A highly exciting women's race at the World Cup in Nove Mesto came to an end with the victory of Denmark's Annika Langvad. The marathon world champion defeated cross-country world champion Jolanda Neff in the sprint. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) finished third, 47 seconds behind. Alessandra Keller takes eighth place.

The third World Cup race of the season turns into a thrilling duel between Annika Langvad and Jolanda Neff. Although Pauline Ferrand Prevot rode just a few seconds behind the duo for a long time and Emily Batty also came on strong in the meantime, the two were unable to make any headway. The lead changed hands between the two very frequently. At first Neff had an eight-second lead, then Langvad had a ten-second lead. While the Dane seems to be the stronger rider on the climb, Jolanda Neff is able to show off her technical skills, especially in the AC/DC section.

On the penultimate lap, the Swiss rider attacks, but is countered again. In the final 3.7-kilometer loop, she again tries to get away decisively in the technical passage. She makes up a few meters, but Langvad is able to catch up again on the way to the home straight. There she leaves the slipstream and takes her sixth World Cup victory in cross-country, her eighth overall.
"I think it was a very exciting race for the spectators. I tried everything, but Annika is simply a class above in the sprint, congratulations to her. I'm very happy with second place, considering that I broke my collarbone four months ago. I couldn't have expected that," commented Neff on the result.
Alessandra Keller struggled with a mishap throughout the race. "I shifted and shifted and nothing happened. Only when it got bumpy did the gears change," she says at the finish line.

This of course explains why she sometimes struggled to keep up. "I couldn't keep up the speed. Physically, it wasn't the best day, but it wasn't bad either," said Keller, who finished a respectable eighth, 3:08 minutes behind the field.

Surprisingly, the third best Swiss rider was Ramona Forchini in 16th place (+4:41). Apart from a crash on the penultimate lap, Forchini rode a great race and was relieved to crack the World Cup criterium for the first time with the best World Cup result of her career. "It finally worked out. I think that's what I'm capable of. Unfortunately, I lost the group due to the crash, but I finally did it," said a beaming Forchini.

Sprint decision number two

The men's race begins with a crash on the start straight, which practically takes Mathias Flückiger out of the race. Nino Schurter, like World Cup leader Mathieu van der Poel, comes through well and a fascinating race develops. After Stellenbosch winner Sam Gaze crashes on the starting lap and drops out, Schurter and van der Poel set the pace. However, on lap four of eight, the Dutchman also falls over the handlebars and injures himself, causing him to retire on the following lap.

So there is a temporary top duo. Lars Forster has caught up with the group and when Schurter picks up the pace, he is the only one who can follow. Forster not only rides behind, but also takes over the lead at times. "I probably overdid it a bit," he was later to confess.

When Anton Cooper and Maxime Marotte came from behind, he soon lost ground and dropped back to fourth position. He defended this until the end. In the battle for victory, it was Maxime Marotte who dropped back a few meters on the final lap and was unable to come back.Anton Cooper and Nino Schurter come onto the home straight together. Nino Schurter starts the sprint from the front and Cooper tries to do so from the slipstream. It's a decision by centimeters, but Cooper knows immediately that he hasn't quite made it. "It's probably never been that close, that was crazy," nods Schurter with a laugh.

At the beginning, he wanted to "minimize the group". "I then realized that Mathieu was also at the limit, because the pace always slowed down when he was in front. When I was in front with Lars, he also had problems," Schurter describes from his perspective. "In the end, I was happy that I was in front with Maxime and Anton. I was favored against them in the sprint. I couldn't let my legs down, otherwise Maxime would have come back. That's why I had to sprint from the front, which wasn't the best starting position, luckily it worked out," said Schurter.

Lars Forster is delighted with his fourth place. "I already felt better in the last few days than before Albstadt and knew that I had the power to ride at the front. It was about not losing too much at the start and I managed to do that," says Forster.

Henrique Avancini left a gap to Schurter and van der Poel at the start, which he had to close again. "When Cooper and Marotte arrived, they attacked again straight away and I couldn't keep up. That's how I rode home in fourth place," said Forster.

Florian Vogel was the third Swiss rider in seventh place. He loses fifth position in the final lap, but is not dissatisfied.
"I pushed one lap too early," explains Vogel, "because I wanted to get ahead of Lars. That wasn't enough. But I'm happy to have come through without a defect and compared to Albstadt I can be very satisfied."