CROSS-COUNTRY ACTION RETURNS IN NOVÉ MĔSTO NA MORAVĔ WITH PIDCOCK AND PIETERSE JOINING THE FUN

Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) delivered a victory for his home crowd, while Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) completed her first-ever Cross-country Short Track (XCC) – Cross-country Olympic (XCO) double with a dominant performance in a thrilling UCI XCO World Cup in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie (France). Riders faced hot, sunny conditions on a track left slick and punishing by the previous day’s rain. Martin and Rissveds adapted best, with Martin becoming the eighth Frenchman to claim an Elite UCI XCO World Cup win and only the fourth to do it on home soil, in a tense, hard fought race. In contrast, Rissveds proved untouchable, securing her first XCC-XCO double after an emphatic victory on Saturday. Finn Treudler (Cube Factory Racing) took his fourth XCO win this season in the men’s U23 category, while Valentina Corvi (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) continued her dominance in the women’s U23 field. RISSVEDS MAKES IT A FIRST-EVER XCC-XCO DOUBLE Rissveds delivered a masterclass, claiming a commanding UCI XCO World Cup victory. After ending a 26-month drought on Saturday, the Swede confirmed her return to top form with another stellar performance. Rissveds adapted quickest to the conditions, bursting out of the gates and taking the lead immediately, steadily extending her advantage over the technical terrain. By the end of the opening lap, she was 12 seconds clear. A brief excursion off course in the second lap - possibly due to a technical issue - did little to slow her, and she kept her rivals at bay. Her lead was further boosted when Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), who had been leading the chase group, stumbled on the third lap, triggering a chain reaction among the other contenders. Behind her, Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) and Keller battled fiercely for second, with Keller ultimately prevailing in a dramatic last-lap effort. Meanwhile, Rissveds made the merciless course look effortless, crossing the finish line in 1:12:01 - 1 minute and 12 seconds ahead of the rest. Maxwell retains her hold on first place in the overall standings, though Rissveds has reduced the deficit to 435 points. “I didn’t have an attack planned for today,” said Rissveds. “I had just planned to do my own race, and I think that’s the key to cross-country racing, and don’t think about the others so much.” “I thought I had a rear flat,” Rissveds said, explaining her wobble mid-race. “It felt soft, but I don’t know. It was just tricky conditions today with the rain over the past few days. “There was so much back and forth regarding tyre choices and material. I ended up finding a good option. I’m happy with the material for the day.” MARTIN DELIVERS JOY TO HOME CROWD WITH FIRST UCI XCO WORLD CUP WIN Home favourite Martin thrilled the crowd with a landmark win on home soil, adding to his UCI XCC World Cup victory at the most recent Cross-country round in Pal Arinsal (Andorra) in July. The national champion struck on one of the steepest climbs to overhaul Luca Braidot (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) before crossing the line with a wheelie, 12 seconds ahead of the Italian. It was a fitting climax to an unforgettable race, fiercely contested from start to finish. Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon), Alan Hatherly (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) rounded out the top five, while Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) fought back to sixth after starting 33rd on the grid left him 45 seconds adrift of the leaders. Braidot attacked at the start of the final lap, but Martin timed his move to perfection, sealing his first UCI XCO World Cup victory in 1:22:03. “It’s just incredible. I don’t understand how [I did it], said Braidot. It’s crazy on the track, like some people are on fire, and some people say my name. It’s very special. “I think I win because I take some pleasure on the bike. I just ride my bike. “I stay focused and I put the last one [an attack] at the top of the second climb and the last climb.” Martin is third in the standings, 396 points behind leader Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing). TREUDLER AND CORVI ASSERT DOMINANCE IN U23 EVENTS The men’s U23 event was won by overall leader Finn Treudler in a rapid time of 1:16:54. Germany’s Benjamin Krüger and Swiss rider Treudler established an early gap over the rest of the competition on the opening lap, but Kruger was no match for his rival. Treudler finished 45 seconds ahead of the runner-up, with France’s Alix Andre Gallis (Sunn Factory Racing) in third. “I felt really strong,” Treudler said. “I had the race under control. At the beginning I tried to do too much so I could see where the other guys were and their shape after the break. I made the gap and kept it to the finish.” It marked a fourth straight victory for Treudler and extends his lead to 375 points over his nearest competitor, Rens Teunissen Van Manen (KMC Ridley MTB Racing Team). Meanwhile, European champion Valentina Corvi asserted her dominance and stretched her overall lead with victory in the women’s U23 race. “I felt strong today. I am proud and happy, especially about my shape one week before the Worlds,” she said. The Italian underlined her superiority on the day with an emphatic win, finishing 56 seconds ahead of her closest rival Vida Lopez de San Roman and one minute 17 seconds ahead of third-placed Isabella Holmgren. “I tried to manage my energy in the climbs. I took a little bit of a gap from the beginning and I just pushed on,” Corvi added. The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series heads next to Bike Kingdom – Lenzerheide (Switzerland) for cross-country and downhill rounds from 18-21 September.

