Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed victory in the opening salvo of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets, both taking out the short track (XCC) victories after pouring on the pressure in the final lap.
There were, however, some key rivals missing from the field with both Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Ineos Grenadiers) and Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) out due to illness. While that will leave them with start grid consequences both said they still hoped to be able to make it to the line for Sunday's Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) race.
In the women's short track the 21-year-old Pieterse came over the line ahead of Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing XC), who passed Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) in the last stretch to the line. Pieterse had broken away from the lead group of five that came into the final lap of seven together, recovering position quickly despite being disrupted by a coming together with Keller after the Swiss rider's wheel slipped on a corner near the end of the penultimate lap.
"I knew it was a lap of three minutes with a long climb so everything could happen. Luckily they went a bit slower on the finish straight which meant I could get past them and then I just went all in to the top," said Pieterse after recovering a little from the effort, which saw both her and second-placed Richards throw themselves down onto the grass straight after the line, spent but smiling. Pieterse also now leads the short-track standings after six rounds of eight.
In the men's short-track race it was a lead group of six coming into the final lap of eight, with the sprint to the line pretty much opening up as soon as the closing lap began.
"I decided to push a lot on the last climb but it was really, really difficult. I did my best to keep the first position until the finish line and I did it and I am completely done," said Koretzky in the televised post-race interview, adding that it was a victory that came after a less than ideal run in. "I crashed yesterday on the course and I had pain in the legs but it was ok during the race."
Koretzky took the victory ahead of Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC), making it a popular French one-two for the delighted home crowd, while Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) came third, retaining his place at the head of the standings.
"For sure it was one of my main goals of the season," Koretzky said. "But to win is something amazing, in front of a French crowd and with Jordan second it's super nice."
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.
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