Photo Epic: The Rain, the Mud, and the Suffering - Les Gets XC World Cup 2021
The Les Gets XCO finals followed suit on the chaos and carnage we witnessed in the downhill. The weather forecast was looking ominous and it played true with the rain beginning to fall during the U23 men, conditions that were mastered by Simone Avondetto. The Italian got the better of Martin Vidaurre Kossmann and Juri Zanotti, in doing so he took the overall leaders jersey away from Carter Woods who had a race to forget. In the U23 women, Mona Mitterwallner proved too strong for her competition once again as she romped clear of Caroline Bohe and Leonie Daubermann.
The Elite Women was a familiar story. Loana Lecomte swiftly dispatched of any lingering disappointment from Friday evening's short track, if there was any, and made her way to the front without stopping to look back. Jenny Rissveds took second, 51 seconds back from Lecomte after fending off the charging Evie Richards who had managed to wriggle past Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Rebecca McConnell. The Elite Men had the wettest conditions with heavy rain falling throughout the race - it didn't dampen Mathias Flueckiger's spirits though. Confidence and momentum are at an all-time high and it shows. Ondrej Cink ran him closest once again whilst Jordan Sarrou, Alan Hatherly and Nino Schurter completed the podium steps.
The cross-country attention now switches to Tokyo with the next World Cup XC action not until September.
The weather forecast held true to its word today.
Final preparations for Mona Mitterwallner.
Caroline Bohe leads them off the line.
Caroline Bohe would once again run Mona Mitterwallner the closest.
Leonie Daubermann once again takes to the U23 Women's podium.
Mona Mitterwallner threads her way through the slippery grass sections.
A clean sweep so far in 2021 for Mona Mitterwallner and perhaps one of the most convincing so far.
Your top 3 U23 women: 1st Mona Mitterwallner 2nd Caroline Bohe 3rd Leonie Daubermann.
Cool and collected, Simone Avondetto is ready to go.
Lots of shuffling off the line for the U23 men's start.
The second of two Italians on the podium today, Juri Zanotti finished third.
Second place for Martin Vidaurre Kossmann after clawing back a few places.
Avondetto was patient and made his moves near the end.
Big win for Simone Avondetto in a stacked U23 Men's class.
Your U23 men's podium: 1st Simone Avondetto, 2nd Martin Vidaurre Kossmann, and 3rd Juri Zanotti
Most of this course is exposed ski slope with barely any cover from the elements.
Evie Richards gets in the zone whilst rain bounces off the roof of the Trek Factory Racing pits.
Loana Lecomte certainly put the disappointment of short track well behind her.
Lining up on home soil, Pauline is looking for a big race.
The women are off with showers starting to move through the venue.
Tenth for Eva Lechner.
A solid ninth place for Ronja Eibl.
Yana Belomoina speeding through the noisy fans who lined the track once again.
Sina Frei with another consistent ride into 7th.
Kate Courtney working her way back from injury.
There was a brief moment where Loana seemed to be struggling in the deteriorating conditions but bounced back in a huge way in the later laps.
Anne Tauber was just off the podium in 6th.
Rebecca McConnell sliding her way onto the last spot of the podium.
Pauline Ferrand Prevot doing the French proud and into the fourth spot on the podium.
Evie Richards thrives in these chaotic conditions and today was no different.
Jenny Rissveds was in the thick of it from the off and was Lecomte's nearest challenger.
Loana Lecomte wasn't in the mood for hanging about today. Again.
Loana Lecomte seems somewhat untouchable this year.
Four straight. What a season it's been so far.
Lecomte congratulating Rissveds after a hard-fought battle.
A tough battle out there today for Pauline Ferrand Prevot. She was rewarded with fourth for her efforts.
Evie Richards takes her best elite finish so far, she'll be looking higher though!
Your top 5 Elite Women: 1st Loana Lecomte 2nd Jenny Rissveds 3rd Evie Richards 4th Pauline Ferrand Prevot 5th Rebecca McConnell
One more shower for the top women and it's bubbly.
