The "shark" bites again - Neff second after a great race to catch up
Jolanda Neff gets off to a brilliant start. When the field reaches the top of the mountain, the European champion is in the lead. "I had to pay for that," admits Neff later as she reviews the race.
She falls back to twelfth position and has to recover from this effort. Then she starts to move forward again. "I'm glad that I then found my rhythm again," explains Neff about this phase.
"I'm just not in my top form yet. But I'm glad that I've found my rhythm again and was able to finish second. I'm super happy about that," said Neff.
Sina Frei can be found in the front rows for the entire duration of the race. The 22-year-old, who should still be competing in the U23 category, is experienced and remains cool even during various attacks.
"It's over 1100 meters above sea level and you never know how you're going to react. That's why I didn't go along with all the attacks," explains Frei, who duelled with former world champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) for a long time after the London Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds (Sweden), who was even leading at times, slowly but surely fell behind.
The Frenchwoman rode away several times, but Frei remained calm and caught up with her again, also thanks to her riding technique.
When the German Elisabeth Brandau caught up from behind on the penultimate lap and passed her on the climb, Frei also kept her composure.
She cannot prevent Brandau from pulling away on the final lap, but she can hold her own against Ferrand Prevot. She gets closer to the German again, but it's not enough for third place.
"I'm really happy with my fourth place. You don't have races like this in the U23, so I learn something new every time," explains Frei.
Nicole Koller misses out on the podium again
At the U23 World Cup in Les Gets, France, Nicole Koller missed out on the podium in fourth place, as she did in Andorra the previous week. She finished 1:47 minutes behind the winner Ronja Eibl (Germany, 1:13:54) and 34 seconds behind Laura Stigger (Austria), who finished third behind Evie Richards (Great Britain).
After a fourth place in Andorra, when she had to compensate for a bad start, Koller is at the front from the start this time. At the start of the third of six laps, she even briefly takes the lead.
"I just kept riding at my own pace. I thought that was better than getting in line and losing my rhythm," says Koller.
At this point, she forms a leading trio with Eibl and Richards.
Richards takes over again on the climb, Eibl follows and the two subsequently fight a duel for victory, which is only decided on the final lap.
Koller, however, is caught and then overtaken by Laura Stigger, who got off to a poor start. She still had Stigger within reach until the fifth lap, but she was no longer able to catch up.
"I'm disappointed," admits Koller about the fact that she didn't make it onto the podium again.
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.