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Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) of Switzerland and South Africa’s Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) received the cross-country brief observe races on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series cease on Friday in Les Gets, France. This is the third yr MTB World Cup races have been held within the French Alps.
Keller, the general chief within the MTB World Cup XCC and XCO standings, held off high rival Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) by 4 seconds for her second brief observe victory of the season. Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing) completed one other two seconds down, going away from Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) to take third.
“As World Cup chief, the strain is all the time on my shoulders. After Puck Pieterse pulled away, I needed to focus on second place. But on the second-last lap, I noticed that it may very well be shut once more,” Keller stated in a group assertion.
Pieterse had a 10-second hole over the trio of Keller, Henderson and Richards earlier than all of them regrouped for the ultimate lap. That is the place Keller accelerated for the victory, retaining Pieterse from successful her third consecutive XCC contest.
“I attacked as quick as I might within the tech zone and pulled away decisively,” she stated in regards to the decisive transfer on the final lap. “To win within the chief’s jersey and with the #1 is sensible.”
In the boys’s XCC contest, Hatherly made his second podium within the sequence depend along with his first victory. Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) stunned the sphere along with his finest end of the season, sprinting to the road to take second place forward of recent XCC sequence chief Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), who’s fourth within the XCC standings, completed fourth in Les Gets.
Gaze made the most important cost on the day, slipping within the moist grass on the primary lap and taking a fall. The UCI World Champion labored his method from the again of the sphere into the highest 20 by the mid-point of the race, whereas Schwarzbauer set the tempo with Litscher, Hatherly, Aldridge and Martín Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing). Filippo Colombo (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) and Chris Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) quickly made it seven riders on the entrance.
By the ninth lap, Aldridge rode on Schwarzbauer’s again wheel and Gaze was now in sixth place, and Aldridge hit the gasoline when the bell rang for the ultimate circuit. Only Hatherly might go along with him.
“It’s been a very long time coming and I’m tremendous comfortable that it paid off at the moment,” stated Hatherly after the race. His final short-track victory got here in Brazil in 2022.
“I had the boldness to make it laborious earlier than the final lap to take the sting off the fellows. I saved one thing within the tank to offer it that remaining squeeze.”
The cross-country Olympic races will probably be held in Les Gets on Sunday. Then, the UCI MTB World Series for cross-country occasions take a break till August 28-September 1 in Andorra, with a pause for the Paris Olympic Games.