Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon) won the women’s short track cross-country race and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) outsprinted Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM- MTB Racing) in the men’s XCC on the fifth stop of the UCI MTB World Cup at Pal Arinsal on Friday.
Keller dominated the women’s high altitude event in Andorra from the beginning and accelerated away from the all challengers on the home straight on the final two laps. Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) tried to close the gap on the climb before the last ride in the pumptrack, but fell short finishing six seconds back. Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceninck) was third on the eight-lap race, 17 seconds off the winning pace.
In the men’s race, Schwarzbauer led the front group for a good part of the nine-lap race. He used a final acceleration on the straightaway to capture the victory, his second in row after a win at Val di Sole. Schurter crossed the finish line one second later, while Team BMC’s Jordan Sarrou completed the podium one additional second later. Newly-crowned cross-country world champion Tom Pidcock finished 17th.
