As more rain continued to hammer parts of Europe, cross-country marathon World Champion Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing) claimed her first elite cross-country Olympic World Cup victory in one of the toughest XCO World Cups of the season.
The 21-year-old battled the mud, the cold and the altitude to win with a 34-second advantage to Friday’s XCC winner Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) who took second. World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers), on her hard-tail bike, crossed the line a further 56 seconds back for third place.
"I kept believing and now finally it came true,” Mitterwallner said.
An immediate ripple was felt when Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) slipped in the woods on the first of five laps. Martina Berta took the lead with Ferrand-Prévot closing quickly while Keller took charge of the chase pack.
One lap later, Ferrand-Prévot seemed to be in total control with a 20-second gap on Berta, Keller and Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing). Buoyed by her win on Friday, Keller attacked at the front while Mitterwallner moved up, passing Ferrand-Prévot to slot into second place, 12 seconds behind Keller.
Mitterwallner closed the gap when Keller lost momentum on the rock garden, and then made her move before the start of the final lap. The Austrian national champion continued to push the pace extending her lead to take the win in a time of 1:14:09.
"I am very proud to be first and second here in Andorra. Today I was close to winning, but at the end I was extremely cold and Mona was a bit stronger than me in the last two laps," Keller said.
Pieterse retained the series leader’s jersey after finishing the race in seventh.
