Lenzerheide: French domination & Braidot’s first UCI World Cup win

It was a double French downhill victory as Myriam Nicole backed up her 2021 win and Amaury Pierron repeated his 2019 success in Lenzerheide, Switzerland for the 2022 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup before Loana Lecomte (FRA) and Luca Braidot (ITA) took the honours in the Cross-country Olympic.

Women’s Downhill: Nicole is untouchable

In the Women Junior final Canada’s Gracey Hemstreet (3:28.111) again got the better of Britain’s Phoebe Gale (3:29.959) with Jenna Hastings (NZL) 3rd. Hemstreet extends her slender lead: 225 points to Gale’s 210.

In the Elite final, 2015 and 2016 Lenzerheide winner Rachel Atherton (GBR) returned to UCI World Cup racing for the first time since 2019. The multiple overall winner of the series took 5-sec off her qualifying time, but was short of the best mark set by Camille Balanche (SUI).

After slipping early and losing 5-sec, Austria’s Valentina Höll recovered to take a 4-sec lead. But Myriam Nicole looked serene, taming the dusty, slippery course to pull out a huge best time of 3:11.751. With home support, 2020 UCI World Champion Balanche was the only rider to come within 5-sec of the reigning UCI World Champion. Italy’s Eleonora Farina was10-sec back, while Monika Hrastnik (SLO) and Höll rounded out the top five.

The same riders hold the top five overall but in a different order: Balanche 895 points, Nicole 795, Höll 586, Farina 560 and Hrastnik 384.

Men’s Downhill: All about Amaury

In the Men Junior, it’s two wins each for UCI Junior World Champion Jackson Goldstone and Jordan Williams (GBR), who finished third this time. The Canadian’s 2:50.072 was 1.5-sec quicker than Lachlan Stevens-McNab (NZL) with the Briton 0.1sec adrift. Goldstone has 220 points, 10 more than Williams.

19th-placed qualifier Finn Iles was the pace-setter in the Men Elite competition. Forty-year-old 2017 Lenzerheide winner Greg Minnaar (RSA) came closest to the 22-year-old Canadian, just 0.3sec adrift. British Champion Matt Walker (winner at Leogang), slotted into the top three before being unseated by European Champion Andreas Kolb (AUT) and French Champion Benoît Coulanges.

But there was nothing stopping his countryman, the 2018 UCI World Cup overall champion Amaury Pierron from taking his third UCI World Cup win of 2022, his 2:47.153 smashing 1.4-sec off Iles’ time.

Pierron retains top spot overall with 830 points ahead of Matt Walker’s 556, with Coulanges (515) and Iles (501) overtaking Britain’s Danny Hart (466).

Women’s Cross-country: Lecomte back on top

In the Women’s U23, Denmark’s Sofie Pedersen took her first UCI World Cup victory of the season and moved into 2nd place in the standings. Second in Lenzerheide, Line Burquier (FRA) remains at the top of the overall standings, while third-placed Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse slips from 2nd to 3rd overall.

Loana Lecomte took her second successive Elite UCI World Cup victory. As Rebecca McConnell (AUS), winner of 2022’s first three rounds, finished 14th, Lecomte took the overall lead by a single point.

Friday’s cross-country short track (XCC) winner Jenny Rissveds had a strong start to the cross-country Olympic (XCO) before the French Champion pulled away. The Swede and Alessandra Keller (SUI) rode together, 2 minutes ahead of a group including Jolanda Neff (SUI), Anne Terpstra (NED), and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA).

The home crowd inspired Keller to put down the power, but she suffered for her own efforts and Rissveds went clear into 2nd, yet couldn’t cut the French rider’s 10-sec lead. Ferrand-Prévot outsprinted Terpstra for fourth before Olympic Champion Neff was cheered home in 6th.

“To be honest I didn’t think I was able to win today so I am very happy,” said Loana Lecomte. “It’s the first time I’ve won in Lenzerheide… my perfect weekend!”

Men’s Cross-country: Braidot’s bravery

In the Men U23, Chilean Martin Vidaurre has a perfect 625 points overall thanks to his fourth straight UCI World Cup win, this time in front of Canadian Carter Woods, who moves up from eight to third in the overall standings. Great Britain’s Charlie Aldridge also took a leap in the overall standings – from 23rd to 13th – thanks to his third place in Lenzerheide.

In the Men Elite, Nino Schurter set off from the front row on the Lenzerheide track where he won in 2016, 2017 and 2018, knowing that a victory would send him clear of his record of 33 UCI World Cup wins held jointly with Frenchman Julien Absalon.

At halfway, after a crash for Romanian Vlad Dascalu, the lead group of four – the Swiss trio of Schurter, Mathias Flückiger, Filippo Colombo and the South African Alan Hatherly – were joined by Italy’s Luca Braidot; the top five finishers in Friday’s XCC.

On lap 5 of 6, Swiss Champion Flückiger and UCI World Champion Schurter raced away before being chased down by Braidot and Hatherly as the bell sounded. On the final gravel climb, 36-year-old Schurter attacked and Flückiger responded, the Swiss men swapping the lead and then, in the last 1km – a crash brought them both off their bikes.

Braidot just outsprinted Hatherly for his first UCI World Cup win with Flückiger third, and a distraught Schurter in fourth, before Colombo took fifth in a photo finish from Spain’s David Valero.

Schurter retains the overall lead with 1154 points, from Hatherly up to 2nd on 942, and Flückiger third on 936.

“I realised this is my one shot and I pushed in the last metres,” said Luca Braidot. “I can’t believe I won… I always saw the race from behind, and now I am in the top!