Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) took victory in the opening round short track race Nové Město na Moravě, beating Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers)in a tight final chase.
The seven-lap race in the Czech Republic was packed with action in its short but technical route, and pre-race favourite Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) animated the early part of the race with a crash on the second lap.
The young Dutch rider thankfully was not seriously hurt and found her way back to the front of the group with a few laps.
In the penultimate lap, Alessandra Keller cut a dominant form leading the pack and attacked from the front - setting her fastest lap in the process.
She managed to form a substantial gap before the reaction came, with Ferrand Prevaud leading a small chase group into the final lap. She bridged back toward Keller but it wasn’t enough to catch the leader, and Ferrand Prevot settled for second as Hayley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) rounded off the podium.
Puck Pieterse still managed to make her way back to fifth place overall.
“It’s amazing to win here,” Keller said after the race finish. “I had my boyfriend on the track and they said I'm looking pretty strong and then two laps to go I should attack so yeah. In the downhill, I had that little gap and then I just went all in. Everything works out perfectly.
“Oh, but even it was very hard in the last lap, but yeah, that makes everything super sweet.”
Results
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