Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup: McConnell ‘living the dream’ in Nové Město

Rebecca McConnell (AUS) and Tom Pidcock (GBR) won the Elite races of the third round of the 2022 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic.

It was two in a row for Pidcock, and for McConnell it was a third straight UCI World Cup Elite victory. Line Burquier (FRA) and Martin Vidaurre Kossmann (CHI) both took their third consecutive UCI World Cup victories in the Under 23 categories.

“Nové Město is always really good for me, I am always able to get a good performance here, it’s good to get an advantage on the descent,” said Rebecca McConnell. “I’m living the dream!”

“That was a difficult race!” said Tom Pidcock. “I knew Vlad would have a super fast last lap. I had problems with my bike but I knew if I could hold the gap to Vlad I could get him in the headwind.”

XCC: Neff and Schwarzbauer sprint to victory

Friday evening saw explosive racing in the cCross-country Short Track XCC. Raced in front of noisy crowds and under a clear, dry sky, the riders relished the dry, dusty fast track. Jolanda Neff (SUI) took the women’s 9-lap race, pipping McConnell, Jenny Rissveds (SWE), Sina Frei (SUI) and Loana Lecomte (FRA), all of whom earned front-row starts for Sunday’s cross-country Olympic (XCO) race.

The 11-lap men’s race saw a win for the fast-emerging Luca Schwarzbauer. The 25-year-old German narrowly saw off a bunch including Tom Pidcock (GBR), Filippo Colombo (SUI), Vlad Dascalu (ROM) and Cross-country Short Track UCI World Champion Christopher Blevins (USA).

U23: leaders impose themselves

Saturday’s Under-23 XCO races saw the series-leading Line Burquier and Martin Vidaurre Kossmann extend their advantages, both maintaining their winning runs.

In the 6-lap women’s race, 19-year-old Burquier had a final gap of 45 seconds on Puck Pieterse (NED), with Giada Specia (ITA) in third, 2 minutes behind the French woman.

In the 7-lap Men U23 race, the Chilean rider romped away with an advantage of more than 1 minute over Simone Avondetto (ITA) with Dario Lillo (SUI) winning the battle for third place a further 20-sec back.

Women Elite XCO: hat-trick heroine

Rebecca McConnell, wearing the white jersey of series leader with 685 points, set off in the Czech Republic where she left off in Germany, pushing the pace and pulling out a gap from Jenny Rissveds on the first lap proper.

The chasing group formed: 2021 UCI World Cup overall winner Loana Lecomte, USA’s Haley Batten (2nd at Nové Město in 2021), and the Swiss trio of Alessandra Keller, Sina Frei and a resurgent reigning Olympic Champion, Jolanda Neff. Still in sight were Kate Courtney (USA), UCI World Champion Evie Richards (GBR), young Hungarian Kata Blanka[1] [2] Vas and Pauline Ferrand Prévot (FRA), who had started back in the pack having had a mechanical in the XCC.

By lap 3 of 7, the Australian had worked a 20-sec gap from Rissveds, who was soon joined by Lecomte. They worked together to pull away from the chasing group as Frei took a tumble after a fumbled drink bottle grab and Keller had a quick visit to the technical zone following a puncture.

Onto lap 5, as Lecomte and Rissveds held station in sight of McConnell on the long tarmac start-finish straight, the trio hit exactly the same times as on laps 3 and 4. Denmark’s Caroline Bohé and the young Austrian pair of Laura Stigger and Mona Mitterwallner joined the group of Neff, Frei and Batten, 1 minute behind Rissveds and Lecomte.

As Richards appeared to be suffering from a recurrence of her back issues, Neff pulled away, powering up the climbs, chased by Bohé. Rissveds faded on the penultimate lap, while Lecomte continued to press, looking like her recovery from her winter collarbone break was complete – but ultimately couldn’t match the Australian’s relentless pace.

McConnell took her third straight win with a 40-sec gap to extend her overall lead, while Lecomte and Rissveds picked up their second top-three finishes of the campaign, the French woman moving up to 2nd overall. On the last lap Neff was passed by Bohé but reclaimed 4th in the sprint, Mitterwallner just 3sec behind them in 6th.

Men EliteXCO: heartbreak for Nino

Romanian Champion Vlad Dascalu, 3rd in both the first two races of the 2022 UCI World Cup pushed on early, with a quality group for company, including Sam Gaze (NZL) who won the U23 UCI World Championships at Nové Město na Moravě in 2016, the Swiss Filippo Colombo, South African Champion Alan Hatherly, Brazilian Champion Henrique Avancini and Nino Schurter. Sporting the no 1 plate and wearing the UCI World Champion’s rainbow stripes, the Swiss rider was looking for his record 34th UCI XCO World Cup victory on the course where he had already won five UCI World Cups and the 2016 UCI World Championships.

“One of the best mountain bike courses we have,” he said. “I really enjoy racing here and I have been successful here.”

On lap 2 of 8, 2021 Nové Město na Moravě XCO UCI World Cup winner and Olympic Champion, Pidcock hit the lead. Starting lap 3, the Briton (winner of the 2nd round at Albstadt, Germany), Colombo and Schurter (winner of the 1st round at Petropolis, Brazil) led. But as Colombo hit a mechanical issue, Hatherly and Dascalu reached the leading pair.

The four nudged away from a chasing group led by XCC winner Luca Schwarzbauer, Avancini and a resurgent 2021 UCI World Cup overall winner Mathias Flückiger (SUI), who was determined to chase them down.

He succeeded, and a group of ten riders – including Anton Cooper (NZL) and Ondrej Cink on his home track – were together on lap 4. Then 9-time UCI World Champion Schurter hit the front, using all his 120mm travel forks to descend fast, and at the half-way mark the quintet of Schurter, Pidcock, Dascalu, Flückiger and 2018 U23 UCI World Champion Hatherly had a 20-sec gap.

Schurter looked the strongest of the five, but disaster struck – a puncture in the Rock‘n’Robe section seemed to rob him of the opportunity to prove it, losing more than a minute and 15 places until he could reach the tech zone for a replacement rear wheel.

2015 U23 UCI World Champion Cooper joined the leading four, just as Schurter caught and passed the chasing group of four. On the penultimate lap, the UCI World Champion reduced the deficit to the leaders… until by the start of the final lap, he’d reached them with a superhuman effort.

Yet Dascalu attacked on the climbs, Pidcock tried to follow, and Schurter was ultimately unable to stay with them. The Romanian’s advantage looked good enough until the Englishman wound up the pace on the sprint to take his second successive UCI World Cup win. Dascalu’s best finish of second place puts him 3rd overall. Cooper took the sprint for fourth ahead of Hatherly and Flückiger

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