It was a weekend of face plants, flats and full-throttle racing in Snowshoe, West Virginia.
A mid-season illness severely impacted Alan Hatherly’s hopes of a top spot in the overall. P16 in Friday’s XCC and P8 in Sunday’s XCO has catapulted him back to P7 in the overall. MSA next weekend could be a good one for Alan – he has won races there before… Richards, Berta, Pieterse and Stigger storm the start straight.Aldridge and Hatherly shared the holeshot and controlled the pace on the start loop.A good day for Marcel Guerrini as he crushed the climbs and ended third.Aldridge, Koretzky and Hatherly lead the field into the wet, rooty gnar. Schwarzbauer (fourth wheel) later flatted and dropped back to finish P11.It was another firey start by the ever-charging Evie Richards.Berta is on the up and up this year. A win is coming. Surely.Blunk, bombing it on home soil.Nino has had one helluva season. A P2 in Snowshoe gives him a slender 89-point lead over Sarrou in the overall. It’s all to play for.Emotions were high as Henrique Avancini completed his final World Cup.A moment of solitude before the storm for European Champ, Vlad Dascalu. | *Click to enlargeFully committed, Laura Stigger wouldn’t be settling for anything but the win. P38 for American Champ Chris Blevins.Evie Richards rallies a rocky descent.Two flats and an eventual P5 for Tom Pidcock is another pretty incredible day out.Kate Courtney put the front wheel in a hole and had a horrid face plant. Bruised but not broken she rallied back to P20. | *Click to enlarge Olympic Champ Jolanda Neff kept the throttle wide open and was rewarded with a P5 finish, only 46 seconds off the win.First American home Savilia Blunk flew the stars and stripes onto the podium with a fourth place.Series leader Pieterse rallied up front early on before a final P6 for the day.Martina Berta gave it her all out there and ended third. A strong performance from the Italian Champ.Loana Lecomte’s second place shows that hardtails are still a thing(ish).XCO is often simply too fierce for teammates to help one another. Evie and Jolanda of Trek Factory Racing combined well in the middle of the race to share the work.Jordan Sarrou had some good luck and some bad luck. In the end, a last corner inside line gave him the lead and his first World Cup XCO win.What a ride for Laura Stigger. Taking her first World Cup XCO win. | *Click to enlargeAfter the war, there’s a lot of love around.From left: Fluckiger, Schurter, Sarrou, Guerrini, Pidcock got to sip the champagne. From left: Blunk, Lecomte, Stigger, Berta and Neff took the top five spots.Former teammates Alan Hatherly and Henrique Avancini share a final moment of Ava’s career.
Results
Women’s XCO 1. Laura Stigger AUT 1:21.56 2. Loana Lecomte FRA +0.23 3. Martina Berta ITA +0.32 4. Savilia Blunk USA +0.38 5. Jolanda Neff SUI +0.46
Men’s XCO 1. Jordan Sarrou FRA 1:18.38 2. Nino Schurter SUI +0.01 3. Marcel Guerrini SUI +0.03 4. Mathias Flückiger SUI +0.10 5. Tom Pidcock GBR +0.13
2023 Women’s XCO standings 1. Puck Pieterse NED 1741 points 2. Mona Mitterwallner AUT 1352 3. Loana Lecomte FRA 1211 4. Alessandra Keller SUI 1188 5. Laura Stigger AUT 1184
2023 Men’s XCO standings 1. Nino Schurter SUI 1433 points 2. Jordan Sarrou FRA 1344 3. Mathias Flückiger SUI 1266 4. Luca Schwarzbauer GER 1213 5. Thomas Griot FRA 1086
