Highlights: XCO World Cup in La Thuile
Dust, heat and the technical track made for exciting racing.
The Elite Cross-country Olympic races in La Thuile delivered two memorable victories, as hometown favourite Martina Berta claimed a first World Cup win in front of passionate Italian fans, while overall series leader Luca Martin underlined his title credentials with his second consecutive World Cup win.
Elite Women
Martina Berta produced the ride of her career to claim her first Elite XCO win – in front of her home fans. Racing near her hometown in the Italian National Champion jersey, the 28-year-old mastered one of the season’s toughest courses before holding off a late charge from Savilia Blunk. Early on in the race, Ronja Blöchlinger made the pace and opened a small gap on the field. Jenny Rissveds, Berta and Blunk led the chase before Berta caught Blöchlinger and moved to the front, with only Blunk able to stay with her.
Blunk briefly lost ground through several small mistakes but fought back to cut Berta’s lead to just four seconds at the start of the final lap. Under pressure, Berta responded with her fastest lap of the race to pull clear and secure a memorable home victory. Blunk finished 12 seconds behind in second, while Laura Stigger took advantage of good pacing and her sublime technical skills to complete the podium in third. Although not on the podium, Rissveds strengthened her overall series lead with fourth on the day. Returning after concussion, Evie Richards finished seventh. South Africa’s Candice Lill had a DNF and in the U23 race, Tyler Jacobs did the same.
Berta said: “I’ve dreamed about this day since last year when the calendar came out. I saw La Thuile on the calendar and told my coach I wanted to win here, it was a dream. From dreaming it to actually doing it is a long journey. It’s just amazing. I’m so grateful for all the support. In the final part of the race I was really suffering because Savilia was coming back. I couldn’t disappoint all the people here. I still can’t believe what I did today, and it will probably take a few days to fully realize it.”
Results
1st) Martina Berta 1:31:04
2nd) Savilia Blunk +12
3rd) Laura Stigger +55
4th) Jenny Rissveds +1:34
5th) Ronja Blöchlinger +2:05
Elite Men
Luca Martin continued his superb form to take back-to-back victories. After narrowly losing to Adrien Boichis in Friday’s short track race, the French National Champion dominated the last laps of the longer XCO race – breaking clear after his rivals made costly mistakes – taking an emphatic win.
Early on, it was Mathis Azzaro, Boichis and Martin that formed the lead group and drove the pace. They traded attacks until the decisive moment came midway through the race. Martin capitalized on a mistake from Azzaro on a technical section to open a gap, while further errors from both chasers ended any chance of catching him. He powered away to win by more than a minute. Azzaro secured second after dropping Boichis, while Bjorn Riley recovered from a mid-race crash, to finish fourth with Riley Amos in fifth. From a fourth row start, South Africa’s Alan Hatherly charged through the field to finish 16th and unfortunately Luke Moir and Luca Ruwiel did not finish.
Luca Martin: “I’m so happy to have raced here. This track was a real mountain bike track, with incredibly technical and dusty descents. When we reached around 45 minutes into the race I felt it was the right moment to attack because I was feeling really good. I live in Nice and the terrain is quite similar – with the same type of dirt and descents – so I felt very comfortable riding this course.” //
Results
1st) Luca Martin 1:24:36
2nd) Mathis Azzaro +1:07
3rd) Adrien Boichis +1:20
4th) Bjorn Riley +1:56
5th) Riley Amos +2:14
| IMAGES: UCI, Meta, Getty |