Cycling: The last round of this year's UCI MTB World Cup was overshadowed by the tragic death of Annefleur Kalvenhaar. On the final day, the XC world elite went hunting for points for the last time and commemorated the Dutchwoman. Jolanda Neff and Nino Schurter rode impressive solos and secured victory in Meribel.
Jolanda Neff seems unstoppable this year. Only Pauline Ferrand Prevot, her teammate, who has her origins on the road, was able to win races in a similarly impressive manner this year.
Jolanda Neff already had the overall victory in her pocket before the World Cup finals in Meribel and yet she started at Mach 10 on the technically very demanding course. With a lot of pressure she took the lead right after the start and put the competition under pressure. However, this could not follow.
Prevot was not able to catch up with her teammate in the first few laps. The strenuous hunt almost ended in her downfall when she fell in the Steinfeld and dropped back to fourth place. Meanwhile, multiple world champion Gunn Rita Dahle Flessja settled into second place, but had no chance of catching up with Neff. By the end, the two were separated by a gap of almost 50 seconds.
Prevot had to make a stop in the tech zone, but didn't let that deter him and was able to shake off Cathrine Pendrel, who meanwhile drew level. Neff literally flew over the course and, apart from a small wobble, drove an absolutely flawless race. In the end, she and second-placed Dahl-Flessja were 14 seconds apart.
Pauline Ferrand Prevot was third, 54 seconds back.
Nino Schurter did the same for Neff. The Swiss pedaled like no other and took the lead in the field. Knowing that if Schurter were to win he would have to finish at least 25th, Julien Absalon took a more cautious approach to the race. Under no circumstances did he want to get into trouble due to a defect and jeopardize the secure overall victory.
Schurter was almost uncatchable in the lead and didn't let anyone take his butter off his bread. Behind them there was an exciting fight between Absalon and Manuel Fumic. Like many other riders, the Cannondale team rider opted for his fully and thus had great advantages on the technical descents.
Absalon was able to pull away on the climbs, but Fumic let it run downhill and closed the gap.
The final lap saw a determined Julien Absalon. In front of his home crowd, he turned up the heat and set himself apart from Fumic, who was put under a lot of pressure again by Luckas Flückiger. While Schurter relaxed towards victory and Absalon also crossed the finish line, Fumic kept the lead from the last descent and secured a great third place.
Julien Absalon thus won his sixth overall World Cup, for better or for worse, he has to admit that Schurter was the stronger this year.
Thanks to the good result, Manuel Fumic improved to fourth place in the overall standings.
There is a replay of the race Click HERE.
Images: Red Bull