Words by Zoe Cuthbert
With the events of the first World Cup left far behind, it was time to return to the beloved Nové Město na Moravě of the Czech Republic. Sunshine, the ear-splitting sound of the ever-enthusiastic Czech crowds, and the biggest complaint being flat tyres and that one root on their last descent that always takes someone out (sorry Evie), made for a great weekend.
SHORT TRACK (XCC)
The XCC was the usual Nové Město chaos that is inevitable when you mix bunch racing with flat bars. This year’s XCC casualties include Alessandra Keller and Jolanda Neff. Safety might be lacking, but excitement was not.
In the women, Jenny Rissveds controlled the front for most of the race. While that kept her out of trouble, sitting on the front of the bunch isn’t always the winning strategy, and she was ultimately beaten in the sprint finish. Puck Pieterse took the win ahead of Laura Stigger in second, and Nicole Koller rounded out the podium in third.
The return of Tom Pidcock was guaranteed to make the elite men’s XCC race exciting. Coming from dead last after riding off the back of the bunch for the first three laps, he was in the front bunch by lap six. Preserving some dignity for pure mountain bike racing, Mathis Azzaro managed to best Pidcock in the sprint finish. Behind them, last round’s XCO winner, Dario Lillo, finished in third.
OLYMPIC DISTANCE (XCO)
The Nové Město XCO course should be studied in World-Cup-Trail-Building 101. How can a course that has been raced for 15 years still be loved this much?
Laura Stigger was enjoying the course as she dominated the elite women’s race, attacking around lap three to ride clear of the field and comfortably win by 47 seconds. Behind her, riders were scrambling for positions with Rissveds recovering from a fluctuating mid-race to outsprint Sina Frei for second place. The results were reshaped on the penultimate lap when Evie Richards, within 35 seconds of the lead after lap five, crashed out of podium contention. Standout performance of the day goes to Ronja Blöchlinger, who set the fastest lap of the day and featured prominently in the lead group for much of the race before fading in the closing stages.
In the elite men’s XCO, Tom Pidcock once again showed up the mountain bike riders in his usual style of riding off the front and winning by a lot. It was déjà vu from Andorra last year, with Luca Martin chasing down Pidcock, and although he got close, it wasn’t enough. The chasing group was a Scott-SRAM party of Filippo Colombo, Fabio Püntener and Björn Riley, plus Martín Vidaurre. Colombo worked his way into podium contention in the second half of the race and secured third at the finish line. Unfortunately, a poorly timed flat tyre crashed Riley’s party and sent him running. Apparently South Korea made him a decent runner because he still managed to finish 23rd with the second-fastest final lap. Three hours later, the tent village, course and venue were packed up and the team trucks were on the road to the next World Cup. With another three-week gap between rounds, I guess the trucks will have had a lot of snack breaks before next week’s race in Leogang, Austria. See you there.
See all the action from the 2025 XCC & XCO season in our cross country yearbook NINETY – available here.
