Van der Poel, Noble, Blevins Turn Heads at Val di Sole XCO World Cup – Results

While the attention of the road cycling world turned to the Giro Rosa in Italy and the Tour de France in … France, the XCO UCI Mountain Bike World Cup returned for its next engagement at Val di Sole, Italy. Located in the Italian Alps, Val di Sole was the fourth stop of the seven-race series for 2018.

Racing kicked off on Friday with the top 40 ranked women and men competing in a short track race to vie for the top call-up spots on Sunday. Annika Langvad (Specialized) and Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) took top honors in their races to earn the prime call-ups for Sunday’s XCO races.

Women’s Elite Race

Langvad entered Sunday’s race with two World Cup wins to her name this season, but on Sunday, she took a DNF and did not factor in the result. Two other cyclocrossers in Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon Factory Racing XC) and Jolanda Neff (Kross Racing Team) were at the front in a lead group that fluctuated between four and six members during the mid part of the race.

As the race entered the last lap, the group eventually dwindled to Ferrand-Prevot, Neff, Canadian Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing), Maja Wloszczowska (Kross Racing Team) of Poland and 45-year-old Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Team Merida Gunn-Rita).

Wloszczowska put pressure on the group up the climb early in the last lap. When Neff took a spill in a technical section, it gave Wloszczowska a few extra seconds of breathing room. Batty took over second and gave fans an exciting last lap chase, but the Canadian was unable to close the gap, and Wloszczowska took home her first World Cup win of the season. Batty finished second, Neff third, Ferrand-Prevot fourth and the mountain bike legend Dahle Flesjaa fifth.

The American contingent in Val di Sole had an excellent afternoon. Kate Courtney (Specialized) finished 7th, Lea Davison (Clif Pro Team) 13th and Chloe Woodruff (Stan’s Pivot Pro Team p/b Maxxis) 14th.

Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing) had her best World Cup finish to date with a 16th-place finish.

First lap: 30th. Ok. This is good. May've over started a bit. Just don't blow up. Top 30 is great.
Mid-race: Oh my. Top 20? Radddddd. Just don't blow up. Please.
Last lap: holy s–t I'm in 16th. Stay calm EVERYBODY STAY CALM. NO BODY PANIC EVERYONE STAY CA–

— Ellen Noble (@ellenlikesbikes) July 8, 2018

Germany’s Elisabeth Brandau landed in the top 10 again with an 8th-place finish.

Full results are below. See redbull.tv for a full replay.

Men’s Elite Race

In the Men’s World Cups this year, defending World Champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Team) has had to work for his wins. Schurter got nipped by Sam Gaze (Specialized) in the opening race in South Africa and barely won a sprint at the Nove Mesto race against another New Zealander.

Early in Sunday’s race, Schurter looked like he might coast to his third World Cup win of the 2018 season. Halfway through the race, Schurter had a lead that stretched to 30 seconds on a group of riders that included Matthieu van der Poel.

Italian Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Gabogas) racing in his home country, however, had other plans. Kerschbaumer slowly started chipping away at Schurter’s lead, and with just over a lap left in the race, he caught the World Champion and turned the race into a two-man battle.

The two battled wheel-to-wheel in the last lap before Schurter took the lead heading into the last set of downhill switchbacks. He opened up a several bike-length lead on the descent and then floored it on the flats to keep his winning gap. Kerschbaumer finished second and Van der Poel broke from the rest of the chase group to finish a solo third.

Cyclocrosser Gioele Bertolini (Team Focus Selle Italia) finished 9th, and American XCO National Champion Howard Grotts (Specialized) took 12th.

See redbull.tv for a full replay of the race.

Christopher Blevins (Specialized) had a memorable Italian trip with a fifth-place finish in the Men’s U23 race.

Full results for the Elite races in Val di Sole are below. The next XCO UCI World Cup is this coming weekend in Vallnord, Andorra.

