[Updated] Loana Lecomte & Tom Pidcock Win the 2022 European XC Championships

Aug 20, 2022 at 2:26
by Ed Spratt  
Just one week ahead of the 2022 World Championships in Les Gets riders are battling out in Munich for the European XC champ title.

Friday saw the Elite Men between the tape with a win from the unstoppable Tom Pidcock. Tom was able to pull 11 seconds ahead of Sebastian Fini Carstensen with Filippo Colombo in third place. Nino Schurter decided to skip the racing this week to better prepare for World Champs and as revealed earlier this week Mathias Flueckiger is currently provisionally suspended.

Saturday saw the Elite Women on course with Loana Lecomte back racing after a short break. Loana didn't take long to be back at full speed as she bested Pauline Ferrand Prevot with an almost 40 second margin. Third place went to Anne Terpstra who was a huge three minutes behind Loana,

Check out the results below.


Results

Elite Men

1st. Tom Pidcock: 1:18:09
2nd. Sebastian Fini Carstensen: 1:18:20
3rd. Filippo Colombo: 1:18:21
4th. Victor Koretzky: 1:18:27
5th. Thomas Litscher: 1:18:30

Elite Women

1st. Loana Lecomte: 1:28:04
2nd. Pauline Ferrand Prevot: 1:28:41
3rd. Anne Terpstra: 1:31:12
4th. Jolanda Neff: 1:31:37
5th. Caroline Bohé: 1:32:33



Results

Elite Men

photo
photo

Elite Women

photo
photo



Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
3,063 articles
Must Read This Week
Kona Bicycles' Parent Company Appoints New CFO, Intends to Sell Brand
66236 views
Downhill Bikes of Sea Otter - Part 1
48396 views
Brian's Randoms from Sea Otter 2024
46312 views
Randoms Round 3: Dario's Treasures
45391 views
Pinkbike's DH Fantasy League: Get Your Team On The Line - Fort William is in 10 DAYS!
40671 views
Randoms Round 1 - Sea Otter 2024
38863 views
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Araxá XC World Cup 2024
38367 views
Spotted: Frameworks Racing DH Bike with Electronic Fox Shock & Unreleased Enve Rims
38299 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup

