Rissveds wins on her favorite pavement

After a turbulent opening phase with scrambles and crashes, small gaps kept forming between the leading riders and the peloton. But it wasn't until three laps before the end that a five-rider lead group formed with Jenny Rissveds, Evie Richards, Jolanda Neff, Anne Tauber and Loana Lecomte. Shortly before the end of the penultimate lap, cross-country world champion Richards (GBR) attacks and the leading group is reduced to her and Rissveds (SWE).

Now it's the Swede who attacks and catches Evie Richards on the back foot after her effort. Rissveds rides out a small gap and wins the short track race in Lenzerheide. "I think that feels good. It was tough, but good - I wet my pants, I'm a bit embarrassed now," says the Swedish champion with a sense of humor. "Last week I was still ill and therefore unsure how it would go here, but I think the good memories (Rissveds won the Cross-Country World Cup twice) of Lenzerheide certainly helped today, as well as the incentive to outgrow myself, just like Evie Richards did at the World Championships."

Jolanda Neff was unable to follow the two leaders, but was able to fend off Lecomte and Tauber and take third place. And this despite the fact that not everything went smoothly, as the Olympic champion explains: "I'm very happy with my third place. I didn't get away at the start because I was obstructed. So I started the race in the last positions, then started my chase and made it into the leading group - my legs felt super good today."

Short track world champion Sina Frei finishes eighth, Alessandra Keller takes ninth place.

Results

The attacking Flückiger

In the men's short track race, the favorites take the lead right from the start. But despite the high pace, the field remains a continuous thread during the first few laps. On lap five, Mathias Flückiger has had enough of riding in the peleton and launches the first real attack. At first nobody followed, but then the favorites gradually joined him again. And before any more riders can catch up, Flückiger follows suit. But even after this attack, the field closes up again.

With two laps to go, Flückiger attacks again, and now something happens: Schurter weakens and tears a gap, Henrique Avancini goes with him. The race enters the final lap and the pursuers slowly close the gap again. The Brazilian doesn't let it get that far, attacks and wins. "This is not my first victory, but it means a lot to me. I'm just happy," says Avancini, whose season so far has not gone according to plan. "Mathias' attacks put me in a lot of trouble, so I could only win mentally. We're not the best of friends, so I wanted to beat him in front of a home crowd. He's a great rider who deserves the World Cup lead, but I was better today," said the Brazilian, adding: "I'm not sure how well I'll do on Sunday. I'm physically ready, but mentally it might not be enough in cross-country yet."

Mathias Flückiger is by no means disappointed that it wasn't enough for another victory: "The tactics didn't quite work out today, but I'm happy with second place, and I also gained a few points over Ondrej Cink (second overall) in the overall classification. I felt good in the race, had power and was always able to accelerate well, so I'm confident for Sunday." Flückiger also had words of praise for the winner: "I wasn't surprised that Avancini performed so strongly here, after all he is a super strong short-track rider."

Third place went to Victor Koretzky. The Frenchman says he is looking forward to the race on Sunday, not least because of the great atmosphere in Lenzerheide. Nino Schurter secures the front row for Sunday's cross-country race in fifth place.

Results