Keller makes the home crowd cheer

The elite women put on an exciting cross-country race over a long stretch. The usual suspects were already in the lead on the rather cautious start lap, from which a quintet of Jenny Rissveds (SWE), Jolanda Neff (SUI), Loana Lecomte (FRA), Alessandra Keller (SUI) and Martina Berta (ITA) broke away over the course of the first lap. Just like in Leogang, the decisive attack should come from Lecomte again. Only Rissveds and Keller were initially able to keep up. By the end of the first lap, the trio was already riding away with a lead of almost 30 seconds.

These three would continue to dominate the women's peloton with alternating leads for the next three laps, until the French mountain flea once again sought the decision on the longest climb of the fourth lap and broke away from Keller and Rissveds. Despite the rather short climbs in Lenzerheide, the 2021 overall World Cup winner managed to extend her lead and ultimately celebrate an unchallenged victory. "I'm very happy. To be honest, I didn't think I would win today. It's the first time I've won here - a great weekend. I was a bit tired, didn't feel particularly good and just tried to ride a good race. Taking the lead in the overall standings is great, but won't change my plans for the season," says Loana Lecomte

In the battle for second place, Alessandra Keller, who battled hard, was beaten by Jenny Rissveds in the flat and rooty final section of the course, who crowned her victory in the short track with second place over the Olympic distance. "It was so exhausting and hard, but good. I like it here in Lenzerheide like every year, yes and it was good!" And Alessandra Keller also likes the race in Lenzerheide, where she became U23 World Champion in 2018: "Well, the atmosphere and the people gave everything for us! There were so many people cheering for me as Swiss champion and I tried to take that in and use it as extra motivation. I'm very happy with my performance this weekend, especially my third place today. I mean, this is my best World Cup placing so far and I'm really looking forward to competing again next year."

But it's not just the decisions in the top trio that are fiercely contested. Behind them, a whole series of top riders are involved in thrilling duels in changing constellations in the first two chasing groups. The podium is ultimately completed by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) and Anne Terpstra (NED), who only determine the order in the final sprint. Jolanda Neff finishes in sixth place after a mixed performance but a strong finish. World Cup leader Rebecca McConnell (AUS) still seems to be searching for her form after her perfect start to the season and, after finishing 14th, also has to hand over the leader's jersey to Loana Lecomte. Linda Indergand also rides a solid race in front of her home crowd and takes ninth place, while Ramona Forchini achieves her best ever World Cup result in cross country with eleventh place. The best Austrian is Mona Mitterwallner in 13th place, Leonie Daubermann is the best German in 28th place.

XCO women's results top 5

1. Loana Lecomte (FRA) 1:17:31
2nd Jenny Rissveds (SWE) 1:17:39
3rd Alessandra Keller (SUI) 1:17:55
4th Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) 1:19.37
5th Anne Terpstra (NED) 1:19:37

Luca Braidot and Alan Hatherly crash Swiss party in crazy finish

Of the 113 riders competing in the men's elite over the Olympic distance, local hero Nino Schurter (SUI), who is just one win short of the sole record for the most World Cup victories, is the main focus. And Schurter showed right from the start that he wants to celebrate this record at home and is riding at high speed. A small leading group consisting of Schurter, Filippo Colombo (SUI) and Alan Hatherly (RSA) had a larger group around Mathias Flückiger (SUI) right on their heels - the top 16 were separated by less than 15 seconds.

Over the course of the second lap, a group of four consisting of Schurter, Flückiger, Colombo and Hatherly finally pulled away in a tight race until the strong Italian Luca Braidot joined them in the middle of the race and immediately took the lead. By slowing down his pace, the Spaniard David Valero Serrano is now also able to catch up. Towards the end of the fourth lap, Flückiger is looking for the preliminary decision and pulls away together with Schurter. While Braidot and Hatherly fight their way back, Colombo and Valero Serrano fall back.

