Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) sprinted to the line ahead of her teammate Sina Frei, claiming victory in the women’s elite cross-country Olympic race at the penultimate UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series round of 2024.
It was another tight contest between third and fourth in the dry and warm conditions of the United States round, held at Lake Placid on Sunday. Candice Lill came out on top against Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), who had been out front when the bell rang to signal the final lap of the seven lap race. Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing) then crossed the line in fifth, having fought her way back toward the front of the race after a tough start.
“It’s amazing. With a double win and Sina [Frei] smashing it yesterday,” said Stigger, who celebrated heartily with her Specialized teammate Frei, who won the short-track on Saturday before coming second in the cross-country Olympic on Sunday. “I tried to give it all from the feed zone until the end, I saw tactics from Sina from yesterday and thought I needed to try the same.”
The teammates had been among a group of four with Lill and Lecomte until the very final stages of the race, but then Stigger launched past Lecomte. The French rider couldn’t react but Frei did, jumping around Lecomte when she clearly had nothing left and onto her teammates wheel, where she stayed until the line.
Series leader Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon), who has already secured the short track overall, finished in ninth place leaving her with a lead of 330 points to Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing). That means Blunk could still technically overtake Keller in the final round, given 330 points are up for grabs but things would have to go seriously wrong for Keller and seriously right for Blunk for there to be a change in the top spot overall.
The final round at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Canada will play out from October 4-6.
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