Short Track Photo Epic: Here Comes The Sun - Albstadt XC World Cup 2021
The 2021 XC World Cup season burst into life in Albstadt this evening with the opening short track race of the year. It was a cold and snowy start to the day, but by the time the on-track action kicked off it was dry and sunny, leaving riders and mechanics pondering last-minute setup changes. With such fine margins, every detail counts at this level, especially with the frantic and fast-paced nature of short track racing.
It was two familiar faces who opened their account with winning ways in this crucial run-up to the Olympics, with Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Mathieu Van Der Poel being the cream of the crop after managing to just about break free of the chasing pack. Linda Indergand broke free from the pack for a while with a brave and gusty ride before ending up second, Annie Last followed in third with Kate Courtney and Loana Lecomte rounds out the top 5.
The front of the men's race was action-packed with a lot of chopping and changing, in the end Van Der Poel got the better of the competition with Victor Koretzky pipping Nino Schurter to the line in a sprint finish, in behind them were Henrique Avancini and Mathias Flückiger.
The U23 races take centre stage tomorrow before the elites are back on track with Sunday's main event. Who will draw first blood?
Final adjustments before go time on the 2021 season.
2021 let's go.
A team change certainly hasn't slowed down the World Champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot.
Kate Courtney hoping to find her pace today along with the rest of the hungry pack.
And just like that, we're off to the races. The women's start roared through the straightaway before splitting into two main groups.
Rebecca McConnell takes her turn at the front.
Pauline Ferrand Prevot with the lead pack trying to sort themselves out.
Linda Indergand went for it early on and managed to break free from the field although was just caught by Pauline Ferrand Prevot at the end.
Loana Lecomte was one of last season's biggest surprises and she looks to be carrying that form into 2021.
The chase group hunting down Linda Indergand who took off like a bat out of hell.
Annie Last showing her strength with 3rd in a crucial time with the Olympic selection looming large.
Pauline Ferrand Prevot eventually caught Indergand and took the win. Sunday, however, is the real test.
Anne Terpstra feeling the hurt after the final sprint to the line.
Your top 3 women: 1st Pauline Ferrand Prevot 2nd Linda Indergand 3rd Annie Last
New stripes and kit as Jordan Sarrou lines up to start.
Henrique Avancini is somewhat of an XCC master although he had to settle for 4th today.
The men head off into 20 minutes of all-out racing.
Victor Koretzky tucking his way to second place and a great grid slot for Sunday.
Starting way at the back of the pack, Peter Disera isn't one to turn down a challenge and put the hammer down for a solid seventh.
As always with short track the action up front was read hot with constant lead changes.
Nino Schurter lead the race late in the frame until a timely attack had him chasing.
Matias Flueckiger was on one today but the front was just that much quicker.
The World Champ Jordan Sarrou got his first opportunity to wear the rainbow stripes at a World Cup.
Nino Schurter keeping Mathieu Van Der Poel in his sights. Will we see these 2 embroiled in a race-long battle?
Nino chasing Van Der Poel into the wall ride.
Van Der Poel made his move near the end and kept the lead all to himself.
The first statement of the 2021 season goes to Mathieu Van Der Poel.
Your top 3 men: 1st Mathieu Van Der Poel 2nd Victor Koretzky 3rd Nino Schurter
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
But anyway doesn't look that tasteful
Here you can find more about the gold helmet...things that matter for sure hahaha
The rules about using the same bike for both XCC and XCO really only apply the frame. I have to wonder if it's because mechanics don't want the hassle of switching tires for one day, then switching them back, or if team budgets are really that tight, they're stuck with whatever sponsors provide.
I was thinking the same. Earlier in the day, when it was snowing, it looked as if it might have been a mudbath - you would surely go for maybe a mud tyre, and/or a narrow tyre to cut through the mud.
However, it stopped snowing, and dried out - so mud tyres weren't really needed.
It's all about contact patch causing casing deformation. Assuming equal tire construction, when using equal pressures between a narrow and wide tire, you have the same exact amount of surface area in the contact patch. The difference is that with the narrower tire, the casing has to deform in a more longitudinal direction to get the same contact patch (lots of casing deformation), whereas the wider tire has more width to get a more latitudinally shaped contact patch (less casing deformation).
Aerodynamics are another factor the wider tire movement in road (better transition between sidewall and rim), but that's another story.
www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/conti-gp4000s-ii-23-25-28
No one is running 28c tires at 120psi. Most people are probably running them at 80PSI, which the testing shows 25c's @ 100PSI and 23c's @ 120PSI to be faster than the 28c's at 80PSI. I am 6'2'', 190lbs and run 95R/90F on my 28c Grand Sports.
The world's top female athletes that are petite sized have even less incentive to run higher pressure.
In any case, to clarify, shaving doesn't "prevent" any injury, it just makes treating the inevitable injury suck a little less.