Roger Suren has been making steady progress in Europe, competing against the world’s top mountain bike riders for the Alpecin Premier Tech Development team.
Suren (18) recently returned to Namibia for a short holiday, although he also excelled at the Namibia National Cross-Country Championships at Bergquell a week ago where he was the overall men’s winner.
He won the u23 race by nearly 10 minutes ahead of Theuns van der Westhuizen, while his time of 1:11:41 for the six-lap course was nearly six minutes faster than that of the elite men’s winner, Hugo Hahn.
Suren was signed up by the professional cycling team Alpecin Premier Tech after a great performance at last year’s UCI Junior World Championships in Switzerland, where he won the silver medal in the XCO Cross-Country Olympic race.
Suren, who is now based in Belgium, says he is still getting used to life as a professional rider in Europe.
“I’m staying with a host family that are also part of the team, and it’s really nice. The racing is not easy, but it’s my first year at under-23 level, which is always a difficult – especially when you have to travel so far from home, so there are many new things to get used to,” he says.
Suren has been competing all over Europe in the UCI MTB World Cup series where he has delivered steady performances against the world’s top MTB riders in the under-23 category.
He made his debut at Nové Mesto Na Morave in the Czech Republic on 23 and 24 May, where he came 27th in the XCC short-course race and 59th in the XCO cross-country race.
Between 11 and 14 June he came 35th in the XCC, and 69th in the XCO race in Leogang, Austria, and the following weekend he came 32nd in the XCC and 37th in the XCO race at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Between 3 and 5 July he came 32nd in the XCC race, and 62nd in the XCO race at La Thuile, Italy, and a week later 23rd in the XCC race and 33rd in the XCO race at Pal Arinsal in Andorra.
Suren says he has had varying experiences at the different venues.
“My first race at Nove Mesto wasn’t the best, and in the XCO race I crashed on the third lap. Leogang in Austria was also tough – the track didn’t suit me and it was raining, but I really enjoyed the track at Lenzerheide and made a big improvement in the XCO race, which made me really happy,” he says.
“The race in Italy was a new venue for the World Cup series and the track was very different. It had really steep ascents and it was very dusty. After the start you could hardly see the rider in front of you,” he says.
Suren’s best performance, though, came at Pal Arinsal in Andorra.
“I raced there before in 2024 in the Junior World Championships, so I knew the venue a bit already and I was really looking forward to it because the track suited me well. Then I came 23rd in the XCC race, which was my best result to date, and I also got my best result in the XCO race where I came 33rd,” he says.
Suren is now on a short break in Namibia before he returns to Europe for the rest of the World Cup series, as well as the UCI MTB World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, at the end of August.
“I don’t have a specific goal for the world champs. I’m riding in a different category now in a much bigger league, so I’ll just do my best and see how it goes. It’s my first year at under-23, so next year I’ll be more experienced,” he says.
