Mountain Bike UCI Mountain Bike World Series

UCI Mountain Bike World Series: Cross-country Olympic World Cup - Puck Pieterse produces stunning ride to win in Leogang

ByEurosport

Updated 18/06/2023 at 15:01 GMT

Puck Pieterse extended her lead in overall Cross-country Olympic World Cup standings with a solo win at the Leogang round of the event. The 21-year-old Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Pieterse led from the start to finish in an incredible show of dominance. Pauline Ferrand Prevot was second in the overall standings ahead of the round but could only finish seventh on the day.

‘It was full gas, every time!’ - Pieterse after stunning solo win in Leogang

Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) produced a dominant ride to win the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Cross-country Olympic World Cup in Leogang on Sunday.

The 21-year-old led from start to finish in an exhilarating show of dominance over the field, stopping the clock at 1:16:38, and would finish 38 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing).

Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) came home in third.

UCI Mountain Bike World Series

Rissveds and Blevins land XCO wins in Mairipora

14/04/2024 at 21:21

Pieterse's nearest challenger in the overall standings Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Ineos Grenadiers) finished in seventh with a time of 1:18:56.

It was Pieterse's second cross-country Olympic World Cup win at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series and saw her retain her lead in the points classification.

Following her victory in a tightly fought race in Nové Město na Moravě at the start of the season on her elite World Cup debut, which denied world champion Ferrand-Prevot the win, Pieterse won her second title in a vastly different fashion to her first, going solo early on in the race and retaining the lead until the end.

Pieterse produces stunning solo win in Leogang

Pieterse was crouched behind her handlebars as she eagerly awaited the lights to turn from red to green and got off to an attacking start as she has done in most races so far this season.

It was another Dutch rider, national champion Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory Racing) however who took the early lead, but Pieterse slotted in behind her calmly at second wheel.

Terpstra led the group early on in the start lap up through the Red Bull arch before Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) took an opportunity to go around the outside and overtake the leader with Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing XC) alongside her.

Kolb thrills home fans by securing double Downhill gold for Austria in Leogang

Pieterse reacted quickly and soon moved ahead of Keller into the leading position. A few minutes later she created a slight gap between those behind her. Keller didn’t let the young Dutch rider out of her sights and as Pieterse took her foot off the pedal to begin a cyclo-cross style descent, she was overtaken by the Swiss national champion.

Keller held onto her position at the front and crossed the line first at the completion of the start lap followed swiftly by Pieterse, Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 – Ibis Continental) Terpstra, Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV), Richards, Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing), Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Genuins Racing Team), Martina Berta (Santa Cruz - RockShox Pro Team), and Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing).

Ferrand-Prevot, who had won the short track on Friday, was back in 15th at this point.

As they headed under the Red Bull arch for a second time roles were reversed, and this time it was Pieterse who led with Terpstra in second. Then, early on into only the second lap, Pieterse made her decisive move. She began to gain some time on Terpstra, initially with a two-second lead.

She wasn’t caught and as a result, began to slowly but surely push ahead and increase her lead. As she went onto the climb she was solo with an eight-second advantage on Terpstra and was 12 seconds to the good of Rissveds who was in third.

The gap between the front two then extended to 11 seconds and Stigger had moved into third past Rissveds. At the end of the lap, Pieterse had increased her lead to 14 seconds ahead of Terpstra and Stigger remained in third now 28 seconds behind.

Pieterse’s time advantage continued to surge and increased to 24 seconds and then up to 34, and all the while the job of the chasers to catch her was made all the more challenging.

After being slightly strung out behind Pieterse, Terpstra was soon joined by Stigger and Rissveds to form a chasing group of three with Stigger at the front. Behind them, Mitterwallner led Ferrand-Prevot, Lecomte, Frei, and Berta in a bid to close the gap to the three chasers. Terpstra wasn’t able to hold on to the pace of the group and soon dropped back into sixth.

Pieterse crossed the line solo again for another lap 34 seconds ahead of Stigger and 35 ahead of Rissveds. Further back Mitterwallner crossed the line 44 seconds behind Pieterse, followed by Ferrand-Prevot, Terpstra, Lecomte, and Frei.

In the next lap, Ferrand-Prevot dropped back to around a minute behind the solo leader. In the chasing group behind Pieterse, Stigger moved into second before she and Rissveds were joined by Mitterwallner who had managed to bridge the gap.

At the end of the lap, Pieterse was ahead by an impressive 48 seconds while Stigger, Rissvedds, and Mitterwallner continued to work hard behind her.

The next attack came from Lecomte who sprung an effort on Ferrand-Prevot to move herself into fifth and drop the world champion into sixth behind her. Mitterwallner worked steadily and started to chip away at the gap ahead of her as she led the chasing group behind Pieterse. As they neared the end of the penultimate lap Stigger dropped back into fourth while Mitterwallner and Rissveds occupied second and third.

Pieterse entered the final lap solo, and Mitterwallner soon went solo as well after she dropped Rissveds who was only a few seconds ahead of Stigger in fourth. Stigger then staged an attack of her own to overtake Rissveds and move into third, the position she would retain for the remainder of the race to the finish line.

Pieterse dug deep to hold off the chase behind her and retain her lead into the final downhill section of the course. She went into the home straight with enough time to celebrate, high-fiving the fans as she went towards the line and crossed for the win in a time of 1:16:38. The victory ensured she retained the points leader jersey, and added further points to her total which is now 781 points, 141 points ahead of Ferrand-Prevot.

Mitterwallner then came in solo in front of the loud celebration of a home crowd for second place and Stigger did the same for her third place. Rissveds finished fourth, Lecomte fifth, Frei sixth, Ferrand-Prévot seventh, Terpstra eighth, Kate Courtney (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team) ninth, and Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing XC) completed the top ten.

- - -

Stream the 2023 cycling season, including the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk

UCI Mountain Bike World Series