Rissveds takes MTB World Cup win in Lenzerheide

World champions finished 1-2 in the fourth round of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on Sunday, with the new Under-23 world champion, Jenny Rissveds (Scott-Odlo), beating the Elite world champion, Annika Langvad (Specialized Racing). Local favourite Jolanda Neff (Stockli Pro) took third.

Lenzerheide takes the riders to heat and altitude on a fast but rough and rooty course. Many a rider has gone out hard only to pay for it later in the race.

Rissveds, Catharine Pendrel (Luna) and Langvad opened a gap on the rest of the field on the first lap of the seven lap race. Neff, who went out hard last year and then blew up, took a more conservative approach, riding in the chase for the early part of the race.

The three leaders had a 30 second gap on Katerina Nash (Luna) and 38 seconds on Neff and Maja Wloszczowska (Kross Racing) as they started the third lap, when Pendrel crashed hard on a descent in that lap. The Canadian champion got going quickly, but her saddle was bent and she lost multiple places as she rode more slowly to the Tech Zone for assistance. She would recover to fifth before crashing again late in the race to eventually finish eighth.

At the front, Langvad attacked on that same third lap, opening a gap over Rissveds that was up to nearly 30 seconds by the start of the fifth lap, with Neff moving up to catch Rissveds. It looked like Langvad was about to take her third win of the season, but Rissveds began to surge in the final two laps, dropping Neff and catching Langvad, before attacking almost immediately to pull away and win by over a minute.

"I can't believe, it's just crazy," said Rissveds about her first Elite World Cup win. "Last weekend I became world champion in Under-23, and today I compete against the Elite world champion and the world's best ... and I won! I didn't think I could catch [Langvad], but I just tried to push as hard as I could, and stay calm, and then accelerate towards the end of the race. Then I caught Annika and attacked her, and got a gap."

With two more rounds left, Langvad continues to lead the overall standings with 776 points, followed by Pendrel at 620, while Rissveds jumps to third with 550 points.

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