MTB
Watch the full replay and get the results from the XCC short track race at Round 5 of the Mercedes-Benz UCI MTB XCO World Cup in Italy.
The heavens had well and truly opened ahead of the short track racing (XCC) in Val di Sole. The ‘Valley of the Sun’ wasn’t living up to its namesake today. But still, fans donned in rain macs and armed with umbrellas lined the side of the course to watch the cross-country action kick off. The mainly grassy track took a beating from the women’s race and by the times the men got to it, it was well and truly churned up. Scroll down for the replay of the racing action.
Women's XCC
Jolanda Neff had a huge grin on her face as the rain fell down and cascaded off her umbrella ahead of the race. She loves these kind of conditions and, as one of the most technical riders in the field, she was well-equipped to deal with whatever the track threw at her.
The grassy track managed to hold out for a few laps, but the muddy berms were proving to be a slip-fest from the get-go. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took charge early on putting her cyclocross skills into use.
Ferrand-Prévot was closely followed by home-town favourite and former Italian cyclocross champion Eva Lechner and the rainbow stripes of Kate Courtney. As the tricky conditions slowed other riders down, this pack began to ride away.
Their breakaway was short lived as a determined Neff and Sina Frei spun their way around the slippery track to join the leading group. Not content with just joining the leading pack though, Frei shot ahead of the group, vying to get some distance. The chasers caught up with her and tussled with lead positions while battling with the deteriorating track conditions.
As the race progressed more and more riders joined the leading group, challenging Ferrand-Prévot, who was the main driving force for the prime spot.
Behind her a powerful surge on the muddy climb saw Allessandra Keller go from chaser to the front group and a notable advance through the ranks from Chloe Woodruff saw her make an appearance among the front-runners from out of nowhere.
But in the end it was Frei who was going to fight hardest for the front position. Attacking on the muddy climb, she made another breakaway and had created a big gap before the climb was even over. It was all-out for Frei, recently crowned U23 European Champion – she was on top form and not afraid to show it. She shot into lap 6 with a nine-second lead.
Frei was being pursued by fellow Swiss rider Neff, and Neff clearly had a lot left in the tank as she managed to seamlessly close the gap. Out of the saddle she powered past Frei on the climb and looked to be getting away until her wheel spun out in the mud. Desperately trying to stay on Neff’s back wheel, Frei managed to hold on and the two crossed into the final lap in unison.
Neff began to up the ante and started taking a lot of risks in the treacherous conditions. Still sticking close to her lead, Frei managed to hold the pace until the final straight to the finish when Neff ramped up the gears and sprinted ahead to victory. Frei secured second place and behind them Ferrand-Prévot led in a string of chasers. With the muddied rainbow strips of Courtney rounding off the top 10, the race for the overall got closer – Neff now just sits 95 points behind Courtney.
UCI XCO World Cup Rd 5 Women's XCC results
Men's XCC
As the men took the start line they knew there would be riding a wet and muddy course that had then been heavily chopped up by the women’s race. Thankfully it had stopped raining, but the conditions would still play a large part in the outcome of this race.
Mathieu Van der Poel lost ground in the race for the overall World Cup title to both Nino Schurter and Henrique Avancini after a poor showing in the main Les Gets cross-country race, so a win in this short track race would be crucial for his overall ambitions going forward. Van der Poel was also wearing the European Championship jersey for the first time, having won the cross-country race the previous weekend in Brno in the Czech Republic.
The beginning of the race started with the usual chaos these short track races bring, with each rider eager to get to the front before the first corner.
Schurter probably had his worst ever start in a short track race and was in 15th place in the middle of the opening lap of nine. Up at the front, Titouan Carod, and then Avancini, led the field around the course in the early exchanges.
Van der Poel is well used to muddy course conditions with his cyclocross background and this knowledge certainly allowed him to pick the right lines to take on this cut-up track. He took on the lead shortly after the start of lap 2 and managed to eke out a small gap after the only climb on this course. The chasing pack couldn’t respond and the Dutchman got away.
Avancini joined Van der Poel at the head of the race on lap 3 after managing to get away from a group that contained an improving Schurter, Carod, Mathias Flückiger, Florian Vogel and Jordan Sarrou.
Avancini and Van der Poel put time into the chasing group over the next few laps. Schurter and Sarrou were doing much of the work in the chase group, but they weren’t making that much of headway.
A breakaway is rare in short track races, but this looked like one that would last as we entered the final few laps. Avancini and Van der Poel were taking turns in pulling at the front, though they slowed their pace on the penultimate lap to allow the chasing group to close on them.
Sensing the field close behind him and Avancini, Van der Poel made his move on the last lap, placing placed himself ahead of Avancini before sprinting up the only climb on the course in a show of formidable power that Avancini wasn’t able to respond to. The damage was done and the Dutchman rolled in to win the race by five seconds from Avancini.
Behind these two there was a sprint finish for third. Belgium’s Jens Schuermans and Czech rider Ondřej Cink had made up good ground through the race and were able to out-sprint Schurter to take third and fourth places respectively.
Van der Poel will go into Sunday’s main cross-country race hoping that the rain will continue to fall and that the muddy conditions prevail.