Women's Results: 2018 Val di Sole XCO UCI World Cup

Rank	BIB	Last Name	First Name	Country	Age	Result
1	6	WLOSZCZOWSKA	Maja	POL	35	1:30:51
2	10	BATTY	Emily	CAN	30	1:31:00
3	2	NEFF	Jolanda	SUI	25	1:31:21
4	3	FERRAND PREVOT	Pauline	FRA	26	1:31:29
5	8	DAHLE FLESJAA	Gunn-Rita	NOR	45	1:31:32
6	5	KELLER	Alessandra	SUI	22	1:32:30
7	11	COURTNEY	Kate	USA	23	1:32:32
8	9	BRANDAU	Elisabeth	GER	33	1:32:32
9	14	BELOMOINA	Yana	UKR	26	1:32:49
10	4	TAUBER	Anne	NED	23	1:33:11
11	20	TERPSTRA	Anne	NED	27	1:33:43
12	16	ŽAKELJ	Tanja	SLO	30	1:34:21
13	21	DAVISON	Lea	USA	35	1:34:25
14	12	WOODRUFF	Chloe	USA	31	1:34:28
15	22	BENKÓ	Barbara	HUN	28	1:34:47
16	76	NOBLE	Ellen	USA	23	1:35:11
17	13	LAST	Annie	GBR	28	1:35:36
18	40	WALTER	Sandra	CAN	38	1:35:46
19	81	SMITH	Haley	CAN	25	1:36:07
20	50	BRESSET	Julie	FRA	29	1:36:23
21	26	STIRNEMANN	Kathrin	SUI	29	1:36:34
22	34	LECHNER	Eva	ITA	33	1:36:46
23	28	SOLUS-MISKOWICZ	Katarzyna	POL	30	1:36:59
24	42	REDECKER	Cherie	RSA	29	1:37:06
25	57	TERENTYEVA	Olga	RUS	23	1:37:21
26	25	MICHIELS	Githa	BEL	35	1:37:25
27	63	RIEDER	Nadine	GER	29	1:38:10
28	27	ENAUX	Sabrina	FRA	40	1:38:24
29	53	GERAULT	Lena	FRA	23	1:38:42
30	67	VAN DER BREGGEN	Anna	NED	28	1:39:11
31	24	ŠKARNITZLOVÁ	Jitka	CZE	28	1:39:30
32	43	SCHAUS	Fabienne	LUX	34	1:39:37
33	32	STRAUSS	Mariske	RSA	27	1:40:19
34	19	KALENTYEVA	Irina	RUS	41	1:40:37
35	37	CALVETTI	Serena	ITA	28	1:41:08
36	64	GROCCIA	Marine	SUI	27	1:41:29
37	66	JEŽKOVÁ	Hana	CZE	28	1:41:42
38	33	OSL	Elisabeth	AUT	33	1:42:18
39	70	WORST	Annemarie	NED	23	1:42:29
40	56	GORYCKA	Paula	POL	28	1:42:50
41	48	ROCHETTE	Maghalie	CAN	25	1:43:00
42	54	KOOPMANS	Lotte	NED	25	1:43:21
43	58	BAUMANN	Chrystelle	SUI	23	1:43:25
44	38	APAZA	Agustina Maria	ARG	39	1:43:40
45	60	PODGORSKA	Aleksandra	POL	24	1:44:02
46	69	FLEURY	Catherine	CAN	24	LAP
47	39	GALICIA CORTINA	Claudia	ESP	32	LAP
48	17	GOULAO HENRIQUE	Raiza	BRA	27	LAP
49	52	JACOBSEN	Ingrid Sofie Bøe	NOR	26	LAP
50	55	LÕIV	Janika	EST	29	LAP
51	79	MOURAO	Jaqueline	BRA	42	LAP
52	62	MONTAMBAULT	Cindy	CAN	35	LAP
53	68	NIEUWOLD	Elyse	CAN	26	LAP
54	51	SVEUM	Elisabeth	NOR	29	LAP
55	46	MACPHEE	Kerry	GBR	32	LAP
56	71	BEAUMONT	Rebecca	CAN	28	LAP
57	59	GUSTAFZZON	Linn	SWE	24	LAP
58	72	RAVAIOLI	Gaia	ITA	30	LAP
59	30	CRNOGORAC	Jovana	SRB	26	LAP
60	82	PARTOAZAR	Faranak	IRI	30	LAP
61	44	MONTEIRO	Joana	POR	24	LAP
62	74	VESELÁ	Lucie	CZE	33	LAP
63	80	PATIES	Alizée	FRA	23	LAP
64	61	KANERVA	Noora	FIN	31	LAP
65	47	ROLAND	Luciana	ARG	23	LAP
66	73	DEVI	Camille	FRA	28	LAP
67	77	SCHWENK	Theresia	GER	23	LAP
68	78	GOULD	Heidi	GBR	33	LAP
DNF	45	KESEG STEVKOVA	Janka	SVK	42
DNF	75	TERRADAS ILL	Laura	ESP	28
DNF	35	FORCHINI	Ramona	SUI	24
DNF	18	SPITZ	Sabine	GER	47
DNF	23	MCCONNELL	Rebecca	AUS	27
DNF	1	LANGVAD	Annika	DEN	34
DNF	7	INDERGAND	Linda	SUI	25
DNF	29	ŠTĚPÁNOVÁ	Karla	CZE	27
DNF	83	CASIOPPO	Alaina	USA	27

