MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 7 – Snowshoe [FULL RACE] (ladies)

September 29, 2023

MTB – XCC – World Cup 2023 – 7 WE – Snowshoe, USA 🇺🇸

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.

Across the long and wide drag on the grass at the women’s start, Italian Chiara Teocchi (KTM Protek Elettrosystem) hit the front. The 40 riders began to string out on the pass of the narrow rocky section, Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV), winner of test event, controlling the pace. Pieterse followed in second, but struggled through the descent of the rock garden. Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), one of the title contenders, trailed in 10th position.

On the second full lap, Pieterse moved in front of Lecomte and Richards in third. Only a few second back were Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Genuins Racing) and Keller to round out the top five.

At the start of the third lap, the same five remained at the front, then Richardson hit the front with Henderson on her wheel as they passed over the narrow, single-lane bridge as the front duo. Keller slipped back to sixth and was overtaken by Martina Berta (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro). Batten had worked her way through 20 positions into seventh.

On the long uphill section, Richards began to pull away, creating separation from the six riders behind. With one to go, she held a six-second lead over Pieterse, and another four seconds back to Berta and Lecomte. Henderson and Keller fought another two second back.

Through the bumpy wood section, Pieterse appeared to make up some time, but Richards held the lead gap using a high cadence on the final climb. She looked back only once and did not see the Dutch rider, rolling across the line solo for the victory.

“I can’t believe it. I’ve got now words really, just great isn’t it,” Richards said at the finish for the Eurosport/GCN live coverage. “I feel I’m still jet lagged, really. With two laps to go, I felt comfortable on the descent, but I need two laps to get a good gap, right? So, let’s go! I was lucky they didn’t catch on.

“The excitement took over when [announcer] said two laps. I’m just really happy with that, and finally get a win at the end of the year with my new coach.”

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