Dahle Flesjaa wins Val d'Isere World Cup

In the final round of the UCI cross country World Cup in Val d'Isere, France, Gunn Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan-Merida) took her second win of the World Cup season, as many riders put the final touches on their form for the Olympic Games coming up in two weeks. Catharine Pendrel (Luna) won the women's overall series, with Dahle Flesjaa moving into second after her win.

Dahle Flesjaa jumped into an early lead in the women's five-lap race, joined by Georgia Gould (Luna) and defending World Cup champion Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour-Peisey Vallandry). By mid-race, British champion Annie Last (Milka Brentjens) and Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) had moved up to join the chase, with Gould sliding back, as well as teammate Katerina Nash, who had mechanical problems. Pendrel, who had already won the World Cup title after the previous round, was riding back in ninth after a poor start.

Dahle Flesjaa continued to pull away from her rivals in the last two laps, climbing and descending technical sections that the others struggled with. Starting the final lap it began to rain, and Dahle Flesjaa was able to extend her lead over Bresset to 46 seconds by the finish, with Last finishing a career-best third and Batty fourth. Gould rounded out the top-five.

"It was very close to the perfect race," said Dahle Flesjaa. "It's back to the old days when I was leading from the start to the finish. Yah, I had a good day. I knew before that I am starting to be in top shape for this season and this is the perfect feedback for what will be expected in the coming weeks."

Dahle Flesjaa's second win jumped her into second in the overall standings, with 1048 points to Pendrel's 1290, with Nash dropping to third.

The Canadian agreed that she had a tough day. "Today it was super hard. It is a tough course, there's no recovery and there's significant altitude for someone from my neck of the woods," said Pendrel. "I didn't feel horrible, but there are definitely some girls out there with amazing legs. I had a good start until the first corner and then I got caught up in the course and then the whole pack went by me. So I just buried myself for two laps and paid for that, I think. But winning the World Cup is awesome. It is cool to be able to show consistency and also to be able to get it done on the day. And now I am happy to have two weeks in Europe to get used to the time zone and be ready for London."

Team Luna won the day and the World Cup overall.

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