, NZ on a 16-inch coaster break bike gained traction and caught the attention of bike brands including Commencal. [10]

She went on to race recreationally around Wellington and greater Aotearoa. In 2019 she was invited to Andorra to ride with the Commencal Kids project, and in 2022 she raced in Europe for the first time at the French Cup in Châtel. [10]

In 2023 she signed with the Commencal Les Orres [11] race team and began competing on the World Cup circuit primarily in Downhill with some Enduro races. She won the most World Cup Downhill races in 2023 of any of the Junior Women - winning three races, in Lenzerheide, [12] Pal Arinsal [13] and Snowshoe [14] - and she placed second in two others. [15] [16] In the two Enduro World Cup races she competed in, she won at Derby, Tasmania, [17] winning every one of the six stages, and came second in Maydena, [18] with two stage wins. In August 2023 she became Junior World Champion at Fort William, Scotland, [3] ahead of her New Zealand compatriots Poppy Lane and Sacha Earnest in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. [19]

In 2024, continuing with Commencal Les Orres, her World Cup year began with a remarkable performance at Fort William seeing her ahead for the first three splits despite a flat early on in the race, ending up in 5th place. She went on to win three World Cup races again - this year in Leogang [20] , Loudenvielle [21] and Mont Ste-Anne [22] , culminating in becoming the overall World Cup Champion alongside her World Championship title, which she defended in Pal Arinsal, Andorra by a convincing 6.3 second margin. [23]

In 2025 she signed with Norco Factory Racing, [24] with the legendary Greg Minnaar as Team Director and Alan Milway as Team Manager / coach.

Personal life

Van Leuven was born in 2006. She grew up in Te Awakairangi Lower Hutt and was a student at Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School [2] , graduating in 2024.

Results

Downhill

2024

1st place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup Overall

1st place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup, Mont Ste-Anne, Canada

1st place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup, Loudenvielle, France

1st place Junior Women (U19): UCI Cycling World Championships Downhill, Pal Arinsal, Andorra

1st Place Pro Women: Monster Pro Downhill Series, Snow Summit, USA [25]

3rd Place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Val di Sole Trentino, Italy

1st place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Leogang, Austria

1st Place Pro Women: Monster Pro Downhill Series, Mountain Creek, New York, USA [26]

2nd place Junior Women (U19): UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Bielslo-Biala, Poland

2023

3rd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup Overall [27]

1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Showshoe, West Virginia [14]

2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Loudenvielle-Peyragudes, France [16] (based on qualifying results as the final race was cancelled)

1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Pal Arinsal, Andorra [13]

1st Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, Châtel [28] (3rd overall elite women)

1st Place: UCI Cycling World Championships Junior Downhill, Fort William, Scotland [3]

2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Val di Sole Trentino, Italy [15]

1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland [12]

1st Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, La Grand-Combe [29] (1st overall elite women)

2nd Place: Cycling New Zealand National Champs U19, Coronet Peak, Queenstown, NZ [30] (3rd overall women)

2022

3rd Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, Châtel [10]

2nd Place: Cycling New Zealand National Champs U17, Christchurch, NZ [31] (6th overall women)

Enduro

2023

1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike U21 Enduro World Cup, Derby, Australia [17]

2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike U21 Enduro World Cup, Maydena, Australia [18]

Freeride

2024

Winner Best Whip, US Open, Killington, VT, USA, September 2024

Winner Official Whip Off World Championships, Whistler, Canada, July 2024

2022

'Dark Horse' women's freeride invitational, Revelstoke, Canada. Named 2022 'Dark Horse' [7]

'Hangtime' women's freeride invitational, Bellingham, WA, USA [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Erice van Leuven at UCI
  2. 1 2 "Rising Hutt Valley junior claims UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill title". Cycling New Zealand . 10 June 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "UCI DHI World Championships Junior Women Final Results - Fort William" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Van Leuven claims title, Stevens-McNab second in elite World Cup downhill". Cycling New Zealand. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "Results: Whip Off - Crankworx Whistler 2024". Pinkbike. 25 July 2024.
  6. ↑ Pinkbike (26 July 2024). Erice van Leuven's ACTUAL Winning Whip at the 2024 Crankworx Whistler Whip-Offs . Retrieved 3 January 2025– via YouTube.
  7. 1 2 Hughes, Nora (26 September 2022). "15-year-old mountain biker awarded Dark Horse Invitational title". Revelstoke Mountaineer. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  8. ↑ "Riders Ranking Downhill 2024-12-31 Women Elite". mtbdata.com. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "Athlete Lineup Announced for 2025 Red Bull Hardline". Pinkbike. 13 November 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Henehan, Justin. "Little Bikes to Big DH Dreams" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  11. ↑ "ERICE VAN LEUVEN OFF TO THE WORLD CUP" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  12. 1 2 "2023 UCI DHI Junior Women Final Results - Lenzerheide" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  13. 1 2 "2023 UCI DHI Junior Women Final Results - Pal Arinsal" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  14. 1 2 "2023 UCI DHI Junior Women Final Results - Snowshoe" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  15. 1 2 "2023 UCI DHI Junior Women Final Results - Val di Sole Trentino" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  16. 1 2 "2023 UCI DHI Junior Women Qualifying Results - Loudenvielle-Peyragudes" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  17. 1 2 "2023 UCI EDR World Cup Women U21 Results - Derby" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  18. 1 2 "2023 UCI EDR World Cup Women U21 Results - Maydena" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "UCI Cycling Worlds: Kiwi clean sweep of Women Junior mountain bike downhill podium" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  20. ↑ "Junior Results & Overall Standings from the Leogang DH World Cup 2024 - Pinkbike". Pinkbike. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  21. ↑ "Kiwi world champion leads kiwi charge at UCI Downhill MTB in France". Cycling New Zealand. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  22. ↑ "FINAL RESULTS - 2024 Mont-Sainte-Anne Junior World Cup Downhill - Mountain Bike News Story - Vital MTB". www.vitalmtb.com. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  23. ↑ "Junior Results from the Andorra DH World Championships 2024". Pinkbike. 29 August 2024.
  24. ↑ "Norco Race Division Unveils 2025 Team Roster". PInkbike. 2 January 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ↑ "Monster Energy Pro Downhill Series - Snow Summit". UCI. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  26. ↑ "Monster Energy Pro Downhill Series - Mountain Creek". UCI. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  27. ↑ "2023 UCI DHI WORLD CUP RANKINGS: WOMEN JUNIOR" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  28. ↑ "2023 MTB French Cup Powered By SKF - DHI - Châtel" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  29. ↑ "2023 MTB French Cup Powered By SKF - DHI - La Grand-Combe" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  30. ↑ "2023 NZ DHI National Championships Women U19 Junior Results" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  31. ↑ "2022 NZ DHI National Championships Women U17 Results" . Retrieved 7 October 2023.
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