The past few years of women’s World Cup XCO racing has often resulted in a solo rider wrestling control of the race and winning after long, solo raids across the rocks, roots, and ruts in between the tape. Today’s race in Mairiporã brought out a different dynamic as riders tested each other in the first XCO contest in the lead up to the Paris Olympic Games.
Jenny Rissveds (Team 31) kept her cool in the front group amid two American rivals, Savilia Blunk (Decathlon-Ford) and Haley Batten (Specialized). The 2016 Olympic champion positioned herself perfectly for a deadly last-lap attack on one of the steepest pitches on course that Batten’s legs just could not match.
How the race unfolded
- Evie Richards kept the pace high from the gun, hoping to continue her weekend with another victory after the British national champion won yesterday’s short track race. Richards was followed by Batten, Rissveds, Orbea Factory teammates Anne Tauber and Chiara Teocchi, with Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon) attempting to make the front group as well. Loana Lecomte (Canyon-CLLCTV) crashed during the first lap and pulled out of the race.
- After the fast start, Batten began setting the pace, and Blunk made it up to the front group. Behind, Keller and Teocchi had seven seconds to make up if they wanted to see the front. Rissveds came to the front for a pull during lap 3, but she obviously preferred to follow wheels throughout the race rather than sticking her nose out in the wind. Meanwhile, Blunk was gapped off a little bit but came back to the leaders.
- Trek’s Gwendalyn Gibson crashed in a tricky rock garden downhill section, leaving the course with her arm in a sling.
- The following lap, Batten tested her rivals legs with an acceleration that Rissveds followed. Blunk could not respond. Coming into the pump track section during the final lap, Rissveds slowed her roll and forced Batten to take the lead. The start-stop pace allowed Blunk to yo-yo back to the two leaders multiple times, but the American national champion could not keep up at the front.
- Blunk attempted to dispatch Rissveds during the final lap, but Rissveds followed Batten like a shark. She perfectly timed her final blow on one of the final steep singletrack climbs. On the chase, Batten lost her front wheel in a fast, dusty downhill berm and sampled the local soil. On her wheel, Blunk narrowly missed running into her compatriot. Rissveds came across the line with 27 seconds on second-place Blunk, taking her first XCO win since 2019.
Top 10
- Jenny Rissveds (31 Racing-Ibis) 1:17:18
- Savilia Blunk (Decathlon-Ford) @ :27
- Haley Batten (Specialized Factory) @ :45
- Chiara Teocchi (Orbea Factory) @ :58
- Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory) @ 1:09
- Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon) @ 1:24
- Anne Tauber (Orbea Factory) @ 1:41
- Kelsey Urban (31 Racing-Ibis) @ 1:57
- Evie Richards (Trek Factory) @ 2:01
- Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM) @ 2:02
Brief Analysis
- The Mairiporã perfectly blended all of the features that make a modern XCO course. The punchy, technical nature of the course likely contributed to the fast pace from the gun, with the riders who could combine fitness with technical prowess naturally rising into the lead group.
- While the course did have flat sections, most of the lap was either up or down, exhausting the riders with constant challenge.
- Speaking of exhaustion, the heat and humidity was much talked about this weekend and no doubt played a part in some of the bonks, bobbles, and fog-of-war decisions of course.
- American women mean business. In addition to Blunk and Batten, Kate Courtney has featured in the racing in a more aggressive way than we’ve seen in a few years.
- Rissveds clearly thrives in Brazil. She won the Olympics in Rio, and now Mairiporã saw her first XCO win in 5 years (though she has won XCC races since then).
- Teocchi’s fourth place puts fellow Italian Martina Berta (Santa Cruz-RockShox) on notice.
- Trek continues to have a fantastic weekend. Riley Amos swept the U23 XCC and XCO. Evie Richards won the elite women’s XCC. And Jolanda Neff’s fifth place reminds us that she’s still here and incredible at putting together performances late in the race.
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