Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) soloed to the first elite MTB world championship title of her young career, beating teammate Anne Terpstra by almost a minute. Martina Berta of Italy was third.
"I cannot comprehend it yet!" Pieterse said. "I rode my own pace from the start. I thought I need to go all-in if I want to win this. And I kept pushing and apparently it was enough. I have my first Elite UCI World title and I'm just so happy."
It continues an impressive run for the Dutch rider, who has not only won the European mountain bike title and three World Cup rounds already this season but also on the road has just taken a stage win and overall youth category on her debut at the Tour de France Femmes.
Pieterse got away with a strong group containing Alessandra Keller (Switzerland), Candice Lill (South Africa), Sevilla Blunk and Hayley Batten (USA) and defending champion and Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France).
One by one, her companions faded. Ferrand-Prévot and Blunk were dropped by the halfway point, and Pieterse went clear with Lill before distancing her, too.
Lill slid out on the penultimate lap and was passed by Terpstra, and the two traded blows on the final lap until Terpstra left her behind. Berta, coming in strong in the finale, passed Lill to claim the bronze.
The five-time title holder and Olympic gold medallist Ferrand-Prévot came over the line in 14th place in what is set to be her final mountain bike race before making the shift to the road. The powerful force in the discipline, however was walking away content.
"Nothing in the tank today, I think it’s the good moment to quit this discipline," the French rider said, in a comment punctuated by a chuckle emoji, on Instagram.
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