Men's Results: 2018 Val di Sole XCO UCI World Cup

Rank	BIB	Last Name	First Name	Country	Age	Result
1	1	SCHURTER	Nino	SUI	32	1:26:32
2	19	KERSCHBAUMER	Gerhard	ITA	27	1:26:38
3	3	VAN DER POEL	Mathieu	NED	23	1:27:41
4	9	AVANCINI	Henrique	BRA	29	1:27:46
5	7	VOGEL	Florian	SUI	36	1:28:04
6	21	VALERO SERRANO	David	ESP	30	1:28:34
7	13	TEMPIER	Stephane	FRA	32	1:28:48
8	30	MANTECON GUTIERREZ	Sergio	ESP	34	1:29:05
9	38	BERTOLINI	Gioele	ITA	23	1:29:10
10	22	LITSCHER	Thomas	SUI	29	1:29:12
11	41	BRAIDOT	Daniele	ITA	27	1:29:16
12	36	GROTTS	Howard	USA	25	1:29:26
13	43	KORETZKY	Victor	FRA	24	1:29:32
14	47	FRISCHKNECHT	Andri	SUI	24	1:29:34
15	16	ROHRBACH	Nicola	SUI	32	1:29:40
16	31	COLLEDANI	Nadir	ITA	23	1:29:43
17	48	SCHUERMANS	Jens	BEL	25	1:30:00
18	15	SARROU	Jordan	FRA	26	1:30:03
19	29	LOO	Martin	EST	30	1:30:04
20	6	FORSTER	Lars	SUI	25	1:30:19
21	5	COOPER	Anton	NZL	24	1:30:23
22	26	FLUECKIGER	Lukas	SUI	34	1:30:28
23	32	COLOMA NICOLAS	Carlos	ESP	37	1:30:32
24	2	MAROTTE	Maxime	FRA	32	1:30:39
25	61	STIRNEMANN	Matthias	SUI	27	1:30:46
26	39	DRECHOU	Hugo	FRA	27	1:30:59
27	88	PETTINA'	Nicholas	ITA	27	1:31:01
28	63	GIGER	Fabian	SUI	31	1:31:01
29	23	MCCONNELL	Daniel	AUS	33	1:31:04
30	27	RAGGL	Gregor	AUT	26	1:31:26
31	42	RODRIGUEZ GUEDE	Pablo	ESP	25	1:31:30
32	17	KULHAVÝ	Jaroslav	CZE	33	1:31:31
33	77	FANGER	Martin	SUI	30	1:31:33
34	18	MARKT	Karl	AUT	38	1:31:37
35	80	TABACCHI	Mirko	ITA	29	1:31:37
36	8	FUMIC	Manuel	GER	36	1:31:37
37	55	CINK	Ondrej	CZE	28	1:32:12
38	24	SOTO	Catriel	ARG	31	1:32:24
39	72	GRIOT	Thomas	FRA	24	1:32:26
40	46	WAWAK	Bartlomiej	POL	25	1:32:29
41	28	BRAIDOT	Luca	ITA	27	1:32:37
42	64	PANHUYZEN	Kevin	BEL	24	1:32:44
43	14	FONTANA	Marco Aurelio	ITA	34	1:32:54
44	57	HAIMY	Shlomi	ISR	29	1:33:21
45	51	EGGER	Georg	GER	23	1:33:26
46	12	INDERGAND	Reto	SUI	27	1:33:30
47	52	YAMAMOTO	Kohei	JPN	33	1:33:32
48	62	BOTERO VILLEGAS	Jhonatan	COL	26	1:33:39
49	73	GLUTH	Martin	GER	27	1:33:40
50	10	CAROD	Titouan	FRA	24	1:33:47
51	25	ŠKARNITZL	Jan	CZE	32	1:34:02
52	56	VAN DER HEIJDEN	Michiel	NED	26	1:34:11
53	44	FERGUSON	Grant	GBR	25	1:34:23
54	109	NIKOLAEV	Sergey	RUS	30	1:34:29
