European XCC champion Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) outsprinted Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) in the elite women's cross-country short track race at La Thuile, Italy. Adrien Boichis (Specialized Factory Racing) won the two-rider clash against French champion Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) in the men's XCC contest, the elite races headlining Friday's lineup at the UCI MTB World Series.
Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing) of the United States finished third for the women, 16 seconds off the pace, while Great Britain's Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) could not recover from a late fall and finished third, also 16 seconds back.
The alpine resort in the Aosta Valley sits near the border of France, overlooking Mont Blanc, for the fifth round of the cross-country World Series. Downhill racing was held at La Thuile last year, and the XCC course, using a section of the 3.42km XCO loop, included the same tight start corner and opening climb with technical turns, skirting a new rock garden created for the XCO races with a grassy descent to the finish.
The elite men saw drama late in the race, with Cannondale Factory teammates touching wheels and Aldridge hitting the deck. Boichis would continue for the final lap and a half for the victory, his second in two races, and thought the crash did not dictate the outcome.
Martin and his Cannondale teammate Charlie Aldridge of Great Britain were joined in the pacemaking at the front of the men's field with Boichis on the early laps. Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) of Italy was close behind in fourth, Switzerland's Fabio Püntener in fifth and USA's Bjorn Riley in sixth, both with Scott-SRAM MTB.
The front six stayed together through the mid-point of the race, Boichis beginning to open the pace at the front on the fifth of nine laps. Two laps later, Püntener lost contact with leaders and fell back with fellow Swiss rider Dario Lillo (Giant Factory off-road).
It was on the sharp climb with two and a half laps to go that Aldridge went down as the two Frenchmen made matching accelerations, the British XCC champion's front wheel tapping the back wheel of the French champion. Martin took a moment to look back at his teammate and raise his arm, but kept on the gas with Boichis pressing.
"At the start of the [first] climb, I was always a bit passive and let them be more in the front. It's not so long, but your legs feel it, and I started sprinting at the bottom, and I knew exactly what they wanted to do, so just really careful on being in front of Charlie and behind Luca," Boichis told organisers after the finish about the sixth lap and thinking his teammate crashed because of Martin.
"With two laps to go, Luca tried to make space for Charlie, and he crashed. Luca tried to push me on the outside, but Charlie was suffering anyway, so I don't think he would have changed the outcome. I think Luca was still the strongest.
"I felt better through the race. I suffered the most at the start. I felt like I was unlocking myself, with the pace getting harder and harder."
The two Frenchmen never had company for the remainder of the dusty battle, Boichis leading the final lap to the line.
Notable in the men's race were the returns of South African Alan Hatherly, the reigning XCO world champion, and USA's Christopher Blevins. Hatherly focused on the road for the first half of the season, riding for Jayco AlUla and going third overall at Settimana Coppi e Bartali stage race and then completing the Giro d'Italia in May. The US rider broke his collarbone in training prior to the South Korea World Cup round and returned to racing this weekend in Italy.
The opening three laps of the elite women's race saw a long line of riders following the lead of Rissveds, easy to spot in the white and blue as European XCC champion, who was marked by the Specialized duo of Frei and Laura Stigger of Austria. Frei then dictated the pace on the fourth lap, trailed by Rissveds and world champion Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), as a gap began to form with the other contenders, Blunk the closest behind.
Blunk made a pass on the outside of Keller on the sixth of eight laps as the leaders began the switchback climbs with pitches over 20% gradient, the Swiss rider's shoulders swaying and showing signs of fatigue. One lap later, Rissveds and Frei created separation for the showdown in the final forest section, the European Champion holding on for the victory.
Keller rolled behind Blunk for fourth, 20 seconds back. Reigning XCC world champion Evie Richards (Trek – Unbroken XC), who was back in action after recovering from concussion, finished 10th.
The U23 victories on Friday in XCC races were won by Valentina Corvi (Canyon XC Racing) and Paul Schehl (Lexware Mountainbike Team).
World Cup action continues Sunday with the XCC races.
