Val di Sole XC Finals in Photos
In both the men’s and the ladies Elite Cross Country, there were no stunning underdog winners; rather a classic hammerfest between two wily veterans in the men’s elites, and a game of cat and mouse that was abruptly ended on the penultimate lap in the ladies race. The ladies were up first. The opening lap saw a resurgence to form by Canada’s Catharine Pendrel, but she seemed to blow up a bit midway through the third lap and started slipping , going into damage control as the heat seemed to take a toll on her.While Pendrel was striving to find her legs again, the top two contenders played cat and mouse, with Pendrel’s Luna teammate Katerina Nash and Tanja Zakelj going head to head. The Luna rider has never won a World Cup, and was firing on all cylinders, but the Slovenian proved to be too much, attacking and passing on the main climb, and then romping to her second win of the season. For the men, so far this year, it’s been a battle between Nino Schurter and Julien Absalon, with Jaroslav Kulhavy riding third wheel. This race followed that formula to a “T”. Schurter topped out the first climb, did a head check to look for his rivals, and stomped on the gas. Absalon, meanwhile, was caught in traffic but the French man is never to be underestimated. Within a lap he was on Schurter’s wheel, and from there it was a drag race the rest of the day, with Kulhavy dangling but never quite closing the gap. At the end of the day, on the home stretch, it was Schurter’s legs that owned the day, with Absalon conceding the W on the final straight and with some 100 meters to go.
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 Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa is simply amazing. At 39 years old, she's still killing it. She came home fifth on the day |
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| In lap 4 Katerina Nash seized the lead and looked to be on track to record her first ever World Cup win. |
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| Adelheid Morath overtook the faltering Pendrel somewhere in lap 5 and moved into fourth place. Meanwhile, Pendrel did damage control, essentially working hard to stay on the podium, but ultimately sliding into sixth place and off the podium. |
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| Nash looked to be a shoe in for her first ever World Cup win, but Tanja Zakelj threw in a vicious attack midway up the first climb of the last lap and Nash was unable to respond. |
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| High-Five for her fans from Zakelj on the finishing straight with no one in sight. Nash finished 20 seconds back. |
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| It was brutally hot in the sun today. Temps were easily in the 30s with the humidity. |
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| Women's elite podium, L-R: Adelheid Morath (4), Katerina Nash (2), Tanja Zakelj (1) Emily Batty (3), and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (5). |
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| Catharine Pendrel led out the ladies in the Elite Women's race, but after a single lap, the wheels started slipping. Pendrel comented post race that she had too much sugar before the race and crashed hard midway through. |
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| Nino Schurter led out the Elite Men's race with Julien Absalon and Jaroslav Kulhavy as his most likely threats. Top of the first climb and Schurter was looking to see who was gunning for him; Absalon was caught in traffic, but Kulhavy was a mere 3 seconds down. |
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| The rest of the bunch was led out by a Marco Aurelio Fontana, who's been taking fashion notes from Adam Craig, it appears. |
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| By lap three, Absalon had caught up and attacked Schurter, but the Frenchman could not shake a tenacious Schurter. |
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| Schurter and Absalon continued to slug it out, swapping leads and effectively keeping well ahead of Kulhavy, who was dangling in no man's land some 60 seconds or so back for most of the race. |
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| It was bloody damn hot today. Jose Hermida loves the heat, and even he was visibly wilting in today's heat. |
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| Schurter, smelling the victory on the penultimate lap, as he managed to get away from Absalon before starting the final lap. |
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| Kulhavy went full gas to try and reel in the two front runners, but it was useless. They simply had too much advantage, and the Czech is not in prime form yet. |
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| Break out winner in round one, Daniel McConnell of Trek leading out Fontana in lap 6. |
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| Absalon is never one to relent; he dogged Schurter right up until the end, finishing 3 seconds down to Schurter. |
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| Schurter put just enough into the final sprint to be able to savor the win. |
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| A little style from Kulhavy in the finishing straight. |
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