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This past weekend the world's best mountain bikers converged on the Pal Arinsel ski resort in Andorra for the fifth round of the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Both of the newly crowned elite XCO world champions – Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tom Pidcock – were in attendance, but neither could manage better than third in the wet and muddy conditions.
In the elite women's race, 21-year-old Mona Mitterwallner took her first elite XCO World Cup victory, navigating the tricky conditions to win ahead of Alessandra Keller and Ferrand-Prévot. In the elite men's race, Mathias Flückiger returned to the winners' list after a tricky couple of seasons, holding off Thomas Griot and Pidcock along the way.
You can read more about each of those races in the links above, but you're probably here to look at some great photos from the weekend. So let's get to it – here's Piper Albrecht with a terrific recap from a muddy weekend in Andorra.
Soggy conditions awaited the riders in the elite women's race on Sunday.Laura Stigger on her way to 17th on the day, as her fellow Austrian Mitterwallner rode to victory.Ferrand-Prévot was on the attack on the opening lap and looked to be riding to yet another victory.Puck Pieterse had been up front early but a crash saw her slip down to seventh by day's end.The USA's Gwendalyn Gibson rode to 15th, roughly 4:30 off the pace.While Ferrand-Prévot led on her own for a time, she'd later be caught by Alessandra Keller, and then by Mitterwallner. Did her choice of a hardtail cost her?Mitterwallner caught and passed Keller on the fourth of five laps then powered through the final circuit to win by 34 seconds.Third and fourth for French duo Ferrand-Prévot (right) and Loane Lecomte (left).Evie Richards rounded out the podium in fifth.Mmmm, tasty.Elite XCO World Cup win #1 for Mona Mitterwallner.The podium, from left to right: Lecomte (fourth), Keller (second), Mitterwallner, Ferrand-Prévot (third), and Richards (fifth).Fresh off his world championships win, Tom Pidcock – who lives in Andorra like many road pros – was among the riders to watch on Sunday.Luca Schwarzbauer fought his way to the front early, as he so often does.Thomas Griot would prove to be Flückiger's biggest challenger on the day.Pidcock said pre-race he wasn't on his best form after taking a holiday post-Worlds. He still had enough in the legs to fight his way to third, overtaking Jordan Sarrou late.Aussie champ Sam Fox had a frustrating day after battling with illness in the lead-up. He ended up as a DNF.Flückiger got to the front early in the race, joining Schwarzbauer in the lead. Flückiger eventually set off on his own and looked to be riding to a comfortable victory, but a late chase from Griot made for an intriguing final lap.While Griot got within 10 seconds of Flückiger at one point, the Swiss champ eventually held on to win by 23 seconds.Still, Griot was thrilled with second – arguably the best result of his career.Former world champ Jordan Sarrou was fourth on the day.The podium, from left to right: Sarrou (fourth), Griot (second), Flückiger, Pidcock (third), and Schwarzbauer.
