Keller and Schwarzbauer win in the thin air of Andorra

Alessandra Keller gewinnt Short-Track-Weltcup in Andorra.

Photo: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool

Alessandra Keller (SUI) dominates the dry and dusty conditions in the elite women's short track race in Pal Arinsal and takes her first World Cup victory of the current season. In the men's race, Luca Schwarzbauer (GER) is back on the winning track and wins ahead of Nino Schurter and Jordan Sarrou.

Keller (Thömus Maxon Racing), the overall winner of 2022 in both cross-country formats, controlled the action in the thin air of Andorra for long stretches and crossed the finish line with a lead of around six seconds over Great Britain's Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing XC).

In the sixth of eight laps, the two managed to overtake the group with third-placed Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Martina Berta (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team). The newly crowned world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Ineos Grenadiers) was unable to finish and took sixth place. Keller now takes the lead in the overall standings from Ferrand-Prévot.

Results XCC Women

The World Cup satisfaction

German Luca Schwarzbauer is pushed hard by Swiss Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), who takes second place out of a leading group with third-placed Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC).

Schwarzbauer coped well with the altitude at around 2000 meters and once again rode at the front for most of the race over nine laps. His victory extends his lead in the overall standings and gives him some satisfaction for the world championships, which did not go according to plan. Tom Pidcock only finished in 17th place.

Swiss riders Mathias Flückiger, Lars Forster and Thomas Litscher finish the short track in fifth, eleventh and 15th place respectively.

Results XCC men

Blöchlinger strings together victory after victory

The U23 riders are in action on Thursday afternoon on the short course. Swiss rider Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) takes her fifth win of the season in a row by beating Kiwi biker Samara Maxwell at the finish line.

A little further back, Switzerland's Noëlle Buri shone with third place ahead of Sofie Heby Pedersen (DEN) and her compatriot Ginia Caluori in fifth place.

Results XCC U23 women

In the U23 men's race, Frenchman Adrien Boichis (Trinity Racing MTB) took his third win of 2023, with Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing XC) from the USA in second place. Boichis leads the overall standings ahead of the sixth round. Brazilian junior Alex Malacarne just managed to snatch third place from Swiss rider Luke Wiedemann, with Dario Lillo (SUI) in sixth place.

Results XCC U23 men

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