Filthy conditions greeted the riders, alongside one of the biggest crowds of the season, and Marine Cabirou (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) responded in the women’s Elite race with a morale-boosting run to the hotseat. However, on a course where every corner offered the chance to gain or lose seconds, the contest came down to the familiar battle between Hemstreet and Valentina Höll (YT MOB). Meanwhile, Dunne celebrated his return to the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in the best way possible while Loïc Bruni (Specialized Gravity) gained on overall leader Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) but failed to land a knockout blow following the Canadian’s crash. And facing the worst conditions of the day, Max Alran (Commencal/Muc-Off by Riding Addiction) and Rosa Zierl (CUBE Factory Racing) won the men’s and women’s Junior races to boost their UCI Downhill World Cup leads.   DUNNE CLAIMS COMEBACK WIN FOR THE AGES IN LES GETS Goldstone felt the total crushing pressure of a UCI World Cup title fight for the first time in France after a tough Friday where he was forced to reach the final through Q2 after hitting the deck in his opening run, and his crash in exactly the same place in the final meaning he fell to sixteenth overall.    Loris Revelli the first down the ramp and attacked the course aggressively, taking both feet off the pedals to steady himself at one stage, but it was Troy Brosnan (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) who set the first real benchmark, celebrating a century of UCI Downhill World Cup appearances. Wearing a bold all-white outfit, Brosnan needed a big performance to offset the wrath of the team kit manager and he produced one - beating the best time by nine seconds to go straight into the hot seat. Several riders crashed attempting to beat Brosnan’s time including Goldstone, who hopped over the root that brought him down in Q1 but caught another one as he landed and was on the floor before he could react, looking animated in his debrief with mud still caking his face. Andreas Kolb (YT MOB) was the first serious challenge to the centurion and made it count, flying down the opening section then holding that advantage all the way to the line to put well over a second into Brosnan and spark tearful celebrations from team staff.  It looked like that joy would be short-lived when Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off By Riding Addiction) made a rapid start to his run but he was undone in a somersault crash, and it wasn’t until Martin Maes (Orbea/FMD Racing) rolled off the ramp with only five more riders to go that the Austrian was beaten. Over 1.5 seconds back at the last intermediate split, Maes produced the best finish of the day to stun Kolb by a tenth of a second, and Bruni had no answer to the Belgian.  Dunne did though, lighting up the timing screens from the very first split as he scorched his way to a second UCI World Cup win - the first time an Irishman has achieved that feat.  “Words can’t describe how this feels, it’s been such a rough season and all I’ve been thinking about for the past weeks has been doing well at this race and showing everyone I can still win a race,” Dunne said. “I go by the motto ‘helicopter or win’, or ‘helicopter or podium’ and I lived up to the name in La Thuile, and here we took a win.”  Meanwhile Bruni’s fifth-place finish means he’s slashed 112 points from Goldstone now but failed to wrestle the leader’s jersey from the Canadian. “That was the toughest race I’ve ever done for sure,” Goldstone said. “It was rowdy the whole way down and I couldn’t even stay on the bike. “Somehow still clinged onto the green jersey which is pretty cool so the fact I’m in it with a crash and two bad races is really positive. We’ve just got to go full beans from here and try and beat Loïc.” HEMSTREET HOLDS NERVE TO DOWN HӦLL ONCE AGAIN Cabirou needed the repechage to qualify for the Finals in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie but made it count, maximising the conditions she received as one of the first women’s Elite riders off the ramp before the run had been churned up by subsequent competitors. Despite the sun slowly pushing its way up the valley, that drying was offset by riders beating through the mud every minute and only Tahnée Seagrave (Orbea/FMD Racing) came seriously close to challenging the Frenchwoman before the final runs. In similar conditions to the Bielsko-Biała (Poland) 2025 season opener won by Seagrave, the Brit pushed hard through the early section and was three seconds ahead with just one intermediate split to go. However, Seagrave was riding through treacle once she left the forest behind and lost almost five seconds from there to the line. Jess Blewitt (CUBE Factory Racing) went down within a couple of corners, while Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Nina Hoffmann hit the deck on the very next run and crossed the line 18 seconds down yet still finished provisionally fifth with only four riders to go - illustrating the massive gaps created by the muddy conditions. Both riders had better luck than Sacha Earnest (Trek Factory Racing) though, the New Zealander crashed in training ahead of the final and suffered a separated AC joint. Gloria Scarsi (MS-Racing) brought green fleetingly back to the timing screen but as has been the case so often this season, Hemstreet and Höll took centre stage on the final two runs. Like Seagrave, Höll was up all the way through the trees, not as aggressive as her rival but carrying more speed on corner exit and she looked set to finally break her 2025 UCI World Cup drought. But the UCI World Champion looked in disbelief as she slid to a stop after the finish line, having gone behind by tenths of a second at the final split, then slipping to third behind Cabirou and Hemstreet who takes her fourth win of the season. “I don’t even know, I can’t believe that,” Hemstreet said. “I’m actually not a mud rider. I felt super slow up top so I thought ‘I’d rather just crash’ and go in as hot as I can rather than bring it back a bit. It was really tough.” Hemstreet now sits just 59 points behind Höll at the top of the UCI World Cup standings and the overall leader was downbeat afterwards.  