Les Gets always brings intense racing and excitable crowds when the mountain bike World Cup is in town. That was indeed the case as the mountainous venue in France saw Alessandra Keller and Alan Hatherly take XCC victories after tight battles at the front of each race.
Chiara Teocchi led out the opening lap of the women’s short track race followed by Jenny Rissveds, Puck Pieterse, Linda Indergand, and Laura Stigger. Martina Berta also joined the front before Pieterse attacked the following lap and gained a gap, despite the Alpecin rider having a crash in practice.
The chase was led by series overall leader Keller, with Rebecca Henderson and Evie Richards also eager to reel the leader back in.
At two to go, Keller set out to seal the deal followed by Henderson. The attack dropped Richards and closed the gap to Pieterse, though Richards did well to catch back up on the downhill to make it a four-woman showdown for the final lap.
Keller threw down a blistering lap, holding off the others to hold her spot as the XCC overall leader.
The opening lap of the men’s short track race saw Luca Schwarzbauer take the lead, tailed by Martin Vidaure, Charlie Aldridge, and Alan Hatherly. Thomas Litscher joined the leaders and those five riders began to separate themselves from the rest of the field.
Christopher Blevins brought the gap back down, wearing his USA national champion jersey the day after American Independence Day.
The leaders kept it strung out, pushing the pace up the steep grassy switchbacks and mastering the new technical rock gardens on the downhill. Riding most of the race somewhere in mid-pack, Sam Gaze began moving up and joined the leaders for the final lap fireworks. The Alpecin rider was hoping to repeat his World Championship-winning performance from Les Gets two years ago.
Aldridge attacked into the final climb, followed by his Cannondale teammate Hatherly, and Gaze slotted into third. Hatherly then opened the gap and rode it all the way to the line for the win.
Women’s XCC Results
- Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon)
- Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuninck)
- Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker)
- Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing)
- Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek Factory Racing)
- Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory Racing)
- Savilia Blunk (Decathlon-Ford)
- Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis)
- Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing)
- Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM)
Men’s XCC Results
- Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing)
- Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing)
- Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV)
- Thomas Litscher (Lapierre Mavic Unity)
- Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM)
- Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing)
- Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz-RockShox)
- Jofre Estape Cullell (BH Coloma)
- Martin Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing)
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