Alessandra Keller secures overall series victory with sixth place finish, doubling up with cross-country and short track title
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Pauline Ferrand Prevot (BMC MTB Racing) wins in Val di Sole 2022(Image credit: Rob Jones)
Pauline Ferrand Prevot performs at UCI XCO World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy on September 04, 2022 // Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202209040733 // Usage for editorial use only // (Image credit: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool)
L to r: Haley Batten, Loana Lecomte, Pauline Ferrand Prevot, Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei(Image credit: Rob Jones)
Final World Cup overall: l to r - Loana Lecomte, Rebecca Ellen McConnell, Alessandra Keller, Anne Terpstra, Mona Mitterwallner(Image credit: Rob Jones)
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Absolut-Absalon-BMC) finished off the Mountain Bike World Cup Series with a cross-country victory in her recently re-acquired rainbow jersey at Val di Sole.
Val di Sole was the site of last year's world championships and, once again, the steep climbs and rough descents put riders to the test.
Loana Lecomte (Canyon Collective) and Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory) got a few seconds gap on Ferrand-Prévot in the first lap, but by the end of the second lap Ferrand-Prévot had joined them, at which point Neff was distanced.
Once the World Champion shed compatriot Lecomte half way through the race, she kept building the gap, finishing nearly a minute and a half ahead of her nearest rival.
Lecomte comfortably held second while Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory) took third.
"It was really a good day because I could play on my bike and push hard on the climbs so I felt super good," said Ferrand-Prévot in the post-race interview. "And I could take the win today and it is the final one so I am super happy."
Keller, in a battle with early season World Cup leader Rebecca McConnell (Primaflora Mondraker Genuins) for the title, managed sixth, which was enough to give her a final 56-point lead on McConnell, who could only manage 19th.
Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory), the only other rider in the fight for the title, struggled and was pulled from the race after four laps, taking third in the overall standings, eight points down on McConnell.
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.
