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This Val di Sole XCO World Cup was one for the history books
Check who won, watch the replays and read about the moments that defined the last round of the Mercedes-Benz UCI MTB Cross-Country World Cup in Italy.
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Overall titles were up for grabs and history was created in the Cross-Country Short Track (XCC) and the Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) Mercedes-Benz UCI Cross-country Mountain Bike World Cup at the final race of the season in Val di Sole, Italy. Watch brief highlights of the action from Val di Sole and catch the full replay of the races via the links below.
13 min
XCO finals highlights – Val Di Sole
Get a recap of all the highlights from the women's and men's XCO finals in Val di Sole, Italy.
The results from the cross-country races in Val di Sole and the final overall standings for the World Cup can be found here. Scroll down for things you might have missed from the men's and women's races.
More from the Mercedes-Benz Mountain Bike World Cup
01
History made as the first XCC overall titles are awarded
Alessandra Keller and Alan Hatherly will forever be remembered as the first winners of the Mercedes-Benz XCC Mountain Bike World Cup after the two did all they had to in order to win the overall series titles in the women's and men's races, respectively. Both went into their races knowing that finishing in a certain place would mean that the titles were theirs. As series leaders, they were both in charge of their destinies against their nearest challengers.
Keller savours the moment after getting the overall trophy
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Hatherly joined on the overall podium by Filippo Colombo and Titouan Carod
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Keller needed to finish in the top five, while Hatherly needed to place in the top two. Both executed game plans to ensure that happened. Keller stayed in the lead group in the women's race right up to the final lap and finished third in the end. Hatherly's tactic in the men's race was to push hard from the start, break the field and put in as much distance as possible between himself and his nearest challenger Filippo Colombo of Switzerland. A tactic that worked as he and eventual race winner Titouan Carod of France were not caught by chasing riders at the race end.
Keller knew she had to race a sensible race
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Hatherly kept up the fast pace as long as he could
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
02
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot's scores a perfect weekend
Ferrand-Prévot and Lecomte at the end of the XCO race
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
In that XCC race, the race came down to the final lap. As the finishing line approached, Ferrand-Prévot took the inside line into a bend before the finish in order to gain a slight advantage going into the straight. This was enough for her to have half a bike length going into the sprint finish, where she prevailed over Lecomte.
2 min
Women's XCC sprint finish – Val di Sole
The women's XCC race came down to a thrilling sprint finish between Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Loana Lecomte.
This was Ferrand-Prévot's fifth XCC World Cup win, and she stands alongside the now retired Danish racer Annika Langvad as the most successful woman ever in XCC racing.
Ferrand-Prévot and Lecomte going all out at the end of the XCC race
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Thumbs up from Ferrand-Prévot after the XCC win
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Forging a lonely furrow in the XCO race once she got the lead
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
She did both her World Champions jerseys justice this weekend
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
In the XCO race, Ferrand-Prévot and Lecomte pulled away from the field early in the race and settled into a rhythm. The four-time XCO World Champion attacked Lecomte on the third lap and never looked back, winning by 1m 27s over Lecomte in the end. Jolanda Neff came in third. The season is not over for Ferrand-Prévot remarkably. She plans to race the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Worlds in Denmark later this month and the UCI World Gravel Championships in Italy in October before calling an end to her racing year.
1 min
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's XCO win – Val di Sole
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won twice in the same weekend and on the final event of the 2022 season!
03
Alessandra Keller doubles up on the cross-country titles
Not content with winning the XCC World Cup overall, Alessandra Keller took the XCO crown also after a race of differing emotions for those involved in the chase for the title. Keller had been sitting in third place in the series following the results of Friday evening's XCC race, with second-placed Rebecca McConnell of Australia just six points ahead of her and series leader Anne Terpstra of the Netherlands, 43 points ahead. Illness had unfortunately struck Terpstra in the week, and while she started the XCO race, it was very doubtful she would finish it, given the state of her fitness.
