The results are in from the final World Cup race of 2019 and Snowshoe provided another day of exciting racing with both races coming down to nail-biting sprint finishes.
Live Race Updates:COURSE PREVIEW
9:20 am PDT The Elite Women are off! With just 20 points between Jolanda Neff and Kate Courtney, we are guaranteed a big fight for the overall.
9:21 am PDT Jolanda Neff takes the lead straight away, it looks like she is ready to battle for the overall after a disappointing XCC race on Friday.
9:23 am PDT It's Jolanda and Kate right at the front as they go into the first technical section.
9:32 am PDT Incredibly there is still a group of eight riders together as they cross the line after lap one. The race couldn't be any closer right now.
9:34 am PDT Neff is dropping back, she is falling off the back of the leading group. This is not what she wants.
9:34 am PDT She looks to be really struggling, hopefully, she can find some rhythm and get back to the front.
9:37 am PDT Kate Courtney is pushing hard at the front, it looks like she is back to her early season form.
9:39 am PDT Jolanda Neff is now almost a minute back from Courtney in 18th.
9:43 am PDT Top five Elite Women after lap two:
1st. Annie Last //
2nd. Kate Courtney //
3rd. Pauline Ferrand Prevot //
4th. Anne Terpstra //
5th. Jenny Rissveds //
9:49 am PDT Annie Last is having a great race so far as she currently leads the seven rider group at the front.
9:50 am PDT Top five Elite Women after lap three:
1st. Jenny Rissveds //
2nd. Pauline Ferrand Prevot //
3rd. Anne Terpstra //
4th. Rebecca Mcconnell //
5th. Annie Last //
9:56 am PDT Kate Courtney is now struggling with the pace of the leading pack, the overall title could still be Jolanda Neff's if she can find some speed. But the longer Neff leaves a possible attack the less likely it will be for her to catch up.
9:59 am PDT Courtney is now back with the leading group. Neff is now
1:28 behind the front riders, it will require quite an effort to close this gap.
10:04 am PDT Annie Last looks to be attacking at the front, Kate Courtney is dropping off the leading pack again.
10:06 am PDT Top five Elite Women after lap four:
1st. Annie Last //
2nd. Anne Terpstra //
3rd. Pauline Ferrand Prevot //
4th. Jenny Rissveds //
5th. Rebecca Mcconnell //
10:09 am PDT Anne Terpstra is now leading and has pulled out around five seconds on Annie Last and the leading group.
10:10 am PDT In the fight for the overall Jolanda Neff is 13th but with Kate Courtney in 7th the title would go to the American but not by much.
10:13 am PDT Pauline Ferrand Prevot has caught Anne Terpstra and the pair now lead Rissveds and Last by almost ten seconds.
10:16 am PDT Top five Elite Women after lap five:
1st. Anne Terpstra //
2nd. Pauline Ferrand Prevot //
3rd. Jenny Rissveds //
4th. Annie Last //
5th. Chloe Woodruff //
10:17 am PDT As riders crossed the line after lap five it looks like Kate Courtney is closing in on the fifth and sixth-placed riders; Chloe Woodruff and Rebecca Mcconnell.
10:19 am PDT Courtney is into fifth place, it looks like she has recovered from the fast pace of the first three laps.
10:22 am PDT Pauline Ferrand Prevot has launched an attack at the front, only Terpstra and Rissveds can go with her. Annie Last is dropping off the top three riders.
10:25 am PDT Rebecca Mcconnell has taken fifth place with Kate Courtney and Chloe Woodruff fighting for 6th and 7th.
10:27 am PDT Anne Terpstra crosses the line and onto the final lap with an eight-second lead over the new World Champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot. It looks like a disaster for Jenny Rissveds with a rear flat as she comes to the end of lap six.
10:29 am PDT Incredible riding from Rissveds as she negotiates some of the loose and dusty climbs with a flat rear tyre.
10:31 am PDT Rissveds is back in the race after making it to the tech zone. She is still doing well in 7th position.
10:32 am PDT Pauline Ferrand Prevot looks to be closing in on Terpstra, the gap is looking pretty small as they head into the second half of the final lap.
10:35 am PDT Jolanda Neff is still back in 11th place, it is looking like Kate Courtney will take the 2019 overall title today.
10:36 am PDT Pauline Ferrand Prevot has closed the gap to Terpstra. We may be looking at a sprint finish.
10:37 am PDT Whoever comes first between Terpstra and Ferrand Prevot will take third place in the overall.
10:37 am PDT Ferrand Prevot takes the lead, how will Terpstra answer?