55	49	BOUCHARD	Leandre	CAN	26	1:34:32
56	40	GUERRINI	Marcel	SUI	24	1:34:38
57	66	PFÄFFLE	Christian	GER	25	1:34:41
58	82	MARINHEIRO	Ricardo	POR	27	1:34:48
59	11	FLUECKIGER	Mathias	SUI	30	1:34:48
60	106	PELLEGRINI	Lorenzo	ITA	27	1:34:55
61	92	STRÄHLE	Sven	GER	23	1:34:58
62	68	GAGNE	Raphael	CAN	31	1:35:06
63	60	SCHULTE-LÜNZUM	Markus	GER	27	1:35:06
64	79	SCHEIRE	Ruben	BEL	27	1:35:45
65	83	VITZTHUM	Simon	SUI	23	1:35:52
66	37	BLUMS	Martins	LAT	23	1:36:12
67	75	VASTL	Jan	CZE	23	1:36:32
68	90	RIGHETTINI	Andrea	ITA	26	1:36:35
69	98	BEELI	Andrin	SUI	23	1:36:48
70	105	TRIGO	Florian	FRA	24	1:37:21
71	103	MEEUSEN	Tom	BEL	30	1:38:08
72	97	BAUM	Lukas	GER	23	1:39:42
73	95	FUMAROLA	Denis	ITA	24	LAP
74	78	CHENAUX	Florian	SUI	25	LAP
75	86	TITARENKO	Dmytro	UKR	28	LAP
76	70	SWENSON	Keegan	USA	24	LAP
77	104	KURSCHAT	Wolfram	GER	43	LAP
78	119	DISERA	Peter	CAN	23	LAP
79	35	TIBERI	Andrea	ITA	33	LAP
80	89	LORET	Maxime	FRA	23	LAP
81	76	STÜNZI	Michael	SUI	26	LAP
82	53	SHOKRI	Faraz	IRI	33	LAP
83	4	GAZE	Samuel	NZL	23	LAP
84	67	PETERSONS	Arnis	LAT	24	LAP
85	54	COSTA	Mário	POR	27	LAP
86	74	SESSLER	Guy	ISR	23	LAP
87	85	HOLZ	Maximilian	GER	28	LAP
88	114	BONETTO	Edoardo	ITA	25	LAP
89	59	PARTI	András	HUN	36	LAP
90	58	L'ESPERANCE	Andrew	CAN	27	LAP
91	108	SETTI	Mattia	ITA	24	LAP
92	50	KONWA	Marek	POL	28	LAP
93	81	GAY	Raphael	FRA	23	LAP
94	65	IVANOV	Timofei	RUS	28	LAP
95	112	VALERIO	Domenico	ITA	27	LAP
96	71	KHODAYARI	Farzad	IRI	26	LAP
97	111	TROPARDY	Arthur	FRA	27	LAP
98	116	FLANDRE	Harold	FRA	31	LAP
99	113	SAMPARISI	Lorenzo	ITA	25	LAP
100	101	LEHTINEN	Sakari	FIN	25	LAP
101	96	HERNANDEZ DE JESUS	José Aurelio	MEX	25	LAP
102	107	VOBECKÝ	Zdenek	CZE	29	LAP
103	102	KERSUZAN	Pierrick	FRA	23	LAP
104	100	VIALLE	Alexandre	CAN	24	LAP
105	84	KRAJNC	Gregor	SLO	23	LAP
106	87	POURSHARIF	Mohammad	IRI	29	LAP
107	118	ADAOS ALVAREZ	Franco Nicolas	CHI	23	LAP
108	117	SCHWENK	Robert	GER	24	LAP
DNF	33	COCUZZI	Luiz Henrique	BRA	25
DNF	94	MCCRAE	Erno Jacob	BEL	23
DNF	34	SINTSOV	Anton	RUS	33
DNF	20	CARSTENSEN	Sebastian Fini	DEN	23
DNF	69	ZWIEHOFF	Ben	GER	24
DNF	115	SHAW	Samuel	NZL	26
DNF	45	FOIDL	Maximilian	AUT	23