- Source: Erice van Leuven
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.
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.
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.
A freerider as well, Erice won the honour of being named ‘Dark Horse’ at the women’s Dark Horse Invitational freeride event at Revelstoke, Canada in 2022.
In 2023, her 6th year supported by Commencal, she signed with the Commencal Les Orres 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, Pal Arinsal and Snowshoe - and she placed second in two others. In the two Enduro World Cup races she competed in, she won at Derby, Tasmania, winning every one of the six stages, and came second in Maydena, with two stage wins. In August 2023 she became Junior World Champion at Fort William, Scotland, ahead of her New Zealand compatriots Poppy Lane and Sacha Earnest in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
Personal life
Van Leuven was born in 2006. She grew up in Lower Hutt and is a student at Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School.
Results
= Downhill
=2023
3rd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup Overall
1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Showshoe, West Virginia
2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Loudenvielle-Peyragudes, France (based on qualifying results as the final race was cancelled)
1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Pal Arinsal, Andorra
1st Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, Châtel (3rd overall elite women)
1st Place: UCI Cycling World Championships Junior Downhill, Fort William, Scotland
2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Val di Sole Trentino, Italy
1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike Junior Downhill World Cup, Lenzerheide, Switzerland
1st Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, La Grand-Combe (1st overall elite women)
2nd Place: Cycling New Zealand National Champs U19, Coronet Peak, Queenstown, NZ (3rd overall women)
2022
3rd Place: Coupe de France / French Cup, Châtel
2nd Place: Cycling New Zealand National Champs U17, Christchurch, NZ (6th overall women)
= Enduro
=2023
1st Place: UCI Mountain Bike U21 Enduro World Cup, Derby, Australia
2nd Place: UCI Mountain Bike U21 Enduro World Cup, Maydena, Australia
= Freeride
=2022
'Dark Horse' women's freeride invitational, Revelstoke, Canada. Named 2022 'Dark Horse'
'Hangtime' women's freeride invitational, Bellingham, WA, USA
References
External links
Video on YouTube of van Leuven riding aged 10