10:38 am PDT Pauline Ferrand Prevot takes the win just a week after becoming the World Champion!
10:40 am PDT Kate Courtney crosses the line fifth and secures the overall title.
11:50 am PDT The final World Cup race of 2019 is now underway with Henrique Avancini leading.
11:56 am PDT Riders are still bunched up at the front with 25 seconds separating the top 30.
12:00 pm PDT The riders are being very tactical with Nino Schurter almost pulling over at the side of the track to get someone else to take over the front of the race.
12:01 pm PDT Two Brazilians currently lead the race with Henrique Avancini and Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi at the front.
12:03 pm PDT Ondrej Cink is in the tech zone with a puncture, he has been in there for quite some time and doesn't look to be happy about losing so many places.
12:07 pm PDT As we reach the end of lap two riders are still tightly packed with less than 20 seconds separating the top 30. We haven't seen anything like this in quite a while.
12:10 pm PDT Nino Schurter leads into lap two but no rider looks ready to launch an attack just yet.
12:20 pm PDT Top five Elite Men after lap three:
1st. Luca Braidot //
2nd. Jordan Sarrou //
3rd. Victor Koretzky //
4th. Henrique Avancini //
5th. Nino Schurter //
12:26 pm PDT We are now over the halfway point and the top 30 riders are still within 20 seconds of the leader.
12:28 pm PDT Henrique Avancini is attacking! Only Nino Schurter has managed to stay with him.
12:30 pm PDT Top five Elite Men after lap four:
1st. Henrique Avancini //
2nd. Nino Schurter //
3rd. Lars Forster //
4th. Nadir Colledani //
5th. Sebastian Fini Carstensen //
12:34 pm PDT Avancini and Schurter look to be getting away from the chasing group. They have an eight-second gap at this point.
12:37 pm PDT The gap has built to 20 seconds now and the chasing group is picking up more riders. There are ten riders in the group.
12:39 pm PDT Nino Schurter has a flat tyre!
12:40 pm PDT Top five Elite Men after lap five:
1st. Henrique Avancini //
2nd. Nino Schurter //
3rd. Maxime Marotte //
4th. Victor Koretzky //
5th. Lars Forster //
12:40 pm PDT Schurter loses around 25 seconds and joins up with the chasing group. Can Henrique Avancini hold his lead?
12:41 pm PDT It looks like a front flat tyre for Sebastian Fini Carstensen.
12:43 pm PDT Another flat tyre for Ondrej Cink, what a horrible end to the season for Cink.
12:43 pm PDT Nino Schurter is leading the chasing group in the hunt for Avancini.
12:49 pm PDT Top five Elite Men after lap six:
1st. Henrique Avancini //
2nd. Lars Forster //
3rd. Nino Schurter //
4th. Manuel Fumic //
5th. Victor Koretzky //
12:50 pm PDT The gap has closed to just 11 seconds, it looks like we could be looking at another exciting end to racing today.
12:55 pm PDT Nino Schurter has closed the gap to Avancini.
12:58 pm PDT Top five Elite Men after lap seven:
1st. Henrique Avancini //
2nd. Nino Schurter //
3rd. Lars Forster //
4th. Manuel Fumic //
5th. Stephane Tempier //
13:02 pm PDT Stephane Tempier now goes to the front and launches an attack.
13:06 pm PDT There is now a group of seven riders at the front, if they can't break themselves up we could be in for an incredible sprint finish.
13:07 pm PDT Top five Elite Men going into the final lap:
1st. Stephane Tempier //
2nd. Nino Schurter //
3rd. Manuel Fumic //
4th. Henrique Avancini //
5th. Lars Forster //
13:08 pm PDT Big crash from Manuel Fumic as he runs wide and catches the barriers. He is back up and riding and looks to be okay.
13:09 pm PDT Schurter has launched a flat out attack, only Lars Forster can keep up with him.
13:15 pm PDT Lars Forster takes the lead into the big rock garden!
13:15 pm PDT Nino Schurter has no answer, Forster has made an incredible move here.
13:16 pm PDT Forster takes his first-ever World Cup win.
I hope Trek learn from their mistake. Keep Batty on the team and cross it off as a bad season (just as Bec had a terrible 201 and hope she's back next year to kick arse again. Batty would have taken my 'most combatative' award for 2018 and it was a pleasure to watch her race.
Still finishing 8th in the race and in the overall says a lot about her. What a comeback season.
Almost cleaning that steep grass hill with a flat rear was impressive too.
Next year I can see her as a force to be reckoned with.
As good as this season was I think next year is going to be even better.
