The 77 athletes - from 31 countries - start the XCO Elite Women competition. The Dutch Anne Terpstra drives after the start loop, after her is the quartet with favorites Jolanda Neff, Pauline Ferrand Prevot, and Emily Batty, and the outsider Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa. Maja Wloszczowska and Yana Belomoina are sucked into the group, while Friday's Short Track winner Annika Langvad and Linda Indergand retire shortly after two minutes of the race.
During the first lap the situation stabilizes: Ferrand Prevot and Neff proceed together, slightly more detached Batty and Keller, the other couple Dahle Flesjaa and Wloszczowska closes the top six. The next round begins with a quintet at the top while Keller comes off not being able to withstand the forcing of the French.
The third lap sees the spectacular overtaking of the Neff on a double jump of the 4X route but the Swiss saw for a short time the leadership, in fact the French is very close and revises it uphill. The race is extremely uncertain with the leading group led by Wloszczowska at the beginning of the penultimate lap. The Polish finally broke the delay on the last climb, quickly gaining five seconds on competitors when the bell of the final round sounds. The first to cede is Ferrand Prevot followed by Dahle Flesjaa, Neff leave Batty behind on the downhill before the Feed Zone. But it is only an illusion because the Canadian takes the final climb taking advantage and going in pursuit of the leader.
It is too late for Maja Wloszczowska to cross the finish line (1:30:51) with a 9" lead over Emily Batty, third Jolanda Neff who crashes into the final (+0: 30). The top five are completed by Pauline Ferrand Prevot (+0: 38) and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (+0: 41). In the Cup the Neff drive with 975 points, Annika Langvad slips into second place (923) while Ferrand Prevot consolidates his third place (806 points).
The big round of the MTB World Cup in Val di Sole ends with the XCO Elite Men race, which starts at 2.50 pm with 114 athletes from 31 nations, on seven laps plus the launch one. No surprise in the start loop, with Henrique Avancini first ahead of Maxime Marotte, Nino Schurter, Mathieu Van der Poel and Samuel Gaze. But the Swiss immediately imposes its rhythm followed by the Dutch and the Brazilian. The second round begins in the best way for Italy with the leadership conquered by Luca Braidot who brings with him a group of eight athletes and which also includes the other italian Gerhard Kerschbaumer.
Schurter forces the pace by detaching more than 20" the pursuers, with the South Tyrol going into second position at the beginning of the third lap. The following round sees a group of four athletes to be compact with an almost unchanged distance: Kerschbaumer, Van der Poel, Vogel and Avancini. The Italian athlete of the Torpado Gabogas team halved the gap to the finish line when he started the fifth lap, the third passed the Dutch to 19 ", more detached all the others. Kerschbaumer did not give up reducing the gap to only 7 "at the beginning of the penultimate lap and managing to pass Nino before the last climb. It was clear that the victory would be played during the last round, which began with Kerschbaumer in front of Schurter. The Swiss talent opened the gas on the last descent not giving up until the finish line cut after 1:26:32 of the race and with a 6 "lead over Gerhard Kerschbaumer. Mathieu Van der Poel closes third at 1:09, fourth and fifth Henrique Avancini and Florian Vogel (+1: 14 and +1: 32).
In the Cup the Swiss Schurter lengthens in the Cup, now driving with 1.130 points ahead of Van der Poel (820) and Maxime Marotte (711).
DOWNLOAD AREA
Press release
Photos
