UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cups are renowned for producing tight, technical races that tend to conclude with a sprint finish, but the rollercoaster nature of the Saalfelden Leogang – Salzburgerland (Austria) course showed that there’s more than one way to win a race, as Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) proved.

Pieterse demonstrated that she’s the in-form rider of the series, launching a move that caught her competitors off guard at the race’s halfway point. Despite the best efforts of Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Factory Racing), it would be the race-winning attack, with Pieterse increasing her advantage on every loop to cross the finish line with a statement 16-second win.

The victory was the reigning UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Champion’s second in the shorter format this series and the fifth of her career.

In the men’s Elite, Blevins timed his attack to perfection, throwing the hammer down on the final ascent to put himself in the best position on track as he led entering the descent. Teammate Martin Vidaurre Kossmann (Specialized Factory Racing) wasn’t going to contest the American for a sprint finish, while the earlier exertions of third-place Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) saw the British rider settle for the final podium spot.

Blevins’ win makes him the first rider ever to win the first four UCI XCC World Cups of the season and sets him up to do the XCO-XCC double for the third consecutive time on Sunday – which would be another first.

Before the Elites, it was the turn of the U23s on the up-and-down Saalfelden-Leogang – Salzburgerland course, and it witnessed first-time UCI XCC World Cup wins for the Swiss pair Finn Treudler (Cube Factory Racing) and Elina Benoit (Lexware Mountainbike Team).

PIETERSE GOES BACK-TO-BACK

Puck Pieterse might have missed the first two rounds of the series to focus on the road, but the reigning UCI XCO World Champion is making up for lost time in the cross-country short track, clinching her second victory from as many starts in 2025.

While the Dutch rider showed she had the edge in a sprint finish in Nové Město Na Moravě (Czechia), she employed different race tactics in Austria, going long and building an unassailable lead.

Initially, it looked like Jolanda Neff (Cannondale Factory Racing) was attempting the same race plan, rolling back the years and building a gap of six seconds by the end of the first lap.

The Swiss rider was soon swallowed up by the chasing pack and would ultimately pay for her early efforts. South Africa’s Candice Lill took charge, but Pieterse was part of the seven-strong group as the lead exchanged hands for the next few laps.

Lill would turn the screw on lap four, reducing the group to five riders – Pieterse, Richards, Maxwell and Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) – but Pieterse was about to take things up a notch.

As then-leader Maxwell took on some fluids crossing the start/finish straight, the Dutch rider launched a searing attack that left her competition floundering. While the in-form New Zealander responded and was back on her wheel as they inched up the course’s mammoth climb, it was too much for UCI XCC World Champion and current series leader Richards, and Rissveds who had been gapped.

As the track levelled out, Pieterse went again, and this time Maxwell couldn’t respond – the Dutch national champion riding off into the distance.

First and second sorted, it became a battle for the final podium space, with a resurgent Mona Mitterwallner (Mondraker Factory Racing) and Nicole Koller (Ghost Factory Racing) working together to pick off Richards and Lill.

Koller would ultimately break local fans’ hearts though, attacking Mitterwallner on the crest of the climb and holding on to take third.

Speaking at the end of the race, Puck Pieterse said: “It’s been good. It was a completely different short track to two weeks ago. Then it was way more cagey and ended in a sprint finish, and today it was like an XCO course so I went for it early. Normally after 10 minutes, riders start to get tired, so I tried to make use of that.

“I’ve some good memories from Leogang. I won my first U23 World Cup here, so it carries good memories.”

BLEVINS TIMES ATTACK TO PERFECTION TO CLAIM RECORD-BREAKING WIN

Before the start of the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, Christopher Blevins hadn’t won a UCI XCC World Cup since 2022. Since the first race weekend in Araxá, Minas Gerais (Brazil) though, the American has been in a different league to everyone else, claiming all four rounds of the series (as well as two UCI XCO World Cups).

The number one plate launched off the start line but was soon absorbed into the lead pack with Simon Andreassen (Orbea Fox Factory Team) and Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) taking charge.

The pair wouldn’t stay there for long though – Schurter ultimately retiring and Andreassen finishing 33rd – as a 10-strong lead group formed, led by Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO).

By lap three, Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) came to the fore – a position the Brit would hold deep into proceedings – while Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing), Schwarzbauer and two-time Saalfelden Leogang - Salzburgerland XCO-XCC double winner Mathias Flückiger also showed some interest at the front.

