Words by Zoe Cuthbert.
Photos by Ross Bell, Kike Abelleira and Piper Albrecht
After a weekend off, the XC World Cup returned to the much-anticipated new venue of La Thuile. Many World Cup venues are stunning, but under the shadow of Mont Blanc, La Thuile felt like something special.
You never know what to expect with a new course, but La Thuile did not disappoint. Dubbed by many riders as a ‘real mountain bike race,’ the course featured natural tech, steep climbs, and blown-out dusty sections that even had the downhillers impressed.
The short track saw a close battle between Jenny Rissveds and Sina Frei. The finish straight was a bit too short to allow for any position changes, leaving the winning move to be made on the final climb. Rissveds took the win, marking her first XCC victory of the season. Savilia Blunk rounded out the podium in third, continuing her strong form and consistency this season.
The men’s race played out much the same, with Luca Martin and Adrien Boichis battling until the final lap. Boichis took the win after entering the final section in the lead. Charlie Aldridge finished third after Martin, his teammate, misjudged the gap and swerved into Aldridge’s wheel on the climb. Always good to have a bit of controversy to kick off a World Cup weekend.
By XCO day, the course was blown out and dusty, the consequence of a natural-tech track and probably better than the alternative of rain, which would have made the course absolutely terrifying.
The women’s race had quite the shake-up, with Italian rider Martina Berta taking the win. It’s always nice to see a home World Cup winner, and even more special when it’s a first World Cup victory. It was also the first time an Italian had won an elite women’s World Cup race in Italy. In her post-race interview, Berta said she had seen the calendar and decided she wanted to win this race. Expert execution.
Behind her, Savilia Blunk led the chase to finish second ahead of Laura Stigger. The race also saw multiple nasty crashes and airlifts, including a face full of blood and a DNF for Gwendalyn Gibson, as well as a very scary crash for Chiara Teocchi that resulted in an airlift.
In the men’s race, the lead group split apart midway through after a small crash by Simone Avondetto allowed French riders Luca Martin, Adrien Boichis, and Mathis Azzaro to get away. Martin attacked with two and a half laps to go and rode away to win by more than a minute. Azzaro got the better of Boichis to finish second, a redemption ride after the unfortunate events of his near-second-place finish in Leogang.
Chasing the French were the Americans Riley Amos and Bjorn Riley. It’s interesting how often riders from the same country or team end up riding together. In the end, Riley bested Amos, but fifth place is a big result for Amos this year, so no complaints there.
There is no rest for the wicked as it’s time now for the next round in Andorra, a brutal high-elevation race to finish off the four-races-in-five-weeks block.
