Neff wins Pietermaritzburg cross country World Cup

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Jolanda Neff (Liv Pro XC) won the first elite World Cup of her career in the women's race at the first round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on Sunday.

The 5.7-kilometre course is completely new from the one riders saw last fall at the world championships, and most riders considered it to be harder. It challenged riders with technical rock gardens and jumps, and gave them no chance to rest with multiple climbs per lap. The heat also took its toll, particularly during the women's race in the early afternoon.

Neff, the under 23 world champion in Pietermaritzburg last fall, chose to ride with the elite field this season, and she came into the race as a favourite after dominating early season races in Europe. She did not disappoint, jumping to an early lead on the first of five laps, and did not relinquish the front spot for the rest of the race.

The young Swiss rider had a bit of a scare on the second lap when a moment's inattention led to a crash, forcing her to stop and straighten her saddle, but she managed to hold onto the lead by a slim nine seconds over a chasing Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida), who was shadowed by Neff's teammate Maja Wloszczowska.

Once Neff had stopped and banged her saddle straight, she extended her lead slowly over the remainder of the race to finish 25 seconds ahead of Dahle Flesjaa, with Wloszczowska taking third, a minute down on her teammate.

"I had a crash on the second lap after I had a lead of over a minute and when I crashed I lost a lot of time and hurt myself, and my saddle was out of place so I had to get off and fix it," Neff said. "It is not the best thing that can happen, but I was happy that I could find the rhythm again in the next lap and keep the lead until the finish line."

"It is such an amazing feeling; I knew that I was in good shape after I had a really good winter, where I could do a lot of good training, so I knew my shape was good. It is always really special when you can put it together when it counts, and it is amazing that I could do it today."

In the under 23 race held earlier in the day, Swedish national champion JennyRissveds (Scott-Odlo) took the title.

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