MTB – XCC – World Cup 2024 – 7 – Lake Placid [FULL RACE] (U23) (ladies)

September 28, 2024

MTB – XCO – World Cup 2024 WU23 – 7 – Lake Placid, USA 🇺🇸

Cross-country Olympic, named because it’s the only format of mountain biking included in the Olympics, sees a big pack of riders take on laps of a natural, challenging track. The laps themselves can vary from 3km to 10km in length, and the number will vary, but the races will always be around 90 minutes for men and women. The track itself is designed to test the rider’s full range of abilities over a mixture of terrain: singletracks, dirt, grass, sand, rocks and some tarmac. Courses have many obstacles to negotiate – artificial and natural – and often incorporate ramps, berms, jumps, drops and rock gardens. As well as the features, there will be climbs and descents to deal with,

The women’s field kicked proceedings off in crisp, autumnal conditions – a welcome break from the rain that had plagued the course during practice earlier in the week.

Series leader Böhm crossed the line first on lap one, but the new U23 UCI XCC World Champion Isabella Holmgren was right in the German’s slipstream. The Canadian, who already had two U23 UCI XCC World Cup wins to her name this year, took up the mantel on lap two, and looked a solid bet to add a third to her palmarès.

But Böhm had other ideas. After the pair exchanged the lead as the race was entering its final stages, the Cube Factory Racing rider surged ahead on the last lap, leaving Holmgren in her dust. Soloing to the line, she had enough of a gap to celebrate her fourth win of the season, and with it the overall series. Holmgren would finish two seconds back in second, while Czechia’s Simona Spěšná finished third.

Results :