Neff’s perfect weekend, Carod’s first ever XCO World Cup win and close sprint finishes make MSA World Cup an exciting one!
How did the XCC go?
In an ultimate Swiss domination, Neff and Colombo took the win at Friday’s XCC short track race. The Olympic Champion has been having a bit of a bumpy season riddled with injuries or illness. After a breakaway from the group mid-race that only Keller and Gibson could keep up with, Jolanda attacked again on the last climb that nobody could join her on. That meant a victory with a comfortable margin for her. Gibson finished second and Keller in third, after an intense sprint between the two.
In the Men’s XCC race, it wasn’t until the final lap that Colombo attacked all the way through to the finish, winning with a comfortable margin. In a similar sprint finish for the second place, José Gerardo Ulloa and Sebastian Fini fought hard, with Ulloa pulling ahead and finishing second, and Fini in third.
In other news
With the World Champs going up next, a lot of racers were missing from the start line either to make sure they peak at that race, or due to injuries and illnesses. Lecomte, Ferrand-Prevot, Flückiger, Rissveds, Richards, Avancini, Dascalu, etc. It’s interesting to see riders that are at the top of the leaderboard saying goodbye to FOMO and sticking to their long-term wellbeing and current goals by skipping a few races along the way. All of this makes watching the World Champs even more exciting!
What happened in the XCO race?
In the women’s race, Neff rounded up her perfect weekend with a win by a huge margin. This was her 4th win at MSA and her 13th World Cup win overall. It’s been four years since she last won a XCO World Cup.
The race started with a huge crash involving Emily Batty, amongst others. She fought back to finish 18th. With the conditions going from super dry to pouring rain, the technical track became incredibly slimy, causing even more crashes. Gwendalyn Gibson, the short track winner at Snowshoe, was amongst those who crashed. Unfortunately, she had to pull out of the race as she hurt her bad knee and it began swelling. In her own words, “Usually a DNF is not an option to me but with Worlds just around the corner I had to make that really tough decision”. Alessandra Keller was another woman who was having a strong ride, only to crash mid-way through the race.
In another strong performance, Mitterwallner finished second in a sprint against Haley Batten.
In the Men’s XCO World Cup, French racer Titouan Carod took his first ever World Cup win. It’s always exciting to watch someone win their first ever World Cup. In the Men’s field this year, Luca Braidot and David Valero-Serrano were the other folks to do so.
In the XCO race on Sunday, Titouan won by a considerable margin after breaking away from the group mid-race. His team-mate Colombo led the chasing pack throughout, finishing second. Valero-Serrano finished in third. This race clearly showed Carod’s incredible technical abilities in wet conditions. He even said in his post-race interview how the challenging conditions worked in his favour.
In the U-23 field, the women’s race saw Noëlle Buri take the win, with Madigan Munro and Sara Cortinovis taking the second and third. In the men’s race, Martin Vidaurre Kossmann took the win, David Domingo Campos Motos finished second and Carter Woods in third.
But what about the overall?
The overall winners will be decided at Val Di Sole. Current leaders are Anne Terpstra and Nino Schurter. Terpstra is the first ever Dutch woman to ever wear the leader’s jersey. In the women’s field the race for the overall is on between previous leader McConnell, current leader Terpstra and Alessandra Keller.
In the Men’s field, Schurter is still leading the overall. It will be someone between him, Valero-Serrano, Braidot and Hatherly.
What’s next?
Coming up next is the UCI MTB World Championships happening between 24th and 28th of August.
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