The rain got particularly heavy during the men's race.
Tricks of the trade for keeping mud and its weight off your bike.
Mathias Flueckiger has been on one this season, rain or shine.
Nino has his sights set, regardless of what the weather has in store.
Ondrej Cink lining up alongside Alan Hatherly.
The Elite Men power their way off the line.
It was carnage out there today.
Mathias Flueckiger is a wet weather specialist so the writing was on the wall very early given his current form.
Tenth place went to Nadir Colledani.
Ninth for Lars Forster.
Luca Braidot cranks his way up the final metres of the opening climb.
Track conditions changed midway through the race as the skies opened up spawning streams across the steep bits.
Seventh for Simon Andreassen in the deluge.
Although it's great getting to wear the rainbow jersey there is one downside when it comes to laundry... Good luck getting that looking fresh again Jordan!
Far ahead of his number plate, Daniele Braidot landed himself a sixth-place finish.
That's more like it from Nino Shurter as he takes the final step on the podium.
A good day for Alan Hatherly taking home fourth.
The French crowd erupted as Sarrou pedalled past.
Ondrej Cink once again had to play second fiddle to Mathias Flueckiger.
Flueckiger had some extra time for style points while on his way to victory.
Mathias Flueckiger across the line with time to spare.
Jordan Sarrou was ecstatic to get on the podium at home.
Simon Andreassen is under there, somewhere.
Your top 5 Elite Men: 1st Mathias Flueckiger, 2nd Ondrej Cink, 3rd Jordan Sarrou, 4th Alan Hatherly, and 5th Nino Schurter
The last champagne spray before the Olympics... Who will take gold in Tokyo?
Sun rays crept in as the ceremonies wrapped up. Until next time, Les Gets.
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"@schwalbetires gave me the new Wicked Will prototype in the hopes that the heavens would open for Sunday. Last minute downpour meant Will got a ride the 2.0 looked sooo skinny riding towards the pens I was quite scared turns out it’s sickkk in those conditions! I get kinda bored running the same tyres all the time cause it’s harder to understand what feels good so I like it when the weather gods spice things up a bit the tyre will be for sale early 2022 (in multiple sizes for you more progressive bike riders - Papa Short is probably convinced this tyre width was the sole reason for yesterday’s success and this won’t have helped my arguments for wider tyres in other situations one bit ) @kenoderleyn"
I'd go for something a bit more open on the front (Ground control), but I know Spesh have just released new versions of all the XC-tires. I also know Jenny is a hell of a lot better than me, and can well understand why she opted for the FT. It is a pretty awesome tire even with the low knobs and somewhat crowded pattern.
Jordan and Sina looks to be on either Storms or the new GC. Loana on something similar - very open pattern.
1. It "breaks" the surface continuum of the downtube. If a mud was deposited on a single surface then it becomes a single big lump hard to get rid of. The small areas hanging at the bottom part of this flappy strip provide less area where a large lump of mud could stick to (also reducing the available surface where the holding forces are acting against) and as such minimizes the overall mud stick up.
2. The mud that actually sticks to the tape will receive more destabilizing forces while riding due to the additional vibrations (due to it's low stiffness).
3. It adds areas of high negative slope where gravity is acting only vertically (no horizontal friction component).
4. Tape might have lower friction and could be potentially pre-sprayed with nano-particles of specific properties in the factory.
5. The placebo effect
Not a Storm on the others bikes, knobs are too small. Too few knobs for a Renegade unless they're Cut. Looks more like the old GC than the new one.
As the old Pirelli ad used to say "Power is nothing without control".
The new Fast Track has a more aggressive nob layout/size than previous generation.
Sarrou seems to have ridden with Storm on the front, and maybe Fast Track on the rear?
Also... middle finger braking freaks me right out
As you can see on the photos, this thing didn't helped a lot
Over the last couple of years the womens XC has become so frick'in good to watch.