Keller had the advantage of starting on the front row
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Essentially the series title shootout would be between Keller and McConnell, and how these two placed in the race would be critical to who would become World Cup Champion. Keller was always ahead of McConnell in the opening few laps, and by the time lap 3 of 5 started, they were four places apart, with Keller in seventh and McConnell in 11th. From here, however, McConnell fell away, and the gap in places between them was enough to have Keller as Champion-elect. Terpstra, meanwhile, was pulled out of the race.
Keller raced as if she didn't know what the situation was and her efforts were hurting her, but she dug in to finish sixth and then waited for McConnell to cross the finish line before being finally convinced the title was hers.
All smiles at the end among the overall challengers
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
04
Titouan Carod had a weekend to remember
Titouan Carod's recent good form was very much in evidence in Italy as the Frenchman backed up his first ever XCO World Cup race win at the last round in Mont-Sainte-Anne with a victory here in Italy in the XCO and XCC races.
Carod probably doesn't want this season to end
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Carod struck out alone on lap 2 after being in the initial lead group of countryman Jordan Sarrou and South African Alan Hatherly from the start of the race. He steadily built a time gap that was over 45s at one point over a chasing pack. Even with Nino Schurter pushing the pace in that pack, Carod remained in control till the race ended to take back-to-back XCO World Cup wins.
Carod applauding the fans for their support in this race
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
05
Carod played out the perfect tactics in his XCC win
Titouan Carod showed that his form and condition were in good shape in Friday evening's men's XCC race. Carod gapped Hatherly on the 10th and final lap of the men's race to roll home alone.
7 min
XC short track recap – Val di Sole
Watch a recap of the men's and women's races as the riders vie for points at the final event of 2022.
Carod's victory owed much to Hatherly's hot pace from the start of the race. The South African was keen to get well ahead of the pack in his bid to win the men's overall XCC World Cup series title, and only Carod could follow him. The French racer did not take to the race's lead, allowing Hatherly to push at the front, and instead just sat on Hatherly's wheel. Having reserved that energy, Carod made his move in the uphill drive to the rock garden on the course, overtaking Hatherly, who couldn't then respond.
Hatherly was keen to get a good start
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Carod piggybacking on Hatherly's pace
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Carod breaks free
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
06
An eighth overall men's title sees Nino Schurter make history
With his second-place finish, the men's overall series leader Nino Schurter comfortably wrapped up the overall title to become World Cup Champion for the eighth time. Winning this year's series also means that Schurter is now the most successful World Cup Champion in history. He had been sharing that title with Frenchman Julien Absalon with both on seven titles before this year.
Schurter with the retiring Stéphane Tempier in the finish area
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Schurter just needed a top six finish to take the overall series victory, and despite a slow start in this race, in main due to a bad start, he found his rhythm and worked his way up the field to be in a group chasing eventual winner Titouan Carod during the race. There he stayed for a few laps before upping the pace to take second place to the Frenchman.
Sarrou, Schurter and Braidot rode together in a group in the middle laps
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Sarrou would go on to finish third
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
This Val di Sole course was as rough as in parts
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
07
Eight victories from nine rounds for Martin Vidaurre in the men's U23s
It wasn't quite the perfect season for men's U23 World Cup Champion Martin Vidaurre, but winning eight of the nine rounds this season is pretty good. The Chilean has been so dominant this season, wrapping up the overall U23 title, his second successive overall U23 title, with two races to spare back at the race in Snowshoe in July. There was the disappointment of not becoming the U23 World Champion last week in Les Gets, but he bounced back to win the U23 race here in Val di Sole by a dominant margin. A move to Elite World Cup racing surely beckons next year for Vidaurre.
Vidaurre is the future of men's XCO
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
Vidaurre finished 450 points ahead of Carter Woods (left) in the overall
© Bartek Wolinski/@wolisphoto
08
End of an era for World Cup coverage on Red Bull
Val di Sole marked the end of 10 years of live broadcast coverage of the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup via Red Bull TV. It's been a momentous decade of covering both downhill and cross-country events. Check out our best moments from covering the XCO (and more latterly the XCC) in the last 10 years in our montage edit below:
3 min
A decade of iconic XCO racing
Look back at some of the most iconic moments from the last decade of cross-country mountain bike races.
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