Italy's Valentina Corvi continued her dominating run this season, claiming the U23 women's title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at home in Vale di Sole.
Corvi went to the front early and stayed there, stretching the gap to 15 seconds by lap three and then crossing the line with a 43 second margin to Switzerland's Anina Hutter and a huge roar of celebration from the crowd.
"I knew from the moment I moved into the U23 category that the UCI World Championships would be held here," said Corvi. "At the beginning of the season I told my coach that we had to win, and I marked the date on the calendar straight away."
"I am proud of myself and particularly happy with the progress I have made mentally. The crowd was fantastic and gave me an extra boost. At one point I could not feel the fatigue any more. I could only hear the people."
Swiss rider Monique Halter was third at 1:55 behind the newly crowned world champion. Halter won the short-track title earlier on Thursday.
It was the second time in this Championships that Corvi has gone to the podium to claim a rainbow jersey, with the U23 World Series leader who has such a big advantage she can already lay claim to the title, part of the winning Italian XC team relay squad.
The 22.6km women's U23 race over 6 laps was the opening event on Sunday, with men's U23 race plus the elite women's and men's races running afterward and drawing the Mountain Bike World Championships to a close.
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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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