I did see Annika looking better. Very happy not to see another DNF. Been a painful season to watch after it started out so well. Right after Sea Otter things just went in the dumps. IMPO, she over did it with the Boels Dolmans thing. Then the injuries......
On EB, I don't what to think about that situation anymore. The article here on PB the other day left me with more questions than answers. Something about the whole deal is just off.
I'm thinking 2020 is going to be very interesting to say the very least.
Cheers
That has got to take a toll. Again, IMPO, if she wants to get back to the top tier in 2020 she going to have to back off of the road racing.
You're latest arguement is now, "Not Neff's fault, its clearly the bike" and Jennys a natural and KC has to work harder.(a BS arguement that you have zero basis for) At this point, I am just convinced you dont like Kate Courtney, because everyone else seams to get a pass for a bad result but her in your eyes.
I kind of think after watching it again when I got back to the hotel room that @azogas413 and @phile99 are both right.
Seeing the look on Nino's face at the end tells me he was genuinely happy to see Lars win.
This is elite WC racing. No one's giving handouts at this level in sport. But if I'm wrong, then without taking away the selflessness displayed by Nino, I'd find it disingenuous to the sport and to all the athletes competing and I'd be as disappointed as Lars would be learning that he wasn't truly the fastest rider that day.
I don't think Nino is in the habit of giving away wins though, even to a friend/teammate. Sometimes you just know you don't have the legs to go with an attack.... if there's nobody nipping at your heels for 2nd, why gun it to the finish? He dragged the whole group back up to Avancini, and by Avancini's account it was pretty windy to be leading for any length of time... personally I think Nino was cooked. We'll never know for sure but I'm hesitant to take that credit from Forster without some evidence - he put down a great effort.
It is not like Schurter is out of reach from Forster has Lars already beat him several times in non world cup events.
I also made that mistake, even though I thought to check the start list yesterday
XC track - Boring!! Why are the top xc racers in the world slugging it out in a field? Its like they were racing on a blue run. If you want more spectators then make the tracks challenging for the riders.
Having been here all weekend, I can say that the nature of the race was far different than places like Val Di Sole, Nove Mesto, and others. The course traversed the mountain and was very fast. Even still, some of those climbs were simply difficult or very short steep punchy climbs with tricky grass corners leading into them. You know, the one where Risveds ran wide and hit the fence and Avanci pushed the front and hit the deck?
But the overall speed brought out other issues that a lot of mountain bikers don't often have to consider. A big one is lines. It was a bad line choice that caused Fumic to crash at the start of the last lap. A lot of speed but an early entry meant he went wide and would up sliding out while still trying to complete the turn while at the same time crossing onto a concrete surface from grass.
Another line related instance was during the mens short track when Avancini was pinched against the left most side of the track before the left just after the finish line. He actually put a hand on the rider next to him to let him know he was there, but because he was so inside he didn't even begin to turn until he was well past the apex of the racing line. He wen't nearly two bike lengths across the track before getting it turned. I'm still amazed there was no accident right there.
It can't be denied also that the numerous blacktop, grass, brick road, and gravel transitions had to be something that was kept in mind by every rider. There was also puddles, very damp sections, and straight up mud. Not many places are going to give you all of the above in a single lap, in addition to loose over hard pack and large gravel.
But lastly, I think the nature of the course not having any long climbs or long descents meant there was no place to recover.
It might be boring, but it wasn't easy.
I suspect the reason for the course is that they wanted/needed to keep the finish near the village, so taking advantage of some of the XC trails
lower on the mountain was too far afield.
It’s clear from the DH course that Snowshoe knows how to craft proper gnar (holy hell, that course was INSANE!) so it’s not for a lack of trailbuilding talent that the XC course seemed a bit tame.
And that rock garden might’ve been short, but it was no joke!!
!!! SNOWSHOE WORLD CUP 2021 !!!
Both of todays races were super entertaining and from all reports "freaking hard". However, from what I have seen and what I have heard from racers the course was uninspiring to ride. And that isn't what I want to see as a spectator.
I think spectators want to see quality racing on terrain and courses that inspire them to ride their bike. When I watch European road racing it makes me want to go and ride those roads. When I watch DH it makes me wish I could ride a bike like that on those trails. But todays race course didn't inspire me to go to Snowshoe and ride my XC bike.
But I certainly had fun watching it. It kicked a lot of butts out there too.
The speed of the race was quite something to watch. A nice change, I do enjoy wondrous variety.
So, while the track was not spectacular to look at it did make for some good close quarters racing
I still can't believe you guys can't comprehend race strategy. The race isn't won by who stays out front the longest, it's by the rider with the fastest overall time.