Each lap would experience a concertina effect – the rider leading over the start-finish straight seemingly having clear air behind them before the mass reassembled at the foot of the climb – and there became a slight lull in the racing, despite the fast and ferocious pace.

Flückiger attempted to take the bull by the horns, attacking from distance on lap eight, but couldn’t shake Aldridge – the Brit back in front at the start of the penultimate lap. But he also had Blevins for company, with the American biding his time in the now four-strong lead group.

Starting the final lap, Aldridge still held the lead and even appeared to have held off a Blevins surge on the last ascent of the lactic acid-inducing climb. But as it ramped up to its apex, the American showed why he hasn’t been beaten in the format this year, attacking again and taking teammate Vidaurre with him.

The Specialized pair led into the final descent, and with the finish line in sight, there could only be one winner – Blevins maintaining his 100% record in 2025 and breaking records with it.

Speaking at the end of the race, Blevins said:“ I’m just taking it race by race and focusing on my process. Right now, the process is working. That was the hardest one yet. Just look at that climb. Sometimes you’ve got to surf it and find the little pockets to shoot through. Sometimes the guys at the back are working harder than the guys at the front. But on a course like this, it’s max effort for 20 minutes and everyone is so strong.

“Tactics here are more like how you’re pushing your body and how you’ll find that edge and go just to the tip of it every time, and then last lap it’s all out. I saved that final match and definitely burned it for the win.

“The pressure is outside of you. It’s other people’s projections. I’ve been winning by just focusing on my process, the mental side of it, the emotional side of it, bringing the mind and body to the closest I could get to doing my best at every single race. You’re just focusing on the processes, you don’t really think about pressure.”

DEBUT XCC WINNERS BENOIT AND TREUDLER PUT ON A SWISS SHOW IN U23

Elina Benoit (Lexware Mountainbike Team) recorded her debut win in the U23 UCI XCC World Cup in an attritional race.

Bailey Cioppa had led proceedings for the opening two laps before Swiss privateer Monique Halter took up the mantle as the riders crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap three. Her compatriot Benoit was never far behind though, and as the pace started to ramp up, a group of seven formed led by Ella MacPhee (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team).

The Canadian finished third in Nové Město Na Moravě and would have considered herself the favourite with Isabella and Ava Holmgren absent – the twin siblings and winners of the first three U23 UCI XCC rounds not starting in Saalfelden-Leogang – Salzburgerland - but Benoit had other ideas.

On lap six, Vida Lopez de San Roman (Trinity Racing) launched an attack that only Benoit could follow, and the pair had built a six-second buffer at the start of the final lap. The Swiss rider had kept something in reserve though, attacking again and soloing to the line. Lopez de San Roman would settle for second, while MacPhee recorded her second third-place finish in a row.

Elina Benoit said: “I don’t understand how I did this. I just felt so good. I think it really was a track for me because I’m really good when it’s steep like this. I thought I’d try and it worked.

“I’m more confident [going into Val di Sole]. The first races I did wasn’t so good – in Brazil it wasn’t good at all. In Nové Město it was much better and now I see my form has just got better so I’m really confident for the rest of the season”

The men’s U23 race wasn’t as cagey as the women’s with Finn Treudler taking control in the third lap before launching an attack in the fourth that would put some serious space between him and the remaining riders.

The Swiss rider’s advantage was never really in doubt, although Oleksandr Hudyma (KMC Ridley MTB Racing Team) might have caught him if he didn’t run out of time. The Ukrainian had a 21-second deficit on Treudler with three laps to go, but clawed back to within five seconds by the line.

Paul Schehl (Lexware Mountainbike Team) completed the podium on a day to forget for previous overall leader Heby Gustav Pedersen (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team), who could only manage 14th.

Speaking at the end of the race, Treudler said: “It was a really nice track for me. I knew I had a good chance today. I felt really good at the beginning and suddenly I had a gap in the third lap I think, and from then on it was just keep going until the finish line and I could extend my lead a bit during the race. At the end it got a bit smaller again and I really had to fight, but I’m super happy with the win.

"I’m looking forward to Sunday now, and then Lenzerheide is one of my favourite tracks so it’s definitely a good confidence boost.”

 The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series action continues at The Epic Bikepark tomorrow as the downhill riders take to the Speedster trail for the third UCI Downhill World Cup of the season.