MTB World Cup 2022 – 08 – Vallnord [FULL RACE – XCC]

July 15, 2022

MTB World Cup 2022 – 8 – Vallnord – XCC

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale. The first World Cup series – which was composed of cross-country events – was held in 1989. The Downhill World Cup was inaugurated two years later, and the Dual Slalom World Cup was launched in 1998. The dual-slalom format – which involved knock-out heats with two riders on the parallel courses in each heat – evolved into four-cross (with four riders on a single course per heat) in 2002 before being dropped after the 2011 season. Riders win points according to their placing in each event. The reigning series leaders in each class are identified by a special jersey.

Flückiger, on the other hand, extended his series lead with the victory taking his total to 988, 116 points ahead of Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) who also came second on the day.

Luca Braidot (Santa Cruz FSA MTB Pro Team), the XCO World Cup winner in Lenzerheide, had looked on the way to another victory, charging off on the rest of the field, but a mechanical for the Italian meant that ultimately it came down to Flückiger, Hatherly and Vlad Dascalu (Trek Factory Racing).

At the end of the seven lap men’s race in Andorra, Hatherly was close to Flückiger’s wheel, but no close enough as the rider from Switzerland outsprinted the South African with Dascalu coming in just four seconds back.

“This is one of my most important victories, I wanted it so badly and it worked out today,” said Flückiger. “It makes me speechless!”

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