JUNIORS LEADERS TAKE VICTORY IN CONTRASTING STYLES Zierl pulled off a nail-biting victory in a women’s Junior race that took a host of casualties, most importantly Aletha Ostgaard (Canyon CLLCTV Factory Team) on the penultimate run. Zierl had gone fastest by 22 seconds, but Ostgaard looked set to immediately knock her off that perch, going fastest at every intermediate split. But her three-second evaporated when she took a wrong turn navigating the final jumps, skewing to the left of a gate meaning the American needed to dismount to get herself back on course and dropped to second. And with fastest qualifier Cassandre Peizerat unable to match Zierl, that 20-point swing means the Austrian now holds a 65-point lead in the standings. “I don’t know how I came down here, that was probably the wildest run of my life! I nearly crashed five times or even more,” Zierl said. “Unfortunately, most of the other girls crashed, I just rode down. I stayed in the ruts, tried to go as slowly as possible.” Max Alran didn’t have anything like those issues as he extended his lead in the men’s Junior standings with a run faster than Dunne’s winning time. The last rider off the ramp immediately went green in his home race and finished the run four seconds ahead of Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing/5Dev) having been first at every split. Almost as impressive as the last run of the final was the first though. Tyler Waite (Yeti/FOX Factory Race Team) had a disappointing qualifying and this looked like it could be the round that derailed the Kiwi’s overall ambitions as he trailed home 20th at 23 seconds back. Yet he set the tone on a drying course and only Vermette and Alran would beat him, meaning Waite leaves France only 29 points behind the UCI World Cup leader. “It feels insane, I’m cooked right because it was super super physical”, Alran said. “Just battling to the end, I made it to the bottom without too many mistakes and had a good run, just super happy. "My friends are here, my parents are here, to win here is just incredible. We have an insane crowd.” The action continues in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie with the UCI Cross-county Olympic World Cup rounding out the weekend’s action on Sunday. Hemstreet, Zierl, Alran and the rest of the downhill pack will next feature in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Switzerland’s Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide in three weeks’ time, after the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Valais.

The UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup served up two gripping races and a pair of fairytale victors in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie (France) as Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) claimed his first elite WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series triumph on a thrilling final lap and Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) ended a 26-month drought with a swashbuckling performance. Rissveds claimed her first UCI XCC World Cup round since June 2023 years by decisively splintering the field with two laps to go and outkicking Alessandra Keller (Thӧmus Maxon) on the brutally iconic Les Gets climb while the runner-up made major gains on overall leader Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli). And with all the men’s Elite pre-race focus on Christopher Blevins’ chance to claim the UCI XCC World Cup for Specialized Factory Racing with three rounds to go, Aldridge outduelled teammate Luca Martin and Luca Braidot (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) to take a famous win. Meanwhile there were contrasting victors in the Under 23 ranks - Finn Treudler (CUBE Factory Racing) won his fourth consecutive round to put him on the verge of clinching the overall title while Vida Lopez de San Roman joined Aldridge in taking her first ever win. RISSVEDS STARS IN LONG-AWAITED RETURN TO CENTRE STAGE With all eyes on the tight top four of Keller, Richards, Nicole Koller (Ghost Factory Racing) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Decuninck), Rissveds stole the show looking resplendent on her first WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series outing in the UEC European Champion’s jersey. Yet it was UCI Cross-country World Champion Richards who set the tone early on, after catching COVID-19 following Rissved’s victory in Portugal she seemed keen to banish any questions over her fitness and went clear with Rissveds and Keller on the opening lap before sitting up and letting the five-second lead go. Richards was first across the line on four out of the nine laps while Pieterse, after her road racing exploits this summer including completing the Tour de France Femmes, immediately dropped out of the top 10 and eventually finished 11th after a long recovery ride. Despite leading the UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup, Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) is yet to taste XCC victory and appeared determined to change that when she pushed the pace on lap five reducing the pack to only Richards, Keller, Rissveds, Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) and Jolanda Neff (Cannondale Factory Racing). Richards was consistently the strongest downhill rider, though not the smoothest she attacked the descent with more aggression than anyone else on the slick surface but eventually those