Cycling: The World Cup season celebrated its peak in Meribel just two weeks ago. There were exciting races to be seen at the last race of the World Cup, it was also the last rendezvous for this year's UCI MTB World Championship, which went full steam ahead today with the XC Eliminator.
Hafjell designed a very versatile track for the XCE World Championship. After a very tight start straight, the riders went up to the first downhill with a fast combination of curves and that's where it started to get exciting in every run. The drivers had an unbelievable number of lines here, which hardly differed in length, so it was up to the drivers to start an attack with more commitment.
Fabrice Mels and Jenny Rissveds secured the qualification. Both had an excellent World Cup season and were considered big favorites for the title. A big surprise was the early end of Paul van der Ploeg. Last year's sprint world champion just missed qualifying and had to watch the finals from the side.
The individual races went quite subdued up to the respective semi-finals. There were few overtaking maneuvers and the favorites usually saved the energy for the important runs.
The German Martin Gluth drove a great race. The Radon team rider worked his way up to the semifinals and got off to a great start battling Emil Lindgren.
In second place, he seemed certain of entering the grand finale, but in the last corner he left the door open for Lindgren and was attacked. Gluth lost his position and thus his place in the final.
The second semi-final was a real thriller. Fabrice Mels got off to a bad start and Catriel Soto took the lead. Nobody expected Kevin Miquel in this run. The Frenchman attacked Soto before the first singletrack and brought him down. Soto was out of the race and Mels should benefit from the fall, so that he also reached the final together with Miquel.
Martin Gluth drove a very restrained run in his small finale. He kept the gap to his opponents manageable and was able to secure fifth place due to a fall in the last corner.
The men's final started quickly. Daniel Federspiel ensured the early lead with strong kicks, but was afflicted by a chain jam before the first corner. Miquel passed Federspiel and roughly got the Austrian off his bike.
Miquel led the decimated field and, like Gluth in the semifinals, left the door open for Emil Lindgren in the last door. He didn't hesitate and tried to block the French. However, both riders got so caught up that Fabrice Mels, who had previously seemed a bit weak, was able to take the lead and, in addition to the overall World Cup victory, was now also able to look forward to the rainbow jersey.
However, there were few failures among women. The favorites around Jenny Rissveds, Kathrin Stirnemann and Linda Indergand secured their way to the final and were completed by the Norwegian Ingrid Jacobsen.
Buoyed by the support of the home crowd, Dese led the field after a good start straight.
Stirnemann took second place and managed to ride the first climb with so much pressure that she was able to pass on the long wing and secured first place. Jenny Rissveds had some problems in the first section of forest and tried to make up for her mistake with an attack in the last corner, but this didn't work out and so the two Swiss riders Kathrin Stirnemann and Linda Indergand celebrated a double victory in front of Ingrid Jacobsen.
There is a replay of the final runs HERE.
Photos: Red Bull