Koretzky delivers for home crowd again in XCO at Les Gets Mountain Bike World Cup

Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) claims the XCO, adding to his short track win, at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets 2023 (Image credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool)

Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) once again delivered the home victory the fans had been looking for at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets, adding the win in the elite men's Cross-Country Olympic race on Sunday to the short-track victory he took on Friday.

"It was a dream week for me, I'm super happy," said Koretzky in the televised post-race interview after having quickly taken a moment to embrace his partner and child on the sidelines.

The Frenchman crossed the line with a 17-second advantage to Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram), who took no time to overcome his start position back in 25th position on the grid after missing the short track through illness. Vlad Dascalu (Trek Factory Racing) took third at in the sweltering day of racing, after overhauling Marcel Guerrini (Bixs Performance Race Team).

Still, it was Koretzky who soon took off alone and held firm out the front, with Schurter and Dubau holding in as the main pursuers. Still, Schurter had to fight his way back to Dubau after losing around 30 seconds to fix a puncture in the sixth of eight laps. Ultimately the French Rockrider Ford racer faded to fifth near the very end of the final lap after Schurter attacked and rode away to second.

"It was a good ride but unfortunately then I had a flat and had to catch back. I was happy with the second place but I had to dig deep," said Schurter, with just how hard he had fought to secure that runner-up spot clear as he lay on his side on the grass after the line, eyes closed and trying to catch his breath. "I still didn't feel so good with breathing from my sickness last week so I had to dig really deep."

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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.