The Epic Bike Park in Saalfelden Leogang celebrated its 25th anniversary with one of the toughest races on the Cross-Country World Cup calendar. The course challenged everyone.

In the Elite Women’s race, Jenny Rissveds took control early on. Heavy rain and slippery sections had created difficult conditions at the start. Savilia Blunk took the lead on the first climb but collided with Rissveds on the first descent and crashed. She fell back to the end of the field. Puck Pieterse was initially the only one able to keep up with the Swede’s pace. Sina Frei also fought her way to the front but lost touch with the podium positions after several crashes.

Rissveds capitalized on her rivals’ mistakes and extended her lead. Behind her, Pieterse, Nicole Koller, and Alessandra Keller formed the chasing group. By the final lap, Rissveds was already about a minute ahead. She won with a 56-second lead over Pieterse. Keller secured third place. Blunk staged a strong comeback after her early setback and finished fifth. With this victory, Rissveds also took the lead in the overall standings.

Elite Women Results

In the Elite Men’s race, the winner wasn’t decided until the final lap. Adrien Boichis, Mathis Azzaro, Luca Martin, and Bjorn Riley had broken away from the pack early on. Flat tires set Riley and Jordan Sarrou back. Simone Avondetto later caught up to the leaders but had to drop back again after Azzaro increased the pace. Martin lost a few seconds in the meantime but reestablished contact on a descent thanks to his technical prowess.

Boichis waited until the final steep climb. There, he launched a decisive attack and pulled away from Martin and Azzaro. The Frenchman crossed the finish line first and celebrated his first World Cup victory in the Elite category. Azzaro was disqualified after the race for a rule violation in the technical zone. As a result, Martin moved up to second place and Riley to third. Martin leads the overall standings after three races.

Elite Men Results

In the U23 women’s races, Valentina Corvi delivered a nearly flawless performance. The Italian took the lead right after the start and led the race from the first to the last meter. After just the opening lap, her lead was already 16 seconds. She then consistently extended her lead on the difficult and sometimes sticky course. After her crash in the short cross-country race two days earlier, Corvi wanted to make a clear statement. She rode with focus, avoided mistakes on the technical descents, and won with a lead of one minute and 14 seconds.

Behind Corvi, Fiona Schibler put in a strong performance.

U23 Women Results

In the U23 men’s race, Paul Schehl claimed his second victory of the weekend. Following his win in the short cross-country race, the German rider took the initiative early in the main race as well. Nicholas Halter was able to keep up with him in the first lap, but Schehl built up a decisive lead as early as the second lap. Despite technical issues in the third, fourth, and fifth laps, he defended his lead.

Alix Andre Gallis closed the gap again in the final, but finished 16 seconds behind Schehl in second place. Naël Rouffiac took third. Fifth place was enough for Thibaut François Baudry to retain the overall lead after three World Cup rounds.

U23 Men Results