UCI Mountain Bike World Cup: Koretzky and Lecomte win in Albstadt

Victor Koretzky (KMC-Orbea) sprinted to victory to take his first Mountain Bike World Cup victory in the opening round of the series ahead of European Champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team). After winning Friday night’s short track event Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) suffered from an opening-lap attack before falling away to finish seventh. 

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) worked his way forward from 93rd on the starting grid making the leading group before finishing fifth despite suffering problems with a flat tire. 

“I’m happy with how today went,” said Pidcock. “It was a hard day out there, very hot and a lot of guys blew themselves in the first lap, me included. I tried to start settling in and then I had a slow puncture. After a lap I decided I had to stop and instead of changing the wheel I pumped it up to see if it held but it was rolling the whole of the last lap so I was trying to not let it go completely flat and get to the finish. I was happy with how it went.” 

After his result, Pidcock will get to start in the short-track in next week’s second round in Nové Město na Moravě allowing him to compete for a front-row start. 

The opening round was the first of six in this year’s Mountain Bike World Cup and saw riders competing in Albstadt in Germany. However, only the opening two of the rounds have Olympic Games qualification points available. 

After taking victory in the women’s short track, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had to settle for second in the cross-country behind fellow French woman Loana Lecomte (Massi), however, she still leads the World Cup standings after the opening round and was pleased with her performance. 

“I’m happy as I didn’t feel really good today [during the cross country], it was super hard all race long,” said Prévot. “I’m happy with my performance and hope to be better next week.” 

Riders head to the Czech Republic for the second round in Nové Město na Moravě next weekend. 

“It’s just the beginning of the season and it can change really quickly,” added Prévot. “We know that we all prepare for the Olympics so I don’t feel that we already [know] the result in our head and just keep working hard and give our best in the World Cups.” 

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How it unfolded: men’s cross-country 

The cross-country course was one for climbers with the steepest and longest climbs of all the other World Cup rounds including technical descent sections to test a rider’s ability. 

Taking part in his first elite men’s cross-country World Cup, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) started on the 11th row despite being the reigning Under-23 World Champion. 

After the opening start lap, Pidcock had overtaken around 50 riders to ride into the top 25 places while van der Poel pulled out a lead along with Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory Racing). 

Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) was forced to chase the leading duo up the lap’s long climb while Van der Poel tried to accelerate away from his companion. 

After Avancini clawed back Van der Poel, the chasing group, which now included a resurgent Pidcock, caught the duo. 

As Ondřej Cink (Kross Orlen Cycling Team) forced the pace on the front on the second full lap, Van der Poel was suffering from his early effort and fell back to a second group 32 seconds behind as seven riders, including Pidcock, went clear at the front. 

Mathias Flückiger (Thömus RN Swiss Bike Team) attacked on the third full lap but was pulled back by European Champion Nino Schurter while Van der Poel continued to struggle, dropping back to 13tth. 

As Flückiger continued on the offensive, Pidcock suffered for his early efforts to get up to the leaders, with the front group swelling to four riders while Van der Poel recovered and started working his way back up the field. 

By the last lap bell, the four leaders were chased by Pidcock in sixth and Van der Poel in seventh with the Dutchman clawing his way back to his British rival. 

With Flückiger suffering a mechanical problem with his seat-post on the last lap, Schurter muscled his way through to the lead ahead of a single-track section with Koretzky to battle for victory. 

Schurter forced the pace on the final downhill section before launching his bid for the win, only for Koretzky to respond and take the lead, sprinting to victory. 

Pidcock stormed through in the final lap, eventually finishing fifth just 29 seconds down on the winner and gapping Van der Poel in seventh. 

“In my warm-up, I didn’t feel in shape but after the first two laps it was better and better,” said Koretzky. “I didn’t take any risks and focussed on the final line. I did the same sprint as the short track event and it was amazing. Today was super hot and if you go into the red zone it’s not possible to recover on this track, so the tactic was to follow the first group.” 

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How it unfolded: women’s cross-country 

Lecomte took a solo victory in the women’s cross country, attacking on the first lap and holding off the challenge of Ferrand-Prévot. 

Ferrand-Prévot had a slower start, and French team-mate Lecomte, who was Under-23 World Champion last season, made her move on the long climb, pulling out an opening lap advantage of 18 seconds. 

After working her way through after a slower start, Ferrand-Prévot used her climbing ability to lead the chase and was joined by Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team). 

Despite the chase, 21-year-old Lecomte’s advantage kept growing as Ferrand-Prévot was chasing alone with a small group forming behind. 

The dwindling group of chasers on the tough course eventually left Americans Courtney and Hayley Batten (Trinity Racing MTB) in the battle for third. 

In her first elite race World Cup event, Batten rode clear of Courtney while Ferrand-Prévot kept her gap of 45 seconds behind Lecomte. 

The final lap saw positions stay the same with Lecomte winning by 53 seconds, for her second World Cup win, ahead of Ferrand-Prévot in second and Batten third just five seconds ahead of Courtney. 

“I don’t believe it,” said Lecomte. “I think in my head it was my goal for today but I don’t know if I was able to win today, I’m very happy. These two World Cups are race qualification for the Olympic Games so I wanted to be in shape for these two World Cups, so my goal is complete at 50 per cent." 

"[Loana Lecomte] was just flying," Ferrand-Prévot added. "I knew at the beginning it would be hard to win, so I gave my best but it was super hard as I didn’t feel good at all”.