Climbs, gaps and wins – everything goes big at XCO WC Leogang (spoiler alert!)

by 38

Check out the comments section below for our live watch-along commentary, or read on for the race report.

The women’s race was won by the young French rider Loana Lecomte. This is her second back to back perfect weekend at Leogang. There are some rather steep and long climbs on this course and this clearly suits her well. 

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Neff was leading into the first lap, but soon dropped back. The second lap saw Loana take the lead and put a gap between herself and Rissveds. 

All eyes were on the two Austrian riders riding their home race: Mona Mitterwallner and Laura Stigger. Mitterwallner crashed within the first few seconds of the race starting and had to stop for quite a while to get her handlebars straightened and bike checked over. She finished strong in 15th place in spite of that! Laura Stigger gave the audience something to cheer about, finishing third. Her and Sina Frei were riding close together for most of the race, but Laura pulled away on the long climb in the last lap.

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Jenny Rissveds finished second. She pushed incredibly well throughout the race. She hasn’t been off the podium for any race this season. 

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Quite interestingly, it seems PFP isn’t the only one with eyes on the World Champs on home soil this year. Loana Lecomte mentioned in her interview that she’s keen to focus more on World Champs and less on World Cup overall results or the individual World Cup wins. She said that she would perhaps want to win another World Cup or so this year, but her eyes are on the rainbow jersey.

Women’s XCO Leogang results

Men’s XCO Leogang

With Schurter fighting HARD for his record breaking 34th XCO win, the strong battle between him and Flückiger was very much on for most of the race. Finally, it was Flückiger who got his hard earned win at Leogang. And with that, this was a perfect weekend for him, quite like last year.

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Hatherly put on a strong fight, being in touch with Flückiger and Schurter for most of the race, but not quite getting to the front with them. He finished third. 

Hatherly on course. Credit: Stefan Voitl

Vlad Dascalu is still after a World Cup win after going very close far too many times. He finished fourth, ahead of Marotte.

Schurter, leading the overall but not this race. Credit: Stefan Voitl

Men’s XCO Leogang Results

Schurter still leads the overall XC rankings, with Dascalu second by 189 points behind. Flückiger sits third. Pidcock, who was absent from this race, has dropped to fifth in the overall.

It was incredible seeing some real strong riding at Leogang this weekend. Next World Cup is at Lenzerheide. The XC short track final will be on 8th July and XCO finals will be on 10th of July.

You can follow these races over here- https://www.redbull.com/int-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-lenzerheide-xc-short-track “

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Home Forums Climbs, gaps and wins – everything goes big at XCO WC Leogang (spoiler alert!)

Viewing 38 posts - 1 through 38 (of 38 total)
  • Climbs, gaps and wins – everything goes big at XCO WC Leogang (spoiler alert!)
  • wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    This one’s a climber’s course. Lecomte won by almost two minutes last year. Will we see a repeat of that or will we see Rebecca McConnell have another XCO win? One thing’s for sure, with this being the home race for Mona Mitterwallner and Laura Stigger, they’re gonna be aiming for that top spot too!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    The women’s race has begun! Within the first few metres, we’ve already seen a crash! Unfortunately, Mona Mitterwallner got taken down, with her handlebar all twisted. Jenny Rissveds leads for now, up the first climb!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Short lap down: Neff crossed first, Lecomte in second, Rissveds in third, McConnell in fourth and Laura Stigger in fifth.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    The field is spreading out a bit now. Loana Lecomte in the lead on the first climb in the second lap. Rissveds in right behind her. A little bit of gap between them both and the next two riders. Neff has fallen significantly back.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Current standings at the end of the lap:

    1: Lecomte

    2: Rissveds

    3: Stigger

    4: Frei

    5: McConnell

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Lecomte has pushed hard up the first long climb and put some gap between her and Rissveds.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Rissveds blown away already 🙁

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    She’s pushing so hard! She has fallen back significantly now 🙁

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Stigger , Frei and McConnell are well over a minute away behind Lecomte as they cross the first split of second lap.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Split two has seen Stigger and Frei cross in third and fourth, dropping McConnell further back. All still a minute back from Lecomte.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    End of the second lap: Lecomte crosses in first, Rissveds in second, Stigger in third, Frei in fourth and McConnell in fifth.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Mitterwallner, who crashed in the first few seconds of the race, crossed this lap in 25th place!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Rissveds is 39 seconds behind Lecomte right now!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Current series leader McConnell has been overtaken by Terpstra and Bohé and sits in 7th at the moment!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Lecomte has managed to extend the gap between her and Rissveds to 47 seconds!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Almost an hour into racing, Lecomte is leading by 56 seconds, Rissveds is in the second, Stigger in third, Frei in fourth and Terpstra in fifth.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Going into the last lap, I’m sitting here wondering what Loana Lecomte is made of. What an absolute machine! This is a climber’s course and, clearly, it suits Loana significantly more than it does to the rest!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    The current gap between Loana and Terpstra, who sits in fifth place, is 5 minutes!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Stigger has put in some distance between herself and Sina Frei…

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Loana Lecomte gets her first XCO win of 2022 season. It’s a perfect weekend for her!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Jenny Rissveds finishes second by 1:13 behind Loana. Austrian rider Laura Stigger finishes third, Sina Frei fourth, and Anne Terpstra fifth!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Current series leader Rebecca McConnell finishes 7th. Olympic champion Jolanda Neff finishes 8th.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    After that unfortunate pile up at the start of the race, Austrian rider Mona Mitterwallner finishes 15th!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    The Men’s Race is officially underway with Dascalu and Avancini right at the front!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Schurter is leading the group at the moment, with Flueckiger in 8th place, chasing hard!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Schurter still leading into lap 2, with Alan Hatherly in second, Dascalu in third, Flückiger in 4th and Cooper in 5th!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    There seems to be a considerable gap between the first four riders and the rest. Schurter leading now, with Dascalu, Hatherley, Flückiger and Cooper following.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Into the third lap, the first four riders remain the same but Marotte has overtaken Cooper to sit in the 5th place

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Flückiger out on an all-out attack! Nino Schurter keeping close, stopping Flückiger from a breakaway!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    There’s considerable gaps across the field now! Hatherley has managed to pull away from Dascalu too!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Going into the 4th lap, the top 5 are Flückiger, Schurter, Hatherly, Marotte and Dascalu!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Schurter is leading, and Flückiger close behind him, with a 11 second gap from Hatherley.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Standings heading into 5th lap:

    1. Schurter

    2. Flückiger

    3. Hatherly

    4. Marotte

    5. Dascalu

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    With Flückiger leading and Nino Schurter only a couple of bike lengths back, looks like it will come down to a sprint finish….

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Flückiger is absolutely going for it! He has put an attack in exactly where it counts.

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    And Mathias Flückiger has done it! A perfect weekend for him!

    wheelsandwords
    Free Member

    Schurter finishes second, Hatherly third, Dascalu fourth and Marotte in fifth!

    mrlebowski
    Free Member

    I see a course like that & the lactate in my legs screams & I can taste the iron in my lungs – UUUGGHHHHH!!! LOOKED BRUTAL…..

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