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

ALBSTADT GERMANY MAY 09 Victor Koretzky of France celebrates first place in CrossCountry Olympic Men Elite during the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on May 09 2021 in Albstadt Germany Photo by Christian KasparBartkeGetty Images
(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

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.” 

ALBSTADT GERMANY MAY 09 Nino Schurter of Switzerland celebrates second place in CrossCountry Olympic Men Elite race during UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on May 09 2021 in Albstadt Germany Photo by Christian KasparBartkeGetty Images

Nino Schurter got his 2021 campaign off to a good start securing second place behind Victor Koretzky (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

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.” 

ALBSTADT GERMANY MAY 09 Pauline Ferrand Prevot of France competes in CrossCountry Olympic Women Elite race during UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on May 09 2021 in Albstadt Germany Photo by Christian KasparBartkeGetty Images

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on her way to second place (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

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”. 

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UCI MTB World Cup XCO Albstadt 2021: Full Results: Men
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Victor Koretzky (France) 1:20:23
2Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 0:00:02
3Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) 0:00:23
4Ondřej Cink (Czech Republic) 0:00:25
5Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) 0:00:29
6Anton Cooper (New Zealand) 0:00:30
7Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) 0:01:13
8Alan Hatherly (South Africa) 0:01:19
9Thomas Griot (France) 0:01:33
10Henrique Avancini (Brazil) 0:02:05
11Jordan Sarrou (France) 0:02:06
12Thomas Litscher (Switzerland) 0:02:19
13Christopher Blevins (United States Of America) 0:02:26
14Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) 0:02:30
15Leandre Bouchard (Canada) 0:02:42
16Maxime Marotte (France) 0:02:51
17Joshua Dubau (France) 0:03:03
18Vlad Dascalu (Romania) 0:03:09
19Luca Schwarzbauer (Germany) 0:03:12
20Maximilian Brandl (Germany) 0:03:13
21Manuel Fumic (Germany) 0:03:16
22Nadir Colledani (Italy) 0:03:17
23Reto Indergand (Switzerland) 0:03:28
24Andri Frischknecht (Switzerland) 0:03:34
25Milan Vader (Netherlands) 0:03:43
26Simon Andreassen (Denmark) 0:03:45
27Martin Fanger (Switzerland) 0:03:47
28David Valero Serrano (Spain) 0:04:04
29Vital Albin (Switzerland) 0:04:08
30Karl Markt (Austria)
31Bartlomiej Wawak (Poland) 0:04:22
32Martins Blums (Latvia) 0:04:23
33Georg Egger (Germany) 0:04:36
34Jens Schuermans (Belgium) 0:04:45
35Jan Škarnitzl (Czech Republic) 0:04:46
36Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Brazil) 0:04:53
37Ben Oliver (New Zealand) 0:04:54
38Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spain) 0:05:13
39Marcel Guerrini (Switzerland) 0:05:22
40Antoine Philipp (France) 0:05:32
41Gioele Bertolini (Italy) 0:05:36
42Peter Disera (Canada) 0:05:38
43Daniel Mcconnell (Australia)
44Anton Sintsov (Russian Federation)
45Erik Hægstad (Norway) 0:05:40
46Ismael Esteban Aguero (Spain) 0:05:47
47Dmytro Titarenko (Ukraine) 0:05:50
48Filip Helta (Poland) 0:05:56
49Sascha Weber (Germany) 0:06:05
50Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) 0:06:08
51Pierre De Froidmont (Belgium) 0:06:12
52Lars Forster (Switzerland) 0:06:25
53Hugo Drechou (France) 0:06:29
54Cole Paton (United States Of America) 0:06:32