The drama at the end

What looked like a Swiss one-two victory with a possible record for Schurter until the end of the last lap turned into an incredible drama: after Flückiger passed Schurter on the last, wide climb in the tech zone, the record hunter counterattacked. Schurter and Flückiger, slightly ahead of Braidot and Hatherly, enter the last root section in the forest, from which the Italian and the South African surprisingly emerge in first and second place and force the decision in the final sprint. Flückiger tries to overtake at an impossible spot according to Schurter, so that the two touch, crash and are therefore no longer in contention for victory. Schurter is furious after the race and shouts at Flückiger: "You're not normal - you've completely shot me down!" "That's racing. We overtook each other several times throughout the race. It got tighter and tighter between us after every overtaking maneuver. Then we touched each other and crashed. It's not nice to finish the race like that, but it is what it is. It can happen in racing," says Flückiger about the unfortunate crash. Schurter, on the other hand, is dismayed and says: "We would have been in first and second place and I would have won for sure. There couldn't have been a better situation for my record. It's a bad answer from him, I can only interpret it as him not being able to cope with last year's defeat and therefore just shooting me down. I really don't understand it, something like that should never happen, especially not in front of a home crowd!"

The smiling third in this story is Luca Braidot, who crowns his strong performance with his first, albeit surprising, World Cup victory. It is the first World Cup victory for an Italian since Gerhard Kerschbaumer's success in Vallnord (AND) in 2018. The joy among the Italian fans on site is correspondingly great. "This is magical. I still can't believe it. I still see Nino and Flückiger in front. They both crashed. We passed them. That left Hatherly and me. I had pain in my leg and the sprint was very hard. Maybe tomorrow I'll realize what I've achieved here," says an emotional Luca Braidot.

In fifth place, Filippo Colombo was the third Swiss to ride onto the podium, while Thomas Litscher also had a very good race and finished in seventh place. Vital Albin once again proved his good form in 13th place and neo-elite Joel Roth finished in a good 20th place. The best German was a strong Luca Schwarzbauer in ninth place, Max Foidl (AUT) finished the race in 29th place

XCO men's results top 5

1. Luca Braidot (ITA) 1:17:32
2nd Alan Hatherly (RSA) 1:17:32
3rd Mathias Flückiger (SUI) 1:17:36
4th Nino Schurter (SUI) 1:17:44
5th Filippo Colombo (SUI) 1:18:04

Pedersen and Vidaurre Kossmann win U23 competitions

The U23 women were the first of the day to tackle the Olympic distance, with Sofie Pedersen from Denmark coming out on top just ahead of overall World Cup leader Line Burqier. Puck Pieterse (NED), who won the last race in Leogang, finished a strong third. With this result, the young Frenchwoman Line Burqier remains at the top of the overall standings with a commanding lead of 145 points, while Sofie Pedersen takes second place and Puck Pieterse slips to third. Swiss riders Noëlle Buri and Ronja Blöchlinger are riding strongly, taking fourth and fifth place respectively.
Results

The U23 men's race was the last of the day, after most of the spectators had recovered from the thrilling and dramatic elite race. As in Leogang, there was once again no way around Chile's Martin Vidaurre Kossmann, who extended his lead in the overall World Cup accordingly. Carter Woods from Canada and Charlie Aldridge from Great Britain follow in second and third place. The two Swiss riders Dario Lillo and Alexandre Balmer finished in seventh and eighth place.
Results

Bike Kingdom Games celebrate big mountain bike festival with almost 30,000 spectators

The big drama at the very end did nothing to dampen the excellent atmosphere at the Bike Kingdom Games. A total of over 27,000 spectators attended the World Cup in Lenzerheide to support their heroes throughout the weekend. As expected, the number of spectators peaked on Sunday, when around 11,500 mountain bike fans watched the Swiss parade discipline of cross country live on site. OC boss Christoph Müller draws a correspondingly positive balance: "Basically, we are very satisfied with the weekend. We had a record number of visitors, which is great after years of Covid. From a sporting point of view, it was a highlight as always, from the short track races on Friday to the downhill on Saturday and the cross-country races today on Sunday. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for a Swiss victory here at the weekend, but we hope it will be the case next year. It all worked out. Like the whole weekend, the weather was just right today."

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