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7 talking points from the Leogang cross-country World Cup
The Austrian Alps were the venue for the fourth round of the UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Cup. Catch up on the race action here.
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Austria hosted the fourth round of the UCI Cross-Country World Cup at Leogang. Recap on all the action in the replay links below.
Get the 2022 XCO results from Leogang and the latest World Cup overall standings here and scroll down for things you might have missed from the racing weekend.
More from the Mercedes-Benz Mountain Bike World Cup
01
Repeat victories for last year's XCC winners
7 мин.
XCC recap – Leogang
Get a recap from the fourth cross-country short track event of the UCI World Cup 2022 season.
Loana Lecomte and Mathias Flückiger won the women's and men's race, repeating the result of the first race on this short track (XCC) circuit in 2021. There was just one climb on this XCC course, with riders going into it straight after passing the start. It was also mighty long compared to most XCC tracks on the World Cup circuit, which led to larger gaps forming between the riders than we normally see in XCC races.
Lecomte won by a big gap despite nursing a rear flat tyre in the last laps
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
This XCC track very much suited Flückiger's strengths
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
The gradient of the climb also suited athletes who tend to be short and light, which both Lecomte and Flückiger are. Both won by relatively big margins in their respective races, something normally unheard of in XCC racing.
Vlad Dascălu's 2nd place is the best XCC result he's had so far
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Ghost Bikes had plenty to celebrate with Terpstra and Bohé on the podium
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
So does Kate Courtney. She's getting married later in the year
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
02
Rivals watch out, Loana Lecomte is back to her 2021 best
For the first four World Cups of 2021, Lecomte was unbeatable, dominating every XCO race from start to finish and winning by huge margins. Leogang was in many ways a highlight, as it was here that she claimed her first perfect weekend, winning both the XCC and the XCO. It seems fitting then that it was also here that she came back into the limelight.
Lecomte had almost a minute's lead by the last lap
© Bartek Wolinsk / @wolisphoto
After smashing out a win in Friday's Short Track, Lecomte went on to dominate Sunday's XCO race, coming away with yet another double Leogang win, making her the first female athlete ever to score a perfect weekend twice at the same venue.
Lecomte did the damage early on in the race, opening up a gap already in the first lap. Swedish rider Jenny Rissveds put up a good fight, staying with the French rider for another lap. But from there on, it was a one-person show. Untouchable for the remainder of the race, the Frenchwoman crossed the finish line over a minute up on Rissveds, who put down a strong performance to finish second.
Leogang put an end to Rebecca McConnell's winning streak
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphotos
The Specialized team-mates had a good battle for 3rd all through the race
© Bartek Wolinsk/@wolisphoto
After not attending Brazil, Rissveds hasn't been off the podium in 2022
© Bartek Wolinsk/@wolisphoto
If we go by past performances, Lecomte's race today should definitely put some doubt and worry into the rest of the field. Especially, the current World Cup points leader Rebecca McConnell, who finished seventh. Her lead over Lecomte in the overall is now just 177 points.
03
Very different races for the Austrian hometown heroes
The two Austrian riders, Laura Stigger and Mona Mitterwallner, were both at a loss for words at the end of Sunday's race, but for very different reasons. Stigger, who only lives two hours away from the venue, rode a strong race from start to finish. An attack by the hometown hero on the last climb, saw her ride away from her team-mate Sina Frei to take an emotional third place in front of her entire family.
Third place, two years in a row for Stigger
© Bartek Wolinsk / @wolisphoto
Mitterwallner had a different kind of race. After getting tangled in a crash off the start line that saw her handlebars get stuck in a competitor's bike, those handlebars became twisted and unrideable. A dispirited Mitterwallner had to run with her bike on her shoulders to the first tech zone. When she set off again, she was dead last. With no real chance to get back to the front, she still kept pushing the pedals passing rider after rider, until she finally crossed the line in 15th.
Not the way you want your opening lap to go down in front of a home crowd
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Despite a disheartening race, she managed to put in impressive lap times that not only matched, but actually beat those of Lecomte - a positive she can hopefully take with her to the next round.
Racing on your 'home track' comes with a lot of pressure
© Bartek Wolinsk/@wolisphoto
At only 20, Mitterwallner has had an impressive first Elite season
© Bartek Wolinsk/@wolisphoto
04
What Lecomte can do, so can Mathias Flückiger
4 мин.
Men's XCO winning ride – Leogang
Watch the battle between two Swiss athletes for the win at the men's cross-country race in Leogang, Austria.
Flückiger beat Nino Schurter in a mighty Swiss battle to take the win in the men's XCO race and in doing so achieved what Lecomte had done earlier – scoring a perfect weekend twice at the same venue. This was Flückiger's fifth World Cup win and it came in baking hot temperatures that would have broken many a rider. However, Flückiger ultimately showed he was the strongest men's rider out on the course today.
What victory means for Flückiger
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
05
A good weekend for the Ghost Factory team
Ghost Factory riders Anne Terpstra and Caroline Bohé can come away happy from this weekend, having put down impressive results in both the XCC and the XCO races. Friday's Short Track race saw the team-mates finish in second and third - a personal best for both of them. Terpstra, who crossed the line first out of the two, was stoked to see her younger team-mate just behind. Sunday's XCO was in many ways a repeat, with Bohé following Terpstra over the line, this time in fifth and sixth, rounding off a good weekend of racing.
Terpstra thought her result in Brazil was a fluke, Leogang showed it wasn't
© Bartek Wolinsk/@wolisphoto
06
Lenzerheide is set up for Schurter to break the World Cup wins record
Vlad Dascălu didn't quite have the legs this race and finished 4th
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Alan Hatherly dug in to finish 3rd
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Flückiger and Schurter were well matched throughout the race
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Of course, for Schurter the next World Cup round is on home turf in Lenzerheide next month and that would be some place to make it World Cup win 34 and break the record in front of a partisan crowd. Of course, Schurter always wants to win and he wants to break the record as soon as possible, but at least he can console himself with the thought of a glorious victory in Lenzerheide.
This is the 60th time Schurter has podiumed a World Cup race
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
07
The Martin Vidaurre show rolls on
So far this season, Martin Vidaurre is unbeatable on the U23 World Cup circuit. His win in the Leogang U23 race made it four wins out of four on the stops this season. The Chilean won this race by a handsome margin of 19 seconds over Italy's Simone Avondetto. The question now is whether he can have the perfect season given his dominance of this age-group racing category to this point.
No one can seem to get ahead of Martin Vidaurre at U23 level
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Vidaurre held up a sign given to him by a Chilean fan at the finish
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
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