Neff wins Mont-Sainte-Anne cross country World Cup

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Jolanda Neff (Liv Pro XC) convincingly won the elite women's cross country at round five of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada on Sunday. Neff also padded her lead in the overall standings with her second win of the season.

Mont-Sainte-Anne is always one of the hardest courses on the World Cup circuit; a true classic with steep climbs and rocky, rooty descents. Add in mud from heavy rain the night before and hot, humid conditions on race day, and this became a race of attrition.

Neff shot off the front of the women's race on the start loop of the six-lap race, never to be seen again. The Swiss rider, who is actually the under 23 world champion but chooses to ride in the elite category, extended her lead to nearly a minute and a half by mid-race, before Catharine Pendrel (Luna) began to reduce the gap slowly, to just over a minute at the finish.

Pendrel took up the solo chase effort in the first lap, with a group of three forming behind by lap four, containing Lea Davison (Specialized Racing XC), Katerina Nash (Luna) and Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing). While the front two positions were set, the trio vying for third battled until the last lap, taking turns opening slight gaps on the other two. Finally, Nash was able to break clear for third, with Davison taking fourth just ahead of Batty.

"I maybe didn't want to go out that early, but it just happened," said Neff. "The race started and I was in the front, so I just thought that I would ride my pace and see what happened. I like the track here very well, so it was a great race."

"I don't actually like these hot conditions, I'm usually the best when it rains, but I did a lot of cooling today because I knew it was going to be hot. I hope I can keep my shape and I hope to continue doing well."

Neff now holds an almost unbeatable lead in the series with two races remaining at 900 points. Batty jumps from sixth to second at 590 points, just two ahead of Tanja Zakelj (Unior Tools).

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