Evie Richards (Great Britain) held off Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) at the line to win the gold medal in the women’s cross-country short track contest at the 2024 Mountain Bike World Championships in Pal Arinsal, Andorra on Friday.
In the first-ever women’s U23 short track cross-country contest held at the Worlds, Isabella Holmgren (Canada) rode solo for the victory.
In the elite women's seven-lap contest, there were a total of 13 riders who finished within a minute of the lead duo in the end, Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) the best of the rest at 18 seconds back for the bronze. Other contenders out of the medals were Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) in fourth, Kate Courtney (United States) in seventh and Laura Stigger (Austria) in 10th.
The women’s XCC World Cup leader Alessandra Keller (Switzerland) started on the front row, crashed on the opening lap and could not finish. The 28-year-old dropped back a few positions in the rush to the first steep climb. On that section she went down, not suffering injuries, but posted a DNF.
As expected, the Olympic cross-country gold medallist from Paris Ferrand-Prévot had a fast start, followed by Pieterse and Chiara Teocchi (Italy). By the third of seven laps, Teocchi had dropped out of the top 10 and Rissveds had moved from sixth place to second position, just in front of Pieterse in pursuit of Ferrand-Prévot.
Rissveds caught up to Ferrand-Prévot by lap four, with space behind the duo to the chasers.
Once the fifth lap was underway, Richards made her move, going from fourth to second with a big acceleration to pass Rissvevds and Pieterse. She then surprised the French rider by the mid-point of the circuit when she made her pass to the front. Rissveds rode in front of Pieterse a few bike lengths behind, while behind Courtney and Gwendalyn Gibson (United States) worked together for fifth.
The two battled at the front over the final two laps, with Richards saving enough for the victory in a final sprint for the line.
“I really can't believe it, I wanted to win so badly,” Richards said in a UCI press release afterwards. “Honestly when she [Pauline Ferrand-Prévot] stayed on my wheel I thought 'I don't know if I can stand it'. So I waited for the sprint and I didn't know if that would be long enough. I’ve been here at altitude for almost three weeks doing 20-second sprints!”
U23 XCC title won by Canada's Isabella Holmgren
Isabella Holmgren added another rainbow stripes jersey to her growing collection, this one a first-ever women’s U23 short track cross-country title in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.
Ella Maclean-Howell took the silver for Great Britain, 22 seconds behind the 19-year-old Canadian, while Isabella’s sister Ava Holmgren earned the bronze, edging compatriot Emilly Johnston by five seconds for the final podium spot.
Isabella Holmgren won double world titles in 2023 as a junior in mountain bike cross-country and cyclocross, while Ava Holmgren won the Canadian junior cyclocross national championship the past two years and earned the silver medal at MTB Worlds in cross-country in 2023.
This was the first time a U23 XCC world championship event had been contested. From the start, all the favourites were packed together on the opening lap, The trio of top Canadians riding with Maclean-Howell, Kira Böhm (Germany) and Madigan Munro (United States).
Maclean-Howell was the first rider to surge to the front with a 4-second gap, then Isabella Holmgren made the pass before the second lap unfolded and rode solo at the front until the end. On the final lap, Maclean-Howell brought back nine seconds in the chase, but could not get the Canadian in her sights.
A last-lap surge by Ava Holmgren put her on the podium, as she distanced Johnston and Bohm from the three-rider chase group.
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