World Champion Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) secured the victory in the elite women's cross-country Olympic race while Adrien Boichis (Specialized Factory Racing) delivered an emotional maiden victory in the elite men's race at the third round of the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series held at the Epic Bike Park in Saalfelden Leogang, Austria.
The heavy rain and muddy conditions continued through the weekend after the treacherous weather during the XCC races on Friday.
In the elite women's race, Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team), who managed a gap on the opening sections of the first lap, ended up crashing with Rissveds on the first descent and was out of contention for the victory. XCC winner Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) was also left out of contention after a crash on the opening lap.
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Rissveds carried on with Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Premier Tech) being the only rider who followed during her initial surge, but it wasn't long before she cleared away from her rivals on a solo pursuit for the victory.
Nicole Koller (Lapierre PXR Racing) and Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon) managed to reconnect with Pieterse in the chase, but by the last lap, Rissveds had built her lead out to over a minute.
Rissveds ended up securing a clear win by 56 seconds ahead of runner-up Pieterse, while Keller rounded out the podium in third.
Rissveds now leads the overall standings after three rounds. “I wanted to be brave today and leave here with no disappointment,” said Rissveds. “I went for it, and it worked."
The conditions began to dry up for the elite men's race, but the ground remained wet and muddy, causing multiple crashes on the opening lap. Scott-SRAM MTB Racing teammates Fabio Püntener and Filippo Colombo were two of those to lose time due to early-race incidents.
Boichis hit out early with Mathis Azzaro (Origine Racing Division), Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Bjorn Riley (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) all clearing the rest of the field on the opening lap. Meanwhile, Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) worked his way up to the lead group later in the race.
Flat tyres for Riley and then Jordan Sarrou (BMC Factory Racing) left them out of contention for the day.
Azzaro was the first of the lead group to attack, but they all regrouped before the final lap. Boichis saved his winning move for the final steep climb of the race, distancing Martin and then Azzaro to take his first elite men's XCO World Cup victory.
“It’s the highest thing ever. There is no bigger race than the UCI World Cup, and there are no stronger people than Elite UCI World Cup winners. To think that today I was the best in the world is something special and I’ll never forget," Boichis said.
“I have beautiful memories here. In 2023, I won my first under-23 UCI World Cup. I just wanted to execute my plan of having a conservative start and then build through the race. I really believed in myself. When I was hurting. I was thinking that the others were hurting more. On the last kicker, I went all out to the top.”
Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) is currently leading the elite men's standings after the first three rounds.
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