Waldis wins junior women's cross country world title

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Andrea Waldis (Switzerland) soloed to victory in the junior women's cross country race at the mountain bike world championships on Friday afternoon in Saalfelden, Austria. The Swiss rider pulled away from Sofia Wiedenroth (Germany) and Lena Putz (Germany) on her way to the win.

"I'm very happy to be world champion. I was focused on my race and being on my line and never thought of being the new world champion," said a beaming Waldis after the race. "I didn't even think about winning the Worlds in the first few laps."  Waldis gave Switzerland its second gold medal of the day after Jolanda Neff won the U23 women's race in the morning.

From the start, Putz set the pace and was closely followed by Waldis and Wiedenroth.

"I was a little surprised that the three of us were in the first three positions," said Waldis.

On the second lap, Waldis took to the front and never looked back. The Swiss rider inflicted enough damage to first drop Putz, who seemed to be paying for her earlier tempo setting at the beginning of lap three of the four-lap race.

When Wiedenroth crashed going over the big rock drop-off near the top of one of the descents, Waldis powered decisively away toward victory.

"I had some problems concerning a big rock. I had a crash there and lost a little bit of time. That produced a gap to Andrea," said Wiedenroth.

"It was very important for me to be the first in the downhill because there were some problems going over the rock. Sofia lost time there," said Waldis.

Wiedenroth put up a tenacious fight in the hope of catching Waldis, but the Swiss rider cruised to victory, gradually extending her gap en route.

Waldis rolled across the finish line waving a Swiss flag. Wiedenroth was second at 30 seconds. Putz followed at 1:19.

Putz was delighted to make the podium after a difficult year. "I'm very happy because after this season, I didn't believe that I could ride on the podium. It's my second Worlds medal and now I can say that I'm back."

Putz broke her hand in the winter and couldn't race for a few months. Then she passed her exams to finish up school.

Perrine Clauzel (France) and Bethany Crumpton (Great Britain) rounded out the top five.

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