The race begins with a bang with a crash in the flat start phase. World Cup leader Annika Langvad from Denmark injures her wrist and is ruled out. Anne Tauber (fourth overall) was also affected, but she was able to continue and eventually finished the race in tenth place. As a result, a five-strong leading group emerges, including the young Alessandra Keller. As the pace increases, however, the Swiss U23 champion can no longer keep up. The formation at the front broke up several times, with Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa usually being left behind, but Maja Wloszczowska also didn't give the impression that she would be a contender for victory.

The women are putting up a great fight. World champion Jolanda Neff receives applause for her overtaking maneuvers against Pauline Ferrand Prevot. At one point she tries to get away by attacking on the downhill, but her lead is swallowed up again. In the penultimate of seven laps, Neff's Kross teammate Maja Wloszczowska then marks a "picture-book attack", as Neff calls it at the finish. She goes into the final lap with an eight-second lead over Emily Batty. Neff is in third place, but she overtakes the Canadian on the first climb. "I tried to close the gap to the front, but then slipped away," explains Neff. This allowed Emily Batty to come back and take second place from the Swiss rider. "Maja has been training very hard recently, I knew she was in form and she deserved it," says Neff. For the 35-year-old Polish rider, it is her first World Cup victory since Pietermaritzburg in 2012 and her fourth overall.

In the shadow of the leading group, Alessandra Keller fights alone in sixth position for quite some time. But then she was caught up by a chasing group and even had to fear for a top ten result. "I had a little crisis at some point, but by the end I had recovered and was able to fight for sixth place," says Keller. At the start of the final downhill, she passed the German Elisabeth Brandau to secure sixth place. "I'm definitely happy with that. That's good for the overall standings," said Keller.

U23: Sina Frei is in a class of her own

In the U23 women's race held earlier in the day, world champion Sina Frei wins by 26 seconds ahead of Great Britain's Evie Richards, extending her lead in the overall standings. Third place goes to Stellenbosch winner Malene Degn from Denmark. Nicole Koller takes ninth place. Without really having planned it, Sina Frei broke away from Evie Richards and Malene Degn after the starting lap: "It wasn't my strategy to ride offensively, but I felt good and rode my pace at the front. The lead then grew more and more," explains Frei. The gap to Richards grew to 30 seconds before she became "hectic", as she puts it, on the final lap. Her chain fell off on a downhill section and she couldn't get it back on again straight away. But when she is able to continue her ride, she still has just under 20 seconds left. Since her victory in Nove Mesto, Sina Frei is also the sole record holder in terms of U23 World Cup successes.