Shimano Announces Winners of the 2024 European Bike Technician Championship

Jelmer Bijvang, Berend Bervoets, and Kevin Smit (Team Netherlands) from three distinct Shimano Service Centers in the Netherlands have been declared the winners of the inaugural European Bike Mechanic Championship. Demonstrating their technical prowess, seamless communication, and teamwork, their ability to quickly identify and resolve complex technical issues impressed the judges during the Championship last weekend.

Source: press release

The podium represents the best in bike mechanics:

First place: Netherlands (Jelmer Bijvang, Berend Bervoets, and Kevin Smit)
Second place: Italy (Tommaso Pastorino, Federico Sardu, and Davide Bardelloni)
Third place: Germany (Patrick Rittmann, Klaus Molitor, and Erik Stratmann)

Shimano was delighted to welcome participants from across Europe (and Brazil) to the 2024 Bike Mechanic Championship, which took place from October 5th to 7th in Mechelen, Belgium. This unique event highlighted the heroes who care for our bikes and showcased their essential skills, which play a crucial role in keeping cyclists moving across Europe (and the world).

With a growing number of bikes on the market and an increased demand for professional maintenance services, the need for well-trained and highly skilled technicians has never been greater. Shimano is committed to elevating bike maintenance by showcasing the expertise of technicians across Europe in this incredible competition.

The Italian and Dutch teams competed in a thrilling final that tested their skills.

After the judges’ decision, Kevin Smit, from Wielercentrum Bruggemann in Ede, NL, and Jelmer Bijvang, who works at Scholten Fietsgoed in Zwolle, were thrilled to learn they had won:

“In a word? Incredible! We won,” said Kevin.
“We did it! We came for this, and we succeeded,” added Jelmer.

NL team coach and Retail Manager at Shimano Benelux, Kenny van Hummel, shared more about his team’s performance:

“I was truly impressed by our guys at the Bike Mechanic Championship this weekend. What struck me most was their ability to balance speed with precision. They carried out their tasks efficiently, but never at the expense of accuracy, focusing on every step and detail of the challenges presented to them.

These past few days have been incredibly exciting, and I am proud of how our team performed. Berend [Bervoets] was so confident and had already said, ‘We are going to win,’ so we had no intention of doing less. Now, the guys leave with the experience of competing at the highest level, where they will continue to provide a high level of service in their Shimano Service Center stores.”

Behind the scenes of the Mechanics Championship
Technicians, who came from 14 countries to participate in the Championship in Mechelen, competed in a series of events designed to assess their skills and knowledge in specific areas of bike maintenance.

Competitors faced seven events with multiple sub-tasks. These events covered the widest possible range of bike maintenance, including:

Drivetrain adjustment: installing a Shimano CUES crankset, selecting and installing a cassette compatible with the CUES groupset; adjusting front and rear derailleurs using E-TUBE PROJECT Cyclist to customize Shimano Ultegra Di2 shift buttons.
Wheel maintenance: freehub body maintenance, replacing the freehub body, and performing a brake bleed.
Shimano E-Bike systems: installing a Shimano EP5 motor, installing the correct cranksets and chainrings, and using E-TUBE Project Professional to diagnose battery errors.
Hub maintenance: disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling a Shimano NEXUS internally geared hub.

Expertise
With its network of over 2000 Shimano Service Centers worldwide, Shimano is a key player in the cycling industry, providing quality training, services, and advice to its customers.

Results
Full results, including photos and videos, will be published online later this month on the Shimano Service Center website.