Rissveds wins under 23 cross country World Cup in Pietermaritzburg

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The under 23 women's race was a no contest with Scott-Odlo MTB Racing team rider Jenny Rissveds producing a near flawless performance as she claimed victory by 36 seconds and her first ever World Cup cross country triumph.

"It feels amazing to have won!" said the 19-year-old Swede. "It is my first World Cup cross country win, and so I'm really happy!"

Conditions were brutal throughout the clash and, despite being the first race of the day out the blocks, temperatures were already uncomfortable midway through the clash.

"It was a tough race because it was really hot and I'm very relieved we started at 9 o'clock in the morning!" said Rissveds.

"The first lap was really tough and then I tried to keep focused and cool down a bit for two laps before accelerating a bit again on the last lap.

"I made a big mistake in the rock garden on the last lap. I didn't crash but I had to get off my bike and run down the whole rock garden but other than that I had a great race and didn't make a mistake."

The rejigged Cascades MTB Park cross country course has been well-received by the vast majority of riders and Rissveds echoed this sentiment having spent many hours out on course in training beforehand.

"I tried a lot of different lines in training, especially in the new rock garden, which I think helped me today. I like the new course, it's tough, technical and fast.

"It was hard to keep pushing. During the middle laps I heard that the girls were catching me a little and that was tough to hear but I just looked to stay focused and keep positive and just keep pushing to the finish," an elated Rissveds said.

The race took a dramatic turn towards the back end of the encounter after third ranked rider Jovana Crnogorac (Salcano Alanya) crashed twice during her opening lap and ending her charge for the win.

Fourth place finisher Helen Grobert (Focus XC Team) then made a costly error in the Tree House rock garden on the second to last lap, losing valuable seconds and allowing a charging Perrine Clauzel (BH-Suntour-KMC) to leapfrog both Grobert and third place finisher Lisa Rabensteiner (Focus XC Italy) to claim second place while South Africa's Candice Neethling (Velo Life/BMC-SA) finished ninth.

Shortly after the conclusion of their female counterparts it was the turn of the under 23 men and as the mercury continued to rise there was no respite for the young men.

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