55Jofre Cullell Estape (Spain) 0:06:44
56Oleksandr Koniaiev (Ukraine) 0:06:52
57Catriel Soto (Argentina) 0:06:59
58Luca Braidot (Italy) 0:07:02
59Ivan Filatov (Russian Federation) 0:07:05
60Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) 0:07:06
61Mário Costa (Portugal) 0:07:07
62Maximilian Foidl (Austria) 0:07:12
63Andrew L'Esperance (Canada) 0:07:18
64Basile Allard (France)
65Rok Naglič (Slovenia) 0:07:19
66Niklas Schehl (Germany) 0:07:26
67Samuel Gaze (New Zealand) 0:07:54
68Jonas Lindberg (Denmark) 0:08:06
69Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Denmark)
70Emil Hasund Eid (Norway) 0:08:07
71Ulan Bastos Galinski (Brazil) 0:08:20
72Emil Lindgren (Sweden) 0:08:24
73Gregor Raggl (Austria) 0:08:25
74Fabian Giger (Switzerland)
75Andrin Beeli (Switzerland) 0:08:45
76Titouan Carod (France) 0:09:05
77Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo (Mexico) 0:09:14
78András Parti (Hungary) 0:09:16
79Frazer Clacherty (Great Britain) 0:09:26
80Bruno Vitali (Switzerland) 0:09:30
81Keegan Swenson (United States Of America) 0:09:35
82Sven Olivetti (Switzerland) 0:09:45
83Simon Vitzthum (Switzerland) 0:09:58
84Jan Vastl (Czech Republic) 0:10:07
85Luis Neff (Germany) 0:10:14
86Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) 0:10:23
87Josef Jelínek (Czech Republic) 0:10:33
88Julian Schelb (Germany) 0:10:43
89Nicolas Delich Pardo (Chile) 0:10:53
90Fabio Hernando Castañeda Monsalve (Colombia) 0:10:58
91Sean Fincham (Canada) 0:11:01
92Timofei Ivanov (Russian Federation) 0:11:03
93Clément Auvin (France) 0:11:05
94Dario Thoma (Switzerland) 0:11:08
95Maxime Loret (France) 0:11:16
96Tim Feinauer (Germany) 0:11:25
97Kevin Krieg (Switzerland) 0:11:31
98Mirko Tabacchi (Italy) 0:11:50
99Sebastian Miranda Maldonado (Chile) 0:11:56
100Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 0:12:44
101Ursin Spescha (Switzerland) 0:16:17
102Raphael Auclair (Canada)
103Karol Ostaszewski (Poland)
104Joris Ryf (Switzerland)
105Jhonatan Botero Villegas (Colombia)
106Martin Haring (Slovakia)
107Lucas Dubau (France)
108Thibault Daniel (France)
109Pau Romero Barcelo (Spain)
110Marc Andre Fortier (Canada)
111Silas Graf (Germany)
112Shlomi Haimy (Israel)
113Rob Vanden Haesevelde (Belgium)
114Quinton Disera (Canada)
115Pierre-Geoffroy Plantet (France)
116Matej Ulik (Slovakia)
117Zsombor Palumby (Hungary)
118Periklis Ilias (Greece)
119Tomáš Paprstka (Czech Republic)
120Nick Burki (Switzerland)
121Tobias Steinhart (Germany)
122Alexandre Vialle (Canada)
123Abdulkadir Kelleci (Turkey)
124Marcel Meisen (Germany)
125Lorenzo Serres (France)
126Alex Bregenzer (Germany)
127Vincent Sibille (France)
128Tristan De Lange (Namibia)
129Florian Trigo (France)
130Dimitrios Antoniadis (Greece)
131Tyler Orschel (Canada)
132Max Wetzel (Germany)
133Arthur Tropardy (France)
134Charoun Molla Amet Ali Oglou (Greece)
135Raphael Gagne (Canada)
136Victor Vidal (France)
137Zdeněk Vobecký (Czech Republic)
138Ede-Karoly Molnar (Romania)
139Heiko Hog (Germany)
140Tomáš Burcák (Slovakia)
141Serdar Depe (Turkey)
142Felix Belhumeur (Canada)
DNFDaan Soete (Belgium)
DNFMoritz Bscherer (Austria)
DNFSimon Gegenheimer (Germany)
DNFStephane Tempier (France)
DNFKrzysztof Lukasik (Poland)
DNFFilippo Colombo (Switzerland)
DNFGioele De Cosmo (Italy)
DNFSimon Gutmann (Germany)
DNFGuilherme Gotardelo Muller (Brazil)
DNSDaniele Braidot (Italy)
DNSNicholas Pettina' (Italy)
DNSJakub Zamrozniak (Poland)
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UCI MTB World Cup XCO Albstadt 2021: Full Results: Women
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Loana Lecomte (France) 1:21:38
2Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France) 0:00:53
3Haley Batten (United States Of America) 0:01:15
