Day two of the opening cross-country round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano, in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, saw Switzerland dominate the Elite women's race. The host nation finished off the weekend by taking the Elite men's title. Defending women's World Cup winner Jolanda Neff (Stoeckli) retained the Number One plate with her win, while Olympic Champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) gave Czech fans what they had been hoping for in the men's race. After rain in the night, conditions gradually cleared throughout the day. However, the rain had soaked the course, and rocky sections quickly became mud covered and slippery, leading to many crashes.
Neff had her usual fast start to open a 15 second lead by the end of the start loop. Leading the chase was legendary Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida), who took her first World Cup victory 19 years ago. With Dahle Flesjaa were defending Nove Mesto winner Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabobank Liv) and Annika Langvad (Specialized). Dahle Flesjaa joined Neff on the first lap, and the two rode away from the rest of the field, with Langvad settling into third and Ferrand Prevot in fourth. World Champion Catharine Pendrel (Luna) worked her way up to fifth, but was already 49 seconds down after a lap. The race held this pattern until the final lap, when Neff dropped Dahle Flesjaa, only to see the Norwegian battle back to within a second by the finish line. Langvad crashed in the final lap, allowing both Ferrand Prevot and Pendrel to get by her.
"It was really hard and it feels unreal," commented Neff. "I didn't believe it until I really crossed the line. I am really happy how it went today. Once she [Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa] even got a gap on me, but I caught her back. In the last lap I really rode as fast as I could. I knew if I went into the downhill first I had a good chance of taking the win."
In the past four years of UCI World Cup racing in Nove Mesto there have been only two winners of the men's race - Kulhavy took the first edition, and Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) the last three. Once again, it came down to these two riders. Schurter attacked on the start loop, with Kulhavy, World Champion Julien Absalon (BMC), Australian Champion Dan McConnell (Trek Factory Racing) and Florian Vogel (Focus XC) the only riders to stay with him. Schurter surged again on the first full lap, and this time only Kulhavy could hang on. Schurter appeared to be stronger, gapping Kulhavy on the climbs, but the Czech rider would always come back, possibly motivated by the cheers of thousands of his fans around the course. In the final half lap the tables were turned, when Kulhavy attacked and Schurter could not respond. The Czech rider rolled into the finishing arena to stands full of cheering fans, to win by 24 seconds. Absalon and Vogel first dropped McConnell, and then Absalon went solo mid-race to take third ahead of Vogel, with Mathias Fluckiger (Stoeckli) taking the fifth and final podium spot. "It was a very exciting race between me and Nino (Schurter) again," agreed Kulhavy, "and I attacked on the hardest climb and Nino stayed with me maybe 5 or 10 seconds before I got away. Then I just controlled my position to the finish. The finish was good and I didn't make any mistakes. The fans were so amazing. They helped a lot and pushed me. It was crazy. I would like to say thanks to them." Earlier in the day, Lars Forster (Wheeler - IXS) won the Under-23 Men's race and took the UCI World Cup leader's jersey. He finished 17 seconds ahead of Spain's Pablo Rodriguez, with Andri Frischknecht (Scott-Odlo) taking third. The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano continues next weekend in Albstadt, Germany, with Round 2 of the cross-country.
Results