New course, tough conditions and the same winner again in the women's race. At the fourth World Cup race in Les Gets, Loana Lecomte storms to her fourth World Cup victory of the season. Even in muddy conditions, the 21-year-old Frenchwoman demonstrates that she is the top favourite for Olympic gold in Tokyo in two and a half weeks' time. While many of the top riders such as Jenny Rissveds, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Rebecca McConnell and Evie Richards struggled with the slippery conditions on the technically demanding course and crashed several times, Lecomte rode confidently and in superior style to her fourth World Cup victory in a row. The U23 World Champion thus remains on course for a perfect World Cup season, as she Nino Schurter had in 2017, when he won all six World Cup races.
The battle for second to fifth place was much more exciting than the race for victory. World champion Ferrand-Prévot, McConnell, Richards and Rissveds changed places several times due to slips, falls and catch-ups in between. In the end, Jenny Rissveds took second place despite a heavy crash thanks to a strong climbing performance. Third place went to cyclocross specialist Evie Richards, who thus achieved her best result in the XC World Cup. Ferrand-Prévot was a full 1:51 minutes behind the winner in fourth place, followed by McConnell from Australia.
Ronja Eibl finishes in the top 10
Ronja Eibl also put in an extremely strong race. The Alpecin-Fenix rider finished in ninth place, her best position in the Elite World Cup. The build-up of form towards the Olympic race in Tokyo seems to be paying off. With Nina Benz (JB Brunex Superior) in 15th place, a second German surprised everyone in Les Gets with her best World Cup placing. Only Elisabeth Brandau still doesn't seem to be running smoothly. She ended up in 41st place.
