Lenzerheide XCO World Cup Wrap up

Photos: Nick Waygood

The second round of the UCI Cross Country Olympic (XCO) World Cup took to the trails of Lenzerheide, Switzerland, over the weekend. The Swiss town is a popular stop on the World Cup circuit, with a strong fan base, a beautiful setting, and a course that provides lots of natural technical challenges. Here's how it all played out.

A perfect day for Loana Lecomte

In the Elite women’s race it was European Champion Loana Lecomte (CANYON CLLCTV) who showed she had the most skill and power to beat Dutch National Champion Anne Terpstra (GHOST FACTORY RACING) into second place by an incredible 18 seconds. Swiss National Champion Alessandra Keller (THÖMUS MAXON) would leave Lenzerheide with the bronze medal. 

“To be honest, I don't know how I did it today," said Lecomte. "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.” 

Second place Anne Terpstra, said: “The whole race went so quick. When you're racing in a group it's so different to when you're riding alone, there's so much going on. I definitely had fun and I prefer races like this when it's hectic. I really enjoyed it."

“I didn't really try to find anything extra on the last lap. I tried to recover where I could and stay as close as possible to the rider in front of me. I didn't expect to overtake Pauline on that climb, but I think she was having a hard time. It was a long way to the finish from that point and I was struggling for sure.” 

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot had been in a close battle with Lecomte for the win, but the group was all very close, and the impact of the pace was adding up.

Switzerland's Alessandra Keller took third spot in front of a passionate home crowd, “The crowd was there for sure and until the last corner I was in fourth. I tried to give it everything I had and managed to get past Pauline eventually. To finish third after a sprint finish is great. Thanks to everyone that was cheering. It was great.”

Bec Henderson came in feeling good but admitted on her Instagram post that she just didn't have the legs. Still, a 24th place is pretty good for an off day, we reckon!

Results XCO Women Top 5

Loana Lecomte (FRA | CANYON CLLCTV) 1:24:41
Anne Terpstra (NED | GHOST FACTORY RACING) 1:24:59
Alessandra Keller (SUI | THÖMUS MAXON) 1:25:13 
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA | INEOS GRENADIERS) 1:25:20
Puck Pieterse (NED | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK) 1:25:35 

Overall World Cup Standings:

Puck Pieterse (NED | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK) 466 Points
Loana Lecomte (FRA | CANYON CLLCTV) 457 Points
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA | INEOS GRENADIERS) 440 Points
Alessandra Keller (SUI | THÖMUS MAXON) 430 Points 
Anne Terpstra (NED | (GHOST FACTORY RACING) 394 Points

Nino Schurter breaks World Cup record

Reigning World Champion Nino Schurter (SCOTT-SRAM MTB RACING TEAM) would attack early at Lenzerheide, extending his lead through the race, floating on the support of the home crowd and driven by his insatiable thirst for glory. And in the process of all that, Nino took his record-breaking 34th World Cup win on home soil and cementing his place in the sport’s history books. He would take the overall leader’s jersey in the process.

South Africa’s Alan Hatherly (CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING) would be the fastest of the chasing pack in a finish line sprint, 15 seconds behind Schurter in second with France’s Jordan Sarrou (TEAM BMC) in third. 

“There's definitely no better place to do this than here," Schurter said this about his record-breaking win. "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.” 

Second place Alan Hatherly spoke after the race, saying: “I have done this race many times and I won World Championships here as a U23 so I know how to race this course well. I could see the pace was high from the start, but I knew it would slow eventually. I just paced myself and tried to keep the front of the race in sight. I just clawed my way back to the front. I was suffering with cramps towards the end but still had legs for the sprint to take second. I'm feeling good about Leogang off the back of today. It was a tough week for me. I had a fall earlier in the week that left my knee super swollen, then had a stupid fall in the short track that damaged some ribs. To turn that around is unbelievable.”

Jordan Sarrou said: “It was a tough race, World Cups are always full gas all the way. It was a really hectic sprint. On the last few laps, I was struggling a bit, but I could sprint for third so I'm happy. Fourth in Nove Mesto, second on Friday and third today. Hopefully I can go better in Austria.”

Sam Fox finished an incredible 44th after getting caught up in a crash early on that had him back well past 80th spot. This is a great ride for the first year elite in the Australian National Champion's kit – let's see how Leogang treats him!

Podium XCO Men Top 5:

Nino Schurter (SUI | SCOTT SRAM MTB RACING TEAM) 1:24:04
Alan Hatherly (RSA | CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING) 1:24:19
Jordan Sarrou (FRA | TEAM BMC) 1:24:20
Thomas Griot (FRA | CANYON CLLCTV) 1:24:20
David Valero Serrano (ESP | BH COLOMA TEAM) 1:24:24

Overall World Cup Standings:

Nino Schurter (SUI | SCOTT SRAM MTB RACING TEAM) 475 Points
Jordan Sarrou (FRA | TEAM BMC) 410 Points
Thomas Griot (FRA | CANYON CLLCTV) 336 Points
Thomas Pidcock (GBR | INEOS GRENADIERS) 330 Points
Alan Hatherly (RSA | CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING) 328 Points

Heby Sofie Pedersen and Dario Lillo take home the U23 Cross-country wins 

In the U23 women’s race, Denmark’s Heby Sofie Pedersen (WILIER – PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM XCO) had the speed when it mattered to lead from start to finish, beating Switzerland’s Ronja Blöchlinger (LIV FACTORY RACING) to second place by an incredible 11 seconds. The final step on the podium would go to Italy’s Sara Cortinovis (SANTA CRUZ ROCKSHOX PRO TEAM). But to us, the big story was Zoe Cuthbert being in the lead group and chase, and finishing 5th! This is a huge result for Zoe, building on her results from 2022 and adding to her 4th in short track earlier in the week. 

Swiss National Champion Dario Lillo (SCOTT DAVOS MTB PROJECT) made good his final lap attack in the U23 men’s race to win at home, getting the better of Canadian Carter Woods (GIANT FACTORY RACING – XC) in second and France’s Adrien Boichis (TRINITY RACING MTB) in third. Australian U23 National Champion Domenic Paolilli crossed the line in 90th in the stacked field.

Results U23 XCO Women Top 5: 

Heby Sofie Petersen (DEN | WILIER – PIRELLI FACTORY TEAM XCO) 1:12:42
Ronja Blöchlinger (SUI | LIV FACTORY RACING) 1:12:53
Sara Cortinovis (ITA | SANTA CRUZ ROCKSHOX PRO TEAM) 1:13:31
Ginia Caluori (SUI | THÖMUS AKROS – YOUNGSTARS) 1:13:49
Zoe Cuthbert (AUS) 1:14:49

Results U23 XCO Men Top 5:

Dario Lillo (SUI | SCOTT DAVOS MTB PROJECT) 1:28:58
Carter Woods (CAN | GIANT FACTORY OFF-ROAD TEAM – XC) 1:13:00
Adrien Boichis (FRA | TRINITY RACING MTB) 1:13:10
Brayden Johnson (USA) 1:13:16
Luca Martin (FRA | ORBEA FACTORY TEAM) 1:13:30