Stigger, Balmer win Junior XC World titles

At the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Thursday, Austria's Laura Stigger won the junior women's XCO race, while Alexandre Balmer (Switzerland) was victorious in the junior men's event.

Junior women

Austria took the first individual title of the 2018 mountain bike Worlds with Laura Stigger successfully defending her junior women's XCO title.

The Austrian was untouchable in the junior women's five-lap race, riding away from the rest of the field on the opening climb, and extending her lead throughout the race to win by over three minutes.

Tereza Saskova of the Czech Republic moved into second place on the first lap, but was challenged in the second half of the race by Harriet Harnden of Great Britain.

Saskova managed to drop her British rival in the last half lap to take the silver medal, 34 seconds in front of Harnden.

Junior men

Host nation Switzerland continued their winning streak for a second day with Alexandre Balmer taking a come-from-behind victory in the junior men's XCO.

Balmer had also been a member of the winning Swiss team relay squad the day before.

The junior men began in the rain, making the track slick and treacherous, although it gradually dried out in the second half of the six-lap race.

Mathis Azzaro of France jumped away to build a strong lead in the first half of the race, opening a maximum gap of 41 seconds on the second lap.

But his gap began to shrunk after that, with Leon Kaiser of Germany, Balmer and his teammate Loris Rouiller steadily closing in.

By the start of the last lap, Balmer, Kaiser and Azzaro were together, and when Kaiser attacked, only Balmer could respond. The Swiss rider then countered to cross the finish line a slim two seconds ahead of Kaiser, and immediately collapsed after his effort.

Azzaro held on for third ahead of Rouiller.

"My start was very bad and I lost 30 seconds," said Balmer. "In my head, I thought my race was over, but I decided to give it everything – for my country, my family, my team.

"I just kept calm, but it was very long and difficult. Leon [Kaiser] went crazy on the uphill, but I was able to come back. It was a crazy race.

"I'm usually not so good at altitude, so I'm very happy with this race; it has been a perfect season. Now I'll focus on Innsbruck," said Balmer, who will head to Austria to compete in the junior race at the road world championships later this month.

Full Results

Results