Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rode to a dominant solo victory in the Olympic cross-country mountain bike race, completing a palmarès that was only missing a gold medal. The course at Elancourt Hill near Paris caused crashes and mechanicals, but the Frenchwoman put on a flawless performance for a raucous home crowd. Haley Batten from the United States and Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds rounded out the medals.
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How it happened
- Italy’s Martina Berta was fastest off the start line and led the early part of the lap, but the French duo of Loana Lecomte and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot quickly made their way to the front. Lecomte initially led before Ferrand-Prévot took over.
- Puck Pieterse (The Netherlands) and Laura Stigger (Austria) were also in the mix, with 2016 Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) chasing a few seconds off the pace.
- Pieterse attacked into the climb at the beginning of the second lap but didn’t gain much time on Ferrand-Prévot and Lecomte. The high pace throughout the first lap caused Stigger to fade away from the lead trio.
- It didn’t take long for Ferrand-Prévot to counter with an attack of her own, and she immediately gained about eight seconds on Lecomte and Pieterse, extending the lead to more than 30 seconds heading into lap three.
- Behind the leading three, it was Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller, Stigger, Rissveds, Batten and Evie Richards (Great Britain) taking up the chase.
- The sharp rock gardens took their toll on the racers’ equipment. One of the first carbon casualties came from South Africa’s Candice Lill who exploded her wheel and was forced to run to the next tech zone for a wheel change.
- Rissveds and Stigger separated themselves from the rest of the chasers and caught Lecomte, who was riding in third. But then Lecomte crashed heavily in the big rock garden and lay on the ground motionless. There were few updates on her condition at first, except that she’d been stretchered off the course having been only briefly knocked out. L’Équipe later reported that she’d suffered head trauma and an injury to her face.
- The bronze-medal battle was only briefly down to two, with Rissveds and Stigger soon joined by Batten who fought her way back into contention.
- Riding in second position, Pieterse suffered a rear wheel puncture at the top of the hill, forcing her to slow down and stop for a wheel change after being caught by the chasing group, led by Batten – the race was on for silver.
- As Ferrand-Prévot rode to the win, Batten put pressure on Rissveds during the last lap, Stigger having already dropped away, with Rissveds looking completely spent through the final wooded section.
- The 25-year-old American rode in for silver with time to celebrate.
It’s hard to say, you know, I prepare so hard for [one] day and it’s not [just] a few months, you know, it’s like years and years of hard work. It’s my fourth Olympics, and I never, never, ever perform, and today was just, you know, everything for the gold medal, so I can say it’s the goal of my life, and today I won it and it’s just incredible.”
Ferrand-Prévot told Eurosport after the race
Brief analysis
- There was a brief flutter of discomfort behind the scenes as Puck Pieterse and the Dutch federation submitted an appeal at the finish, accusing silver medalist Haley Batten of accelerating through the feed zone in the final lap to gain an advantage on her rivals. The competition officials are said to have studied video footage shortly after the race, but dismissed the appeal and allowed the medal ceremony to go ahead as planned.
- Ferrand-Prévot’s gold-medal performance during her home-country Olympics caps off an already world-class mountain bike career that has seen multiple World Championship and World Cup wins. It also wraps up an Olympic odyssey for the 32-year-old who made her Games debut on the road at London 2012 (finishing 8th), then moved over to MTB for the Rio and Tokyo Games (DNF and 10th respectively).
- While some riders and fans have criticized the man-made nature of the Paris course, Lecomte’s crash and Pieterse’s flat tire show that technical finesse still mattered during this race.
- Ferrand-Prévot’s attack was a textbook performance from the Frenchwoman. She got a gap and only extended it, as she has done on numerous occasions including last year’s World Championships in Scotland.
- Rounding out the medals, Batten and Rissveds showed the grit required by XCO racing, adapting to the changing race situation and moving up through the field and onto the podium. Batten’s ride is the first American MTB medal since Georgia Gould’s bronze at the 2012 Games, and the same can be said for France, whose Julie Bresset won gold in London.
- After sweeping the podium in Tokyo, Switzerland was off the pace this time with Alessandra Keller finishing in seventh. Their reigning champion Jolanda Neff was ruled out prior to the Games due to persistent respiratory issues, with 2020 silver medalist Sina Frei drafted in as a late replacement (Frei placed 21st in Paris).
- New Zealand’s Samara Maxwell was initially left off the Kiwi squad but got her spot on petition. That ended up being a good thing for the island nation as Maxwell rode to a top-10 finish.
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