MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 6 – Les Portes du Soleil [FULL RACE]

September 8, 2023

MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 6 – Les Portes du Soleil, France

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.

In the men’s short-track race it was a lead group of six coming into the final lap of eight, with the sprint to the line pretty much opening up as soon as the closing lap began.

“I decided to push a lot on the last climb but it was really, really difficult. I did my best to keep the first position until the finish line and I did it and I am completely done,” said Koretzky in the televised post-race interview, adding that it was a victory that came after a less than ideal run in. “I crashed yesterday on the course and I had pain in the legs but it was ok during the race.”

Koretzky took the victory ahead of Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC), making it a popular French one-two for the delighted home crowd, while Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) came third, retaining his place at the head of the standings.

“For sure it was one of my main goals of the season,” Koretzky said. “But to win is something amazing, in front of a French crowd and with Jordan second it’s super nice.”

Results :