Jolanda Neff's perfect weekend at Mt Ste Anne

Words and photos: Matt Rousu

They call it Sunday Funday don't they? Well here at Mont Sainte Anne there was only pain, suffering and a touch of glory in today's XCO events. There were 4 races in total, Under 23 Women's and Men's in the morning with Elite Women's and Men's in the afternoon.

There were thunderstorm and heatwave warnings issued today in Quebec and they were well warranted. When the U23 Women began their race at 8:30am it was already close to 30 degrees with very high humidity, it would be worse for the U23 Men and the start of the Elite Women.

Catch Matt Rousu's galleries from:
DH Practice
XCC and DH qualification
DH Finals

The humidex value was at 40 degrees before an absolute deluge of rain fell right in the middle of the Elite Women's race making it one of the hardest races in recent times. 

Bec McConnell would lead them out early on dry tyres before the deluge began making the rock slab gardens like ice, she would fade back through the field as conditions worsened. Jolanda Neff seems to thrive in hot/humid conditions and she pulled away from the field to win comfortably (not as in comfort comfortably).

It seemed like most were having as many internal battles as well as external ones, crashes were at an all time high, flats would effect podium positions and the sidewards rain did little to actually cool the mountain down. Treacherous and brutal!

Mona Mitterwallner didn't have as bad a start as she usually does but didn't fade as much as the other riders around her, a sprint finish for 2nd over Haley Batten (Yes, she's back!). Martina Berta had her best Elite result ever placing 4th and Alessandra Keller would round out the podium in 5th.

By the time the Elite men started the skies had cleared and the heat/humidity came back, it was a brutally fast paced race and the course was still super slippery in places. Titouan Carod pretty much blew the race apart, he had all 6 fastest lap times and they were all insanely consistent.

He would win the race by 1min 47 seconds! His first ever win in what he now calls "My new favourite place". 

The race behind him however was anything but consistent, 6 to 8 riders were chopping and changing positions all race long and it almost came down to who timed their final attack at the right time. Filippo Columbo would take 2nd, David Valero backed up his win in Snowshoe with a 3rd place here and Luca Braidot out-sprinted Pierre De Froidmont and Nino Schurter for 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

There were many seasons' best performances back in the field which made for a pretty happy finish corral with many tales of "over the bars here" and "smashed my garmin here". The vibe was super cool after the race.

U23 XCO Action

The racing began early with the U23 women, Noelle Buri would duel with Madigan Munro for the first 2 laps before gradually pulling away for a 47 second win. Sara Cortinovis would comfortably take the bronze. 

The U23 men saw the almost unstoppable Martin Vidaurre Kossmann take yet another World Cup win (I can't wait to see Martin race Elite). Mathis Azzaro would be the only one who could match pace but heatstroke took its toll on him and he would fade back to 4th leaving David Campos to take his first ever world cup podium in 2nd place and a late charging Carter Woods in 3rd.

Unlike the Downhill the sole Australian racing today was Bec McConnell, it seems like the XCO crowd stick to Europe and the DH crowd love North America, haha. Fingers crossed one day we'll see more Aussies get over here to race, it truly is an amazing track and a beautiful part of the world. 

Matt Rousu signing off, I'll be having a couple of weeks off before heading to Les Gets, France to cover the World Championships, luckily there will be over 30 Aussies racing there!!!