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Round five of the UCI Cross-Country MTB World Cup took the world's best riders to what was a new course for the series. In Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland, they faced a mud-slicked course – the most technically challenging course of the season so far.
As you can read at Escape, the elite women's race was taken out by French champion Loana Lecomte with an impressive display of technical ability, while world and Olympic champion Tom Pidcock rode to a comfortable victory in the elite men's race.
As usual, our man Piper Albrecht was there on the scene over the weekend to capture all the action. Let's join Piper as he walks us through the elite women's and men's XCO races with a couple of great photo galleries.
After winning two XCO World Cups last year, Loana Lecomte was yet to reach the podium this season ... before Sunday.Candice Lill came to Crans-Montana fresh off her third place finish in Val di Sole.The battle begins.Muddy.The slick conditions saw many riders forced to dismount at various points.It was clear from the first technical descent that Lecomte's technical skills would be very handy on this course.Alessandra Keller fought her way to the front early and would impress throughout.Puck Pieterse wasn't part of the front group to begin with but made it to the leaders after a spirited chase.Solid crowds for Crans-Montana's first World Cup.Lecomte ...... and Keller would prove the two most proficient all-round riders on the day, but Lecomte kept opening a gap on Keller on the technical descents.Lecomte eventually got away from Keller ...... as Pieterse battled alone behind the pair.Lecomte's first XCO World Cup win for the year, with a home Olympics not too far away.Fifth for Evie Richards ...... and 10th for a delighted Sammie Maxwell.This is only Maxwell's second World Cup at the elite level, after winning the U23 XCO world title last year.Sixteenth for Aussie champ Bec Henderson.Victory for Lecomte ahead of Keller (left), Pieterse (with her back to camera), Laura Stigger (out of frame), and Richards (far right).Keller now leads the overall standings, ahead of previous leader Haley Batten.
And now onto the elite men's race.
After finishing third in the short-track event on Friday, Italian champ Luca Braidot awaited the start ...... where he was in the battle for the early lead.Ondrej Cink, meanwhile, had a less-than-ideal start.After winning the short-track event, Tom Pidcock came to the fore early, and was on his own by lap 2.Slick.In the words of reporter Ryan Simonovich, "Certain sections looked more like a cyclocross race. Muddy conditions forced even the best riders to dismount and run."While Pidcock was off building a lead, Nino Schurter was holding down second position.German champ Max Brandl had a nasty crash at one point ...... cutting his chin and losing a tooth.Ah, there it is.US champ Chris Blevins on his way to 35th on the day.Despite a couple of crashes, Pidcock was able to build a lead that extended to beyond a minute by race's end.Behind Pidcock and Schurter, Mathias Flückiger slotted into third place. Flückiger would eventually pass Schurter.The victory, though, belonged to Pidcock, 1:10 ahead of ...... Fluckiger in second place.After his third place a few days earlier, Braidot managed the same on Sunday, ultimately beating Schurter in the sprint.Not the best weekend for short-track world champ Sam Gaze. He followed up his 36th in the XCC with 34rd in Sunday's XCO.Tom Pidcock had a couple of companions with him on the podium.The podium, from left to right: Nino Schurter (fourth), Mathias Flückiger (second), Tom Pidcock (winner), Luca Braidot (third), and Julian Schelb (fifth).Schurter leads the World Cup series overall ahead of round six in Les Gets, France, in early July. That will be the final round before the Olympics in Paris.
