The fifth XC World Cup of the year in Lenzerheide provided dramatic racing with a huge upset in the Elite Men’s racing.
Kicking off racing was the U23 Women where Sofie Pedersen just beat Line Burquier in a sprint finish. Puck Pieterse completed the top three just over a minute back.
Loana Lecomte secured a back-to-back win this year after a strong race saw her take eight seconds on Jenny Rissveds. Alessandra Keller fought hard for a win on home soil but settled for an amazing third place, 24 seconds back.
Racing could not have been closer in the Elite men’s race with Nino Schurter and Mathias Flückiger battling hard across all six laps. Both riders were purely focused on the win and they crashed before the finish handing the win to Luca Braidot who also had an incredible race to hang onto the Swiss riders across the six laps.
Check out the results below.
Results:
Elite Women (5 Laps)
1st. Loana Lecomte: 1:17:31
2nd. Jenny Rissveds: +8
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +24
4th. Pauline Ferrand Prevot: +2:06
5th. Anne Terpstra: +2:06
Elite Men (6 Laps)
1st. Luca Braidot: 1:17.32
2nd. Alan Hatherly: +0
3rd. Mathias Flückiger: +4
4th. Nino Schurter: +12
5th. Filippo Colombo: +32
U23 Women (4 Laps)
1st. Sofie Pedersen: 1:06:00
2nd. Line Burquier: 1:06:00
3rd. Puck Pieterse: 1:07:12
4th. Noëlle Buri: 1:08:19
5th. Ronja Blöchlinger: 1:08:35
U23 Men
The U23 Men will be on course shortly.
Full Results:
Elite Women
U23 Women
Live Race Updates:
The 2022 World Cup XC racing continues with the fifth round in Lenzerheide.
The Women’s racing kicks off on Red Bull TV at: 10:45pm CEST (1:45am PST, 4:45am EST, 9:45am BST)
The Men will start on Red Bull TV at: 13:00pm CEST (4:00am PST, 7:00am EST, 12:00pm BST)
Who do you think will win?:
Who Will Win the Elite Women’s Race?
This poll is closed
Race Updates:
2:05 am PDT The Elite Women are off with Jenny Rissveds leading into the start loop before five full laps.
2:13 am PDT We are starting to get a breakaway group at the front with Jenny Rissveds, Jolanda Neff and Loana Lecomte.
Top Five After the Start Loop
1st. Jenny Rissveds: 12:21
2nd. Jolanda Neff: +0
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +0
4th. Loana Lecomte: +0
5th. Martina Berta: +0
2:19 am PDT Already on the first climb of lap one we now have a big group of 12 riders at the front.
2:20 am PDT Loana Lecomte has launched a small attack to take the lead into the first downhill. Loana is quickly followed by Alessandra Keller.
2:23 am PDT There is now a group of three riders at the front of the race. Loana Lecomte, Jenny Rissveds and Alessandra Keller are leading with Pauline Ferrand Prevot 17 seconds back.
2:27 am PDT The front three riders now have a 28-second lead.
Top Five After the First Lap
1st. Loana Lecomte: 25:17
2nd. Jenny Rissveds: +1
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +1
4th. Pauline Ferrand Prevot: +35
5th. Rebecca McConnell: +35
2:36 am PDT The fastest three riders are evenly matched so far and building a nice lead ahead of the rest of the riders.
2:41 am PDT Jolanda Neff takes the lead in the chasing group, they are still around 57 seconds back from the leaders.
Top Five After Lap Two
1st. Loana Lecomte: 38:22
2nd. Jenny Rissveds: +0
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +1
4th. Martina Berta: +56
5th. Jolanda Neff: +56
Top Five After Lap Three
1st. Loana Lecomte: 51:37
2nd. Jenny Rissveds: +1
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +1
4th. Martina Berta: +1:18
5th. Pauline Ferrand Prevot: +1:18
3:00 am PDT Loana Lecomte has launched an attack taking five seconds out of Jenny Rissveds.
3:04 am PDT At the next split the gap is seven seconds to Jenny Rissveds and 10 seconds to Alessandra Keller.
Top Five into the Final Lap
1st. Loana Lecomte: 1:04:28
2nd. Jenny Rissveds: +8
3rd. Alessandra Keller: +10
4th. Anne Terpstra: +1:55
5th. Pauline Ferrand Prevot: +1:55
3:12 am PDT Jenny Rissveds looks to be really struggling as Alessandra Keller moves into second place.
3:14 am PDT The chasing group of Alessandra Keller and Jenny Rissveds are keeping the pressure on Loana Lecomte as the gap is staying at around 10 seconds.
3:17 am PDT Jenny Rissveds has dropped Alessandra Keller to take second place, she is still around 10 seconds back from Loana Lecomte.
3:22 am PDT Loana Lecomte wins in Lenzerheide!
