June 11/23 17:20 pm - Carter Woods Second at LenzerHeide World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 06/11/23
 

Round 2 of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, saw multiple memorable performances over the weekend, led by local favourite Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) winning a record breaking 34th Men's XCO World Cup, finally surpassing Julien Absalon. In the Downhill, Rachel Atherton (Continental Atherton) completed a remarkable comeback from giving birth less than two years earlier to win her 40th career World Cup.

In Canadian top-10 results, Carter Woods (Giant Factory) was third in the Under-23 XCC and second in the XCO (only two seconds behind the winner), and sits third overall in the standings after two rounds. In the Downhill, Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory) finished second in Junior men and Dane Jewett (Pivot Factory) was seventh, while Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) was fifth in Elite men and Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) was sixth. Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory) was sixth in Elite women. Both Goldstone and Hemstreet were racing for the first time in the Elite ranks.

XCC Full Results  Elites  U23
XCO Full Results   Elites   U23
DH Full Results

Women's XCO Report

This became a race of attrition, with the steep climbs and altitude steadily whittling down the riders in contention. With a lap to go, it looked to be between Loana Lecomte (Canyon Collective) and world champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Ineos Grenadiers). But Ferrand Prevot faded badly in the last lap to finish fourth, with Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory) moving up to second behind Lecomte and Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) taking third. Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the winner of Round 1, continues to lead the overall standings after finishing fifth.

Photo Gallery

Lecomte stated, "To be honest, I don't know how I did it today. The last few weeks I have had a lot of questions, and it was hard for me. After the short track I had a lot of bad feelings, but Jolanda Neff helped me with this a lot. Today, I just wanted to have fun on my bike, and I won the race, I can't believe it. The biggest goal of the year for me is World Championships so my training is geared towards that. We'll continue to work on this. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be in the same shape or better."

Jenn Jackson (Liv Factory) was the top Canadian in the Elite race, finishing 39th, despite mechanical issues. Emilly Johnston (Trek Future) was the top Canadian Under-23, finishing 15th.

Men's XCO Report

Two laps into the men's race there was still a sizeable group in contention, but when Schurter attacked, no one could respond. Cheered on by Swiss fans, Schurter rode his way into the record books, steadily distancing Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC), Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory) and Thomas Griot (Canyon Collective). Sarrou faded on the last lap after an attack by Griot, but the Frenchman then stalled as well, with Hatherly able to come by both of them for second place, while Sarrou nipped Griot at the line for third. Schurter takes over the World Cup lead, with Round 1 winner Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) absent.

Photo Gallery

"There's definitely no better place to do this than here," said Schurter. "It's taken me a long time to get to 34 wins. I was really looking forward to this race, to race one last time in Lenzerheide. It was already emotional knowing that we might not race here again. I wanted to give it all and hopefully get the win here. The crowd was insane. They definitely pushed me on today. Feeling the people, the energy, definitely gave me so much. I really enjoy these moments. I need to say a big thank you to everyone who came out to cheer for me, to all the fans, to Lenzerheide. It's insane."

Gunnar Holmgren (Pivot Factory) was the top Canadian in the Elite race, steadily working his way to finish a strong 27th. In the Under-23 race, Woods was second, with Cole Punchard also making the top-20 in 16th place.