Last week’s recap
Last week was a LOT. Allow us to give you a bit of a recap.
The big news was Nino Schurter chasing his 34th XCO win in front of the home crowd at Lenzerheide and being denied that opportunity in a crash involving himself and Mathias Flückiger. At the end of the race, there was a heated argument between the two and Schurter ended up receiving a penalty fine for it. Flückiger’s now deleted instagram post had received a huge backlash from Schurter’s fans, whereas his fans claimed the “it’s all just racing” narrative to be the full truth.
We can expect to see some more of intense racing this weekend amongst these two.
In the end, it was Luca Braidot who won his first ever XCO World Cup at Lenzerheide in a sprint against Alan Hatherly.
In the women’s race, Loana Lecomte took the win, finding herself with the leader’s jersey, only one point ahead of Rebecca McConnell. In her instagram post, McConnell addresses that the last few weeks have been challenging for her. She goes on to say, “Now is not ‘my moment’ in the races but there is more to us than’ just’ being bike racers”. We get a feeling that she will be anxious to get back on the podium this weekend.
Onwards to Vallnord…
A few racers missing from action this weekend are Loana Lecomte who has a recovery block in her training, and Kate Courtney, who is focusing on the two North American World Cups and heading home for the US National Champs.
With consistently good results throughout the year, Jenny Rissveds is the one to watch out for at Vallnord.
Last weekend, Annie Last finished in an incredible 12th place. Will she crack the top 10 this time?
About the track
The Vallnord course brings some punchy climbs, loose descents and an overall high altitude. Those who have been regularly training at higher altitudes will certainly hold an advantage against the others on this course. The cross country races will be taking place on a 3.8km track at Pal-Arsinal ski station. This course features the longest climb on the World Cup circuit.
Where to watch
You can watch the short track finals on RedBull TV starting at 16:20 BST on Friday 15th July.
The Women’s XCO finals will take place on Sunday at 11:00am BST, and the Men’s finals is at 1:30pm BST. Watch it on Red Bull TV and catch our live updates over here!