Brazilian Henrique Avancini, who is best known for his results in cross country, surprisingly wins the marathon world title after an extremely intense race. Denmark's Annika Langvad triumphs in the women's race with a solo ride.

Avancini, 29 years old and in 38th place in the UCI rankings, crossed the finish line after more than 5 hours in which he was always in the leading group. He is joined on the podium by Austrian Daniel Geismayr and Colombian Hector Paez Leon. The three of them form the leading trio after the passage at the Auronzo hut, with the American Howard Grotts and the European champion Alexei Medvedev trying to keep up behind them. Defending champion Alban Lakata can never be found at the front.

The best Swiss rider is Mathias Flückiger in a thankless fourth place. On the climb to the highest point of the course, he had to let the leading group go. "The pace was high and the unfamiliar altitude forced me to slow down a bit. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to finish the race," says Flückiger, explaining the key moment in the race. The excellent technician was able to make up a few places on the final descent, but it was no longer enough to get to the front. "Fourth place is ungrateful but still a good result," says Flückiger, who finished sixth at the Cross-Country World Championships a week ago.

Avancini impressed once again after his strong performance in Lenzerheide and commented on his race afterwards: "I knew that I was in good shape, but I also knew that I was an outsider here. To play my cards best, I tried to slow down the pace of the marathon riders," Avancini explains his race tactics and adds: "I don't have a favorite discipline: I feel like a mountain biker first and foremost. In any case, I didn't expect to end the year with a world championship title."

Women: Langvad wins, Dahle goes

The women's race went completely differently. The 34-year-old Dane Annika Langvad starts as defending champion and favorite and pursues an attack strategy from the very first climbs. Kilometer after kilometer, she confidently won against her main opponents, Austria's Christina Kollmann-Forstener and Poland's Maja Wloszczowska, with a start-to-finish victory. Gunn-Rita Dahle, the grand dame of mountain biking, finished in fourth place after this race and a remarkable season, retiring from top-class sport for good at the age of 45.

Annika Langvad commented on her victory at the finish line: "It was really tough, certainly the most selective race I've ever taken part in. I tried to be aggressive from the first climb and was surprised that I had no rivals from the start. As I felt good, I kept up until the end and was able to increase the distance to my opponents."

Results men: click here
Women's results: click here