early exertions caught up with her and she was dropped with two laps to go as Rissveds and Keller were the only riders who could live with Maxwell. That meant it all came down to the final climb and it was Rissveds who took the initiative, kicking clear early and holding off the indomitable Keller to the line. “I felt quite cool, calm and collected,” Rissveds said. “It was a really good race, I was calm and I tried to play it smart. I keep on learning things every race which is super cool since I’m pretty old in the game now and I feel like I still have a lot to work on and many things I can improve, it’s really nice to learn every time and I’m happy it paid off today.” Though she missed out on the win, Keller had the consolation of a 60-point gain on Richards in the overall standings meaning she now trails by just 40 but Pieterse and Koller both finishing outside the top 10 means more breathing room from the top two to the rest of the pack. CANNONDALE IN DREAMLAND AFTER NAIL-BITING 1-2 Blevins arrived in France knowing victory would assure him of the UCI XCC World Cup title and he asserted himself early alongside new German national champion Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), before his challenge was halted by a dropped chain. But, with the American’s record of surging to victory on the final lap this season, the pack focused on sapping his legs on the tough climb to start the lap with Simon Andreassen (Orbea FOX Factory Racing), Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) and Martin pushed the pace on early. It looked like the race had opened up for the Cannondale Factory Racing pair on lap seven when Thomas Litscher (Cabtech Racing Team) misjudged a steep uphill hairpin and held up the rest of the pack allowing them to build a nine-second lead across the line, but they couldn’t hold it and the bloated lead group re-formed and stuck together entering the final lap. It was there that Braidot made his move, dive-bombing Aldridge and Martin on the ascent only for the Brit to repay the favour turning to the top of the climb and the short descent to the finishing straight meant the home favourite had to bide his time for the sprint. Exiting the final corner, Martin was closing on Aldridge all the way to the line in the final sprint and got alongside his teammate but couldn’t nudge his wheel in front, finishing on the same time as the British national champion who celebrated a milestone win in his career. “I’m absolutely buzzing, crazy race it went so fast I was at the front with Luca [Martin] and the last lap was a bit of a battle,” Aldridge said. “I wasn’t sure if Luca was going to be faster or me but you kind of work together in these races and 1-2 is a really good way to end. “Had a little battle on the last few corners which made the heart rate go even higher than it was already but I’m over the moon. You’re so focused on trying to pull it off [on the final lap] then something like that comes, Luca [Braidot] flying down my inside and I went ‘I’m going to get him in the next corner’.” A rare off-day for Blevins saw the overall leader finish 17th as Aldridge jumps up to second in the standings due to Victor Koretzky’s absence for Specialized Factory Racing, but the American must only pick up 105 points next time out to guarantee UCI World Cup victory next time out. “When you’re a bit off, short track’s a different kind of pain,” Blevins said. “I was suffering, you go all out on the last climb and you get to the top and you can barely hold onto the bars. “But first effort in Europe sometimes can go either way, I didn’t really get a good ‘open up’ day this week on the bike so I think my body really needed that to open up after such a long break from racing, it’s like shaking off the cobwebs and jetlag and everything and hopefully Sunday I’m opened up now.” TREUDLER CONSISTENCY CONTRASTS WITH U23 WOMEN SURPRISE Vida Lopez de San Roman was unshakable on the way to her maiden victory. Having missed the first part of the season the American had finished 13th and 15th in her last two rounds but was a constant presence at the front of the first race of the day and outkicked Valentina Corvi (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) who closed to within 100 points of absent overall leader Katharina Sadnik (KTM Factory MTB Team) alongside Ella McPhee (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) and Sara Cortinovis (Ghost Factory Racing). “I’m definitely in a lot of shock and disbelief,”  Lopez de San Roman said. “I don’t think it’s fully processed yet but it definitely means a lot, especially being a first year and spending the whole season getting a lot of experience and learning from every race, I’m in a lot of disbelief but really excited and definitely a big confidence booster one week out from Worlds.” Treudler could seal the Men U23 UCI XCC World Cup overall title next time out in Bike Kingdom - Lenzerheide (Switzerland) after holding off Benjamin Krüger to win yet another WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series round. Treudler hit the front when he countered Nicolas Halter’s move on the climb and produced a controlled performance from there to extend his overall lead to 234 points. “It was a pretty smart move [from Halter] to come from behind and pass us with speed, I had to kick to keep up and then went over the top, saw the gap and continued to the finish,” Treudler said. “I had a super good training period sleeping at high altitude, and I think I saw that today. It’s a really good season so far and I’m really looking forward to the World Championships in two weeks.” The action is only just getting started in Les Gets, Haute-Savoie with the UCI Downhill World Cup Finals coming up on Saturday before the Cross-country riders take centre stage again on Sunday with the cross-country Olympic (XCO) races.