Description
May 12, 2023
MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 1 – Nové Mesto, Czech Republic
As the name suggests, these races take place on shorter versions of the XCO tracks,
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May 12, 2023
MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 1 – Nové Mesto, Czech Republic
As the name suggests, these races take place on shorter versions of the XCO tracks, and are usually around 20 minutes in length. It’ll have fewer big features than the main XCO course, and is an all-out race from start to finish. The XCC kicks off the weekend of racing, taking place on the Friday evening. Short track was initially introduced to the World Cup series in 2018, when it was used to determine the start grid for the XCO race, and fed into the overall points. From 2022, the short track still determines Sunday’s start and there are points available for the XCO overall, but it also has its own overall competition.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) came from well back in the field to win the opening round on the short track at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Nové Město na Moravě, In the women’s XCC race, Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) used a powerful surge at the finish to score the victory from a group of five.
Friday’s short track races in the Czech Republic were the first round of the eight-round World Cup series for XCC and XCO events. Nové Město first held a UCI MTB World Cup in 2011 and continues to use a technically demanding course for cross-country events that attract huge crowds, despite the rain which fell on Friday.
Pidcock started in the back of the field in 40th out of 41 positions and used every second to make passes to score the win in a time of 20:17. Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the UCI cross-country short track world champion, and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) hit the line one second behind, with the New Zealander Gaze taking second.
In the swarm of riders who blasted over the wet finish on their back wheels, Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) took fourth just ahead of 2022 XCC overall champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM-MTB Racing) in fifth, and Daniele Braidot (CS Carabinieri-Cicli Olympia Vittoria) in sixth, that trio two seconds back.
On the final lap, Pidcock, who won the XCO race at Nové Město last year, rocketed into second place behind Schwarzbauer, then overtook the German after the final climb. The Briton held the lead for the sprint into the arena for the victory.
“I only found out I was racing at 3 o’clock having already done a three-and-a-half hour training ride this morning,” Pidcock said in his post-race interview. “I always like racing here having been second in the short track before so it’s nice to win one finally.
“I wasn’t really stressed at the start as I’d rather start a bit further behind, give ourselves a bit of space. I didn’t want to crash today. I’ve crashed in the short track before and it can ruin the weekend. I just tried to stay out of trouble, and it was all about whoever went into the finish straight first was going to win.”
Results :
 came from well back in the field to win the opening round on the short track at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Nové Město na Moravě, In the women’s XCC race, Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) used a powerful surge at the finish to score the victory from a group of five.
Friday’s short track races in the Czech Republic were the first round of the eight-round World Cup series for XCC and XCO events. Nové Město first held a UCI MTB World Cup in 2011 and continues to use a technically demanding course for cross-country events that attract huge crowds, despite the rain which fell on Friday.
Pidcock started in the back of the field in 40th out of 41 positions and used every second to make passes to score the win in a time of 20:17. Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the UCI cross-country short track world champion, and Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) hit the line one second behind, with the New Zealander Gaze taking second.
In the swarm of riders who blasted over the wet finish on their back wheels, Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) took fourth just ahead of 2022 XCC overall champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM-MTB Racing) in fifth, and Daniele Braidot (CS Carabinieri-Cicli Olympia Vittoria) in sixth, that trio two seconds back.
On the final lap, Pidcock, who won the XCO race at Nové Město last year, rocketed into second place behind Schwarzbauer, then overtook the German after the final climb. The Briton held the lead for the sprint into the arena for the victory.
"I only found out I was racing at 3 o'clock having already done a three-and-a-half hour training ride this morning,” Pidcock said in his post-race interview. "I always like racing here having been second in the short track before so it's nice to win one finally.
"I wasn’t really stressed at the start as I’d rather start a bit further behind, give ourselves a bit of space. I didn’t want to crash today. I’ve crashed in the short track before and it can ruin the weekend. I just tried to stay out of trouble, and it was all about whoever went into the finish straight first was going to win.”
<strong>Results : </strong>
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