Blevins makes history at the short track in Nové Město

Sieger am Short Track in Nove Mesto Christopher Blevins

Photo: ©WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series

At the third UCI XCC World Cup in Nové Město, Christopher Blevins secured a historic hat-trick with a sprint victory despite chain problems. Puck Pieterse is back on the mountain bike. The Holmgren sisters and Heby Gustav Pedersen impress in the U23 races.

Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) also wins the third short track race of the season - despite dropping his chain on the final lap. The American takes victory with a brilliant sprint against teammate Victor Koretzky and thus remains unbeaten in the 2025 season. Luca Schwarzbauer sets the tone early on, while a mass crash on the last lap shakes up the field. Filippo Colombo, Koretzky and Blevins deliver a thrilling finale, which Blevins wins with nerves of steel and sprinting power. Colombo ends up riding to a strong third place. With Lars Forster in sixth and Thomas Litscher in eighth, two more Swiss riders finished in the top ten.

Women's elite: Pieterse sprints to victory

Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) celebrates a commanding victory on her return to mountain biking. In a tactical race, she took advantage of the slipstream on the finishing straight and narrowly beat Evie Richards in a five-man sprint. The British series leader finishes second, but defends her lead in the overall standings. Linda Indergand leads the strong Swiss result in third place. Alessandra Keller finishes fourth, Jolande Neff fifth, Nicole Koller sixth and with Ramona Forchini in eighth place, a total of five Swiss women ride into the top 10, securing a good starting position for Sunday's cross-country race. Laura Sigger is the best Austrian in eleventh place, while Kira Böhm rides to ninth place as the best German.

Women U23: Ava Holmgren takes her maiden victory

Ava Holmgren (Lidl - Trek) secures her first Short Track World Cup victory. After strong teamwork with her sister and teammate Isabella Holmgren, the Canadian pulled away early and defended her lead to the finish. Isabella finishes second and retains the lead in the overall standings. Third place went to Ella Macphee (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team), also from Canada. Switzerland's Anina Hutter just missed the podium in fourth place.

Men U23: Pedersen sprints to the top

Heby Gustav Pedersen (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) celebrates his first XCC victory of the season after a tactically clever ride. Together with teammate Elian Paccagnella, he overtakes breakaway rider Rens Teunissen Van Manen and wins the final sprint against Sondre Rokke. With this success, Pedersen also takes the overall lead in the men's U23 category.

The cross country race can be followed live on Sunday from 09:55 on SRF2.

More info at: www.ucimtbworldseries.com

Total ranking of the short track