Mountain Bike World Championships 2021 [FULL RACE – XCC]

August 26, 2021

Mountain Bike World Championships 2021 – XCC ME – Val di Sole

For the first time since 2019, a full UCI Mountain Bike World Championships will take place this week in Val di Sole, in the northeast of Italy. This year, the full complement of categories – junior, under-23 and elite – will race in every event. Val di Sole, in the Trentino region, is no newcomer to the top level of the sport, having hosted both the World Championships and multiple World Cups over the past two decades. Usually it is hot and dusty but weather forecasts call for temperatures in the high-teens and rain for the entire week. Nevertheless, riders will face long and steep climbs and steep, root-filled descents that will be more treacherous than usual if the expected rain does materialise. Each lap of the four-kilometre cross-county circuit includes 190 metres of elevation gain.

The first-ever world titles in the Short Track (XCC) were awarded on Thursday evening in Val di Sole, Italy. Sina Frei of Switzerland took the women’s title, to enter the history books as the first Short Track world champion, while Christopher Blevins of the United States won the men’s title, the first American man to win in a cross-country event since John Tomac in 1991 – also in Italy at Ciocco.

While the XCC has been a fixture of the World Cup for the past few years, it has been used as a qualifier for a good start position in the main XCO event. This year is the first year it is a stand-alone rainbow jersey event, and the intense action of these 20-minute races was cranked up even higher with a world title on the line.

The course featured punchy climbs in the first half before riders hit the berms of the 4-cross circuit, leading into a descent and a final 300-metre flat section of grass with a U-turn at 100 metres from the finish line.

The men’s race saw surges come in waves for the first half of the race, dropping the lead to half a dozen by the top of the climbs, only to come back together to a group of 15 or so on the flat. By Lap 5 (of 8), the leaders had pretty much come down to seven – Blevins, Henrique Avancini (Brazil), Max Brandl (Germany), Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic), Alan Hatherly (South Africa), Filippo Colombo (Switzerland) and Martins Blums (Latvia).

Cink attacked on the fifth lap, taking Avancini with him, but the rest of the group, minus Blums and Colombo, were back with them by the penultimate seventh lap. Brandl then tried an attack just before the start of the final lap, and initially gained some ground as no one wanted to lead the chase. However, he was fading as they went through the 4-cross section, and was caught with less than 300 metres to go.

There was a slight pause in the action with the catch, and Blevins pounced, opening a few metres before the last turn and then powering down the final 100 metres to win by a few bike lengths. Avancini won the sprint for silver ahead of Brandl.

“I grew up doing short tracks, and I’ve been dreaming of this race for a few years,” said Blevins. “I didn’t know what chance I had against these guys, so I just tried to stay composed and wait for the finish. I did surprise myself a bit; it was an incredible ride.”

Avancini, who has struggled all season, was happy to return to the podium. “I have some mixed feelings, it’s been a hard season for me, so on the personal side, it was great to be on the start line today and feel competitive once again. It’s been a while since I’ve felt happy racing my bike and feel the fire burning.”

Results :
1 Christopher Blevins (United States Of America) 0:19:30
2 Henrique Avancini (Brazil) 0:00:02
3 Maximilian Brandl (Germany)
4 Ondřej Cink (Czech Republic) 0:00:03
5 Alan Hatherly (South Africa) 0:00:05
6 Martins Blums (Latvia) 0:00:17
7 Jens Schuermans (Belgium) 0:00:21
8 Filippo Colombo (Switzerland)
9 Gioele Bertolini (Italy) 0:00:23
10 Daniele Braidot (Italy) 0:00:24
11 Samuel Gaze (New Zealand) 0:00:28
12 Maxime Marotte (France) 0:00:29
13 Anton Cooper (New Zealand) 0:00:41
14 Nadir Colledani (Italy) 0:00:42
15 Joshua Dubau (France) 0:00:44
16 Quinton Disera (Canada) 0:00:51
17 Peter Disera (Canada)
18 Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) 0:00:52
19 Niklas Schehl (Germany)
20 Ben Oliver (New Zealand) 0:01:01
21 Matthew Beers (South Africa) 0:01:02
22 Martin Haring (Slovakia) 0:01:04
23 Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Denmark) 0:01:12
24 Luke Vrouwenvelder (United States Of America) 0:01:14
25 Stephan Davoust (United States Of America)
26 Jan Škarnitzl (Czech Republic)
27 Oleksandr Koniaiev (Ukraine) 0:01:20
28 Tyler Orschel (Canada) 0:01:22
29 Nicolas Delich Pardo (Chile) 0:01:26
30 Dmytro Titarenko (Ukraine) 0:01:27
31 Bartlomiej Wawak (Poland) 0:01:32
32 Marc Andre Fortier (Canada) 0:01:37
33 Ulan Bastos Galinski (Brazil) 0:01:41
34 Erik Hægstad (Norway)
35 Matej Ulik (Slovakia)
36 Maximilian Foidl (Austria)
37 Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo (Mexico)
DNF Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Brazil)
DNS Manuel Fumic (Germany)
DNS Jonas Lindberg (Denmark)