UCI MTB World Cup – Laura Stigger claims Lake Placid sprint with Sina Frei making it a 1-2 for team

LAKE PLACID NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 29 LR fourth placed Lill Candice of Republic of South Africa second placed Sina Frei of Switzerland first placed Laura Stigger of Austria third placed Loana Lecomte of France and fifth placed Rebbeca Henderson of Australia celebrate under the podium during the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Lake Placid Cross Country XCO Women on September 29 2024 in Lake Placid New York Photo by Piotr StaronGetty Images

The podium of the elite women's XCO at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Lake Placid 2024 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) sprinted to the line ahead of her teammate Sina Frei, claiming victory in the women's elite cross-country Olympic race at the penultimate UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series round of 2024.

It was another tight contest between third and fourth in the dry and warm conditions of the United States round, held at Lake Placid on Sunday. Candice Lill came out on top against Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), who had been out front when the bell rang to signal the final lap of the seven-lap race. Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing) then crossed the line in fifth, having fought her way back toward the front of the race after a tough start.

"It’s amazing. With a double win and Sina [Frei] smashing it yesterday," said Stigger, who celebrated heartily with her Specialized teammate Frei, who won the short track on Saturday before coming second in the cross-country Olympic on Sunday. "I tried to give it all from the feed zone until the end, I saw tactics from Sina from yesterday and thought I needed to try the same."

The teammates had been among a group of four with Lill and Lecomte until the very final stages of the race, but then Stigger launched past Lecomte. The French rider couldn't react but Frei did, jumping around Lecomte when she clearly had nothing left and onto her teammates wheel, where she stayed until the line.

Series leader Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), who has already secured the short track overall, finished in ninth place leaving her with a lead of 330 points to Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing). That means Blunk could still technically overtake Keller in the final round, given 330 points are up for grabs but things would have to go seriously wrong for Keller and seriously right for Blunk for there to be a change in the top spot overall.

The final round at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Canada will play out from October 4-6.

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.