World Cup: Indergand finishes third in Méribel
It's a remarkable race, especially because of the fact that the German Helen Grobert, of all people, is Annefleur Kalvenhaar's (†) teammate. The Dutchwoman died on Saturday after an accident on Friday in the qualifying for the Eliminator. The World Cup family is still reeling from the tragic accident on Sunday and the U23 riders will all start the race with a flower on their start number in memory of the 20-year-old.
Helen Grobert takes the lead on the first kilometer and soon builds up a lead. Linda Indergand is held up twice in the start phase and only reaches the chasing group around Ukrainian Yana Belomoina at the end of the first lap, with whom she then reaches Andrea Waldis, who is in second place for the time being. Grobert already had a 45-second lead, but like the two Swiss riders, she lost time to Belomoina on the climbs.
"Two or three times we were able to ride back up in the technical passages, but at some point that was no longer possible," says Indergand. It came down to a sprint for third place on the podium, which the Eliminator winner from Friday won. "I first had to fight my way forward and I could still feel the sprint from Friday. But the chase to catch up was cool. That's why I'm very happy with third place," commented Indergand.
Andrea Waldis is briefly annoyed about the lost sprint, but is then at peace with herself. "That was finally a good race again. I didn't really want to start so far in front, but I automatically got ahead because others always made mistakes in front of me," explains Waldis.She then adds something else in view of the accidental death of Kalvenhaar. "I like Helen so much, we all wanted her to win," she says emotionally.
In ninth place, Ramona Forchini is another Swiss woman to ride into the top ten.
Sarrou fourth - Frischknecht 13th
At the U23 men's World Cup final, France's Jordan Sarrou won in commanding style and also secured his fourth win of the season to secure success in the overall standings. The U23 European champion finished just under a minute ahead of Great Britain's Grant Ferguson, who defeated Michiel van der Heijden from the Netherlands in the sprint. Andri Frischknecht from Feldbach is the best Swiss rider in 13th place. Jordan Sarrou leaves no doubt from the start and quickly chases away from the rest of the field. He extends his lead over his pursuers Ferguson and van der Heijden to over a minute and is celebrated by the enthusiastic French crowd for his fifth World Cup victory in the U23 category.
Andri Frischknecht admits that he struggled with the altitude of 1400 meters in the early stages. "On the first lap, I was already breathing at my limit," admits Frischknecht. However, the race went according to plan for him. He takes it easy in laps two and three of six and then picks up speed again. "In the last two laps, I picked up the pace again, just as I had planned. I'm happy with my race," says Frischknecht.
Florian Chenaux finished 19th and Fabian Paumann 26th.
| Ranking #7 World Cup 2014, Méribel/FRA, Men U23: | ||
| 1. Jordan Sarrou (FRA) | 1.21.31 | +0.00 |
| 2. Grant Ferguson (GBR) | 1.22.29 | +0.58 |
| 3rd Michiel van der Heijden (NED) | 1.22.29 | +0.58 |
| 4. Keegan Swenson (USA) | 1.22.53 | +1.22 |
| 5th Howard Grotts (USA) | 1.23.10 | +1.39 |
| 6th Samuel Gaze (NZL) | 1.23.31 | +2.00 |
| 7th Anton Cooper (NZL) | 1.23.41 | +2.10 |
| 8th Victor Koretzky (FRA) | 1.24.14 | +2.43 |
| 9th Jan Vastl (CZE) | 1.24.20 | +2.49 |
| 10th Titouan Carod (FRA) | 1.24.34 | +3.03 |
| 13th Andri Frischknecht (SUI) | 1.25.49 | +4.18 |
| 19th Florian Chenaux (SUI) | 1.26.59 | +5.28 |
| 26th Fabian Paumann (SUI) | 1.27.57 | +6.26 |
| 33rd Marcel Guerrini (SUI) | 1.29.01 | +7.30 |
| 37th Michael Stünzi (SUI) | 1.29.52 | +8.21 |
| 58th Lars Forster (SUI) | 1.32.30 | +10.59 |
| 59th Philipp Hediger (SUI) | 1.32.36 | +11.05 |
| 66th Manuel Fasnacht (SUI) | 1.33.45 | +12.14 |
| Ranking #7 World Cup Méribel/FRA, Women U23: | ||
| 1. Helen Grobert (GER) | 1.23.52 | +0.00 |
| 2. Yana Belomoyna (UKR) | 1.24.18 | +0.26 |
| 3rd Linda Indergand (SUI) | 1.24.46 | +0.54 |
| 4th Andrea Waldis (SUI) | 1.24.47 | +0.55 |
| 5th Jenny Rissveds (SWE) | 1.26.48 | +2.56 |
| 6th Margot Morschetti (SUI) | 1.27.38 | +3.46 |
| 7th Bethany Crumpton (GBR) | 1.27.53 | +4.01 |
| 8th Kate Courtney (USA) | 1.28.28 | +4.36 |
| 9th Ramona Forchini (SUI) | 1.28.59 | +5.07 |
| 10th Perrine Clauzel (FRA) | 1.29.30 | +5.38 |
| 34th Romaine Wenger (SUI) | 1.39.13 | +15.21 |
| 40th Mallory Barth (SUI) | lapped | |
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