Race Wrap: 2025 XCO World Cup, Leogang
Ondřej Cink and Puck Pieterse solo to victories at the Leogang mudfest.
The rain arrived in Leogang for Sunday’s XCO making the long climbs yet more brutal and the technical downhills almost impossible. Slow rolling terrain, slick roots, mud and ruts were the order of the day. Both the Elite Men’s and Women’s races were won with dominant solo victories by Ondřej Cink and Puck Pieterse respectively. We had five South Africans contesting. In the Under-23 racing, Tyler Jacobs placed 14th and Luca Ruwiel 60th. In the Elite racing, Candice Lill finished 18th, Luke Moir 14th and Alan Hatherly 10th.
In the Elite Women’s Race, Puck Pieterse rolled through and off the front of a small breakaway group early on in the race and stayed away, taking for an emphatic win. Series leader Samara Maxwell recovered from a slow start and a few racing incidents and rolled back to finish second. The final podium position went to Swiss woman Ramona Forchini. Candice Lill was well-placed in the early stages of lap one but ended the race in 18th and is now fifth in the points. Catch the highlights below.
In the Elite Men’s Race, the 34-year-old escapee Ondřej Cink rode a brilliant time trial-style race maintaining a slim advantage over the charging duo of Mathias Fluckiger and Fabio Puntener, who placed second and third respectively. Further down the field, this seasons run of victories for Specialized Factory XC was coming to an end as a struggling Victor Koretzky withdrew from the race and series leader Chris Blevins was the best of the rest, with a distant 17th place finish. In atrocious conditions that fully tested the power and skill level of everyone out there, the performance of Alan Hatherly and Luke Moir is nothing but impressive. Alan’s ‘mountain bike legs’ and form is returning and as a privateer and first-year Elite, Luke continues to perform far above expectations. Go lads! Catch the highlights below.
| Full results here | Images: Red Bull, UCI, Meta |