4Kate Courtney (United States Of America) 0:01:20
5Yana Belomoina (Ukraine) 0:01:30
6Anne Terpstra (Netherlands) 0:01:47
7Linda Indergand (Switzerland) 0:01:57
8Laura Stigger (Austria) 0:02:11
9Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) 0:02:54
10Sina Frei (Switzerland) 0:03:03
11Eva Lechner (Italy) 0:03:11
12Daniela Campuzano Chavez Peon (Mexico) 0:03:12
13Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) 0:03:38
14Maja Wloszczowska (Poland)
15Erin Huck (United States Of America) 0:03:59
16Lena Gerault (France) 0:04:06
17Rocio Del Alba Garcia Martinez (Spain) 0:04:13
18Alessandra Keller (Switzerland) 0:04:22
19Nicole Koller (Switzerland) 0:04:30
20Githa Michiels (Belgium) 0:04:39
21Rebecca Mcconnell (Australia) 0:05:24
22Ronja Eibl (Germany) 0:05:52
23Chiara Teocchi (Italy) 0:05:58
24Elisabeth Brandau (Germany) 0:06:04
25Evie Richards (Great Britain) 0:06:09
26Janika Lõiv (Estonia) 0:06:24
27Emily Batty (Canada) 0:06:42
28Greta Seiwald (Italy) 0:06:54
29Nina Benz (Germany) 0:07:02
30Chloe Woodruff (United States Of America) 0:07:25
31Candice Lill (South Africa) 0:07:31
32Lotte Koopmans (Netherlands) 0:07:34
33Iryna Popova (Ukraine) 0:07:35
34Barbara Benkó (Hungary) 0:07:49
35Steffi Häberlin (Switzerland) 0:07:55
36Kristina Ilina (Russian Federation) 0:07:56
37Anne Tauber (Netherlands) 0:08:07
38Jennifer Jackson (Canada) 0:08:17
39Tanja Žakelj (Slovenia) 0:08:30
40Isla Short (Great Britain) 0:08:36
41Martina Berta (Italy) 0:08:41
42Elisabeth Osl (Austria) 0:09:28
43Lea Davison (United States Of America) 0:09:32
44Andrea Waldis (Switzerland) 0:09:34
45Jitka Čábelická (Czech Republic) 0:09:53
46Annie Last (Great Britain) 0:09:54
47Sandra Walter (Canada) 0:10:14
48Sofia Gomez Villafane (Argentina) 0:10:45
49Katarzyna Solus-Miskowicz (Poland) 0:10:46
50Laurie Arseneault (Canada) 0:10:51
51Sophie Von Berswordt (Netherlands) 0:10:53
52Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 0:11:08
53Nadine Rieder (Germany) 0:11:16
54Karla Štěpánová (Czech Republic) 0:11:27
55Mariske Strauss (South Africa) 0:11:36
56Anna Spielmann (Austria) 0:12:02
57Agustina Maria Apaza (Argentina) 0:12:10
58Adelheid Morath (Germany) 0:12:16
59Lucie Urruty (France) 0:12:36
60Perrine Clauzel (France) 0:13:07
61Kelsey Urban (United States Of America)
62Seraina Leugger (Switzerland)
63Giorgia Marchet (Italy)
64Janka Keseg Stevkova (Slovakia)
65Vera Medvedeva (Russian Federation)
66Natalia Fischer Egusquiza (Spain)
67Chrystelle Baumann (Switzerland)
68Jana Czeczinkarová (Czech Republic)
69Hannah Finchamp (United States Of America)
70Klaudia Czabok (Poland)
71Theresia Schwenk (Germany)
72Margot Moschetti (France)
73Hélène Clauzel (France)
74Raiza Goulao Henrique (Brazil)
75Ramona Forchini (Switzerland)
76Tereza Tvarůžková (Czech Republic)
77Paula Gorycka (Poland)
78Fabienne Schaus (Luxembourg)
79Kim Ames (Germany)
80Gabriela Wojtyla (Poland)
81Joana Monteiro (Portugal)
82Lejla Tanovic (Bosnia Herzegovnia)
83Aleksandra Podgorska (Poland)
84Ann-Dorthe Lisbygd (Denmark)
85Naama Noyman (Israel)
86Viktoria Kirsanova (Russian Federation)
87Iryna Slobodyan (Ukraine)
88Amelie Laquebe (France)
89Cindy Montambault (Canada)
90Janina Wüst (Switzerland)
91Josefina Casadey (Argentina)
92Sara Öberg (Sweden)
93Jaqueline Mourao (Brazil)
94Jovana Crnogorac (Serbia)
95Maria Fernanda Castro Gonzalez (Chile)
96Antonia Daubermann (Germany)
97Barbara Borowiecka (Poland)
98Mari-Liis Mõttus (Estonia)
DNFJulie Bresset (France)
DNFCharline Fragnière (Switzerland)
DNFLinn Gustafzzon (Sweden)
DNFHaley Smith (Canada)
DNFSabrina Enaux (France)
DNFCeylin del Carmen Alvarado (Netherlands)
DNSCherie Redecker (South Africa)
DNSEmma Belforth (Sweden)