Snowshoe in West Virginia is not a normal ski area. All of the shops, restaurants, and hotels are at the top of the mountain, rather than the bottom. That means that the World Cup short track course finishes on a climb, rather than after a downhill which is more standard on World Cup courses.
The non-traditional setup didn’t deter Evie Richards and Victor Koretzky from securing wins at the venue deep in the Appalachian Mountains.
The women’s race kicked off with Chiara Teocchi leading through the short start loop (another peculiarity of this year’s course) followed by Loana Lecomte, Martina Berta, and Puck Pieterse. The race stayed more or less together for the first half as Richards moved toward the front along with Rebecca Henderson and Alessandra Keller.
Richards chose the third lap to push the pace on the slippery downhill, gaining a couple of seconds on the chasers. She extended on the climb back up to the finish, and Pieterse took it upon herself to try and bridge the gap.
Pieterse never could make it to Richards’ wheel before the Trek rider claimed her first World Cup victory of the season, followed by Pieterse and Henderson to round out the top three.
Luca Schwarzbauer led out the men’s race as he has done in every other race this year. He was joined at the front by Alan Hatherly, Jordan Sarrou, Nino Schurter and Joshua Dubau. On the first long climb, Koretzky – sporting the (un)lucky number 13 plate – slotted into second wheel and put in a dig heading into the next lap.
The race stayed more or less together with Schwarzbauer, Koretzky, Schurter, and Sarrou looking strongest as the laps wore on. Heading into the final lap, Schurter dropped off the back of the lead group as Charlie Aldridge and Vlad Dascalu joined the leaders.
Aldridge put in a dig that was matched by Schwarzbauer, but then Koretzky countered heading into the downhill section. The French rider stayed away up the climb to continue his streak of wins, having won both the XCO and XCC in Les Gets, plus the Paris 2024 test event last week. Sarrou and Schwarzbauer placed second and third.
With his finish, Schwarzbauer closes in on the World Cup XCC overall victory but doesn’t have it quite locked up. Schwarzbauer has won three rounds this year, but Sarrou lurks 190 points back thanks to consistent riding. With 250 points on offer to the winner next week at Mont Sainte Anne, a Schwarzbauer series title is likely, but not assured. The women’s contest will also be decided at the last race of the season next week between Richards, Pieterse, and Keller and there the gaps are closer; Pieterse leads Keller by 80 points, with Richards mathematically still alive but 194 points off the lead.
Elite Women XCC Results
- Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing)
- Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker)
- Alessandra Keller (Thömus maxon)
- Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV)
- Martina Berta (Santa Cruz RockShox)
- Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing)
- Jenny Rissveds (Team 31)
- Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek Factory Racing)
- Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing)
Elite Men XCC Results
- Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing)
- Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC)
- Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV)
- Vlad Dascalu (Trek Factory Racing)
- Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing)
- Joshua Dubau (Rockrider Ford)
- Sebastian Fini (Lapierre Mavic Unity)
- Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM)
- Martins Blums (KMC MTB Racing Team)
- Marcel Guerrini (BIXS Performance Race Team)
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