MTB World Cup 2022 – 03 – Albstadt [FULL RACE – XCC]

May 6, 2022

MTB World Cup 2022 – 3 – Albstadt – 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.

After struggling with injuries for the past couple of years, New Zealand’s Sam Gaze (Alpecin Fenix) proved he is back as a contender in the Mountain Bike World Cup with an emphatic win in the Short Track (XCC) on Friday in Albstadt, Germany. On the same day his teammate Mathieu van der Poel was donning the Pink Jersey at the Giro d’Italia, Gaze cruised across the finish line well ahead of Jordan Sarrou (Specialized Factory), who outsprinted XCO World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM).

A noticeable headwind down the long paved start-finish stretch discouraged any long breakaway attempts, although the pace in the opening laps kept the 40 rider field stretched out. Van der Poel had won the three previous XCCs held on the track, so there was going to be a new winner. Sebastian Carstensen (KMC-Orbea) was the most aggressive in the opening laps, but Schurter, Gaze and Olympic XCO champion Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) were always lurking near the front.

Local German hope Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) took charge mid-race and led for much of the second half of the race, as a few riders tried probing attacks on the climbs, only to drop back before the headwind section. On the final lap, Gaze attacked on the first climbing section, opening a small gap, and then again harder on the second climb, riding everyone off his wheel. Coming out of the final corner onto the final paved 100 metre section, Gaze looked over his shoulder, accelerated, looked again and then sat up to cruise across the finish line with an arm in the air. Schurter looked to have second, but Sarrou just pipped him at the line.

Round 1 winner Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory) finished ninth, enough to keep him in the leader’s jersey with 350 points to Schurter’s 300.

Gaze admitted it had been a long time coming, after two years of injuries, including double knee surgery. “What can I say, it’s taken a long time to get back here … I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’m not the same guy I was when I went out in 2018. It was only two or three days before [Round 1] in Brazil that I could actually stick on the bike after five weeks off with double knee surgery. It was short notice, and I didn’t know what to expect coming here. I’d like to think that it was the years of crawling back through the trenches that made me able to persevere for this one.”

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