115 Comments
  • 43 1
 Just watching the Ladies race. The course is crap. It’s embarrassing. Some of the course is closed because it’s raining and the climbs aren’t rideable because they slapped some dirt and gravel against some timber boards and it’s turned to slop.
The UCI should have turned this XC course down and made them race in some woods. It’s not an urban sport!
  • 5 2
 UCI citymountainbike.com: "hold my beer"
  • 12 0
 This is the price we have to pay for getting these European Games. The concept is kind of based on giving some sport disciplines more public attention. All events are based in Munich around the Olympic Park. They kind of bodged a MTB track together in order to stay close, instead of going to some proper place like Albstadt or somewhere in the Alps. The concept works for all the other disciplines except for MTB...
  • 5 0
 For the record, it is endorsed by the UCI but otherwise it is organised by the UCE (European Union).
  • 8 11
 There were grumblings about the lack of difficulty at the commonwealth games course, but at least Cannock was based on actual trails. It was no wonder Pidcock did well in Munich, the race was more like a fair weather cross track.
  • 4 0
 I can see the reasons for making some XC courses close or in urban areas but they need to be well designed and constructed. I suppose money is an issue but either do it right or not at all. Kinda like supercross, every track is built to a set standard and there are rarely complaints from riders or spectators.
  • 4 1
 Yep, the course was an absolute joke.
  • 3 0
 @jayjay1989: In the same world where for the Paris Olympics the surfing will be held in Tahiti.
  • 4 0
 I watched the Men's Race yesterday. It was a literal Hardtail Ride in the Park.
  • 4 0
 @Augustus-G: Why the majority of racers were on full suspensions is beyond me.
  • 3 1
 @ROOTminus1: yeah ok….The guy has an Olympic title and has been world champ in cross but I guess he’s just some roadie?
  • 1 0
 @dmitri6 My hunch would be the search for traction, which was sorely needed on that pigsty of a climb.
  • 2 1
 @ROOTminus1: and thats why he is CX world champ, xc gold medalist, and TdF stage winner?
  • 3 0
 @rsheb79: I meant no skin off Tom's nose, and I never said he's just a roadie, the guy can handle a bike on climbs, techy descents, and even in the air, styling it and clearing over the bridge jump on every lap where his chasers were casing it in the later laps. And he *is* the reigning CX world champ, so the urban park course obviously did not hinder him in ways that might have proved problematic for the trad XC riders; slick grassy climbs instead of rocky technical ascents, or standstill hairpin corners that don't exist in woodland courses.
  • 1 0
 ..
  • 5 0
 @Shackmann: I think he'd kill it at Enduro too. From what I've heard he enjoys and is good at downhill. Probably the best all round cyclist on the planet right now...
  • 1 2
 @ROOTminus1: Hairpins that don't exist in XC courses? I take it you've never bothered to watch MSA or Albstadt to name a few. Speaking of climbing on grass have you not watched Snowshoe either? It was no surprise that Pidcock did well in this race because he's the strongest mountainbike rider in the world right now. Not because 'normal' XC riders don't know how to ride through a field.
  • 33 1
 anyone else reading all these names in barts accent
  • 16 0
 Followed by "what can he do?"
  • 22 0
 "It is like that"
  • 5 0
 "He put the hammer down"
  • 9 0
 "[...] is looking strong today."
  • 38 0
 What accent?
  • 8 0
 […] is in a good shape!
  • 4 1
 Warner: 'The $riders_nationality, then'
  • 26 0
 "is that right Bart?!"
  • 1 1
 @IntoTheEverflow: now that’s funny
  • 9 1
 "a good start of him"
  • 16 1
 That's how it is
  • 12 0
 This section is very bermpy
  • 5 0
 "Strong legs, she has."
  • 5 1
 "A möddy section"
  • 1 0
 pinchy climb
  • 1 1
 That’s how it is
  • 1 0
 it goes like that
  • 20 1
 Good lord I’m dumb sometimes. Scanned the results list looking for Americans….then went back and realized it said EUROPEAN champs
  • 32 1
 We'll do better next year.
  • 10 0
 If you hadn't been so careless with some beverage deliveries in '73, and we should have been less dickish about taxes, you could join a load us in Aus in 4 years time?
  • 6 0
 I'm always looking for the UK baseball teams in the world series results Smile
  • 3 0
 @Davec85: Well that's just not Cricket!
  • 2 1
 @Augustus-G: I've heard baseball games can be long and drawn out, but I bet they can't play for 5 days and still end up with a draw.
  • 16 0
 I always thought riders had to stay inside the course boundary markers.
i.imgur.com/OhjV4EF.jpg
  • 5 0
 I was about to comment the same. That doesn't seem fair. That was definitely easier to ride as the slop on the course. And it's not like she slipped up the hill
  • 9 0
 French lines...
  • 4 2
 There are no boundary markers.
  • 2 1
 @tinmug I don't know what those little flags are there for. No tape to cut under/around. I'd say fair play to anyone riding that line.
  • 4 0
 @opignonlibre: There were little flags in the ground that marked the the course. Lecomte was well outside the flags on camera.
  • 6 1
 @opignonlibre: The orange "brush" markers are the course boundary markers. Every other top rider respected the boundary; Lecomte pedalled outside several markers – for significantly better grip, thus advantage gained – on two consecutive laps.

Why have course markers at all if they do not represent a limit?
  • 2 5
 @tinmug: The fact is she would have win by a descent margin even rolling inside of it.
But true i was surprised too. I hope it will be of no consequences, because she really deserve his victory, flags or not.
  • 9 0
 @kegron: pfp lost because her bike got clogged with mud and she had to stop to fix it.. Riding on the grass might have made a big difference.
  • 1 0
 @tinmug: my wild guess is she didn't realize that. Riders are used to tape and barriers, I've never seen small little things on the ground being accepted as valid markers in any race.
  • 2 0
 @Ac282: True, i give you one point on that.
But if you watched the race you saw that there was a small grass band inside those "flags". I saw PFP rode there and i bet its bike get clogged before on the turns.

(On a side note, i think the color of the grass where Loana is riding on the picture is the proof other racers have done the same. We just haven't seen them because they were not on the live show. Not an excuse, just a fact).
  • 2 1
 @opignonlibre: 80-90% of the course used those little survey markers as barriers. I agree, pretty poor (lazy) design. Jolanda was also guilty of cutting the corner after the BMW bridge every lap: i.postimg.cc/MXkPwQWn/220821-180421-COLLAGE-1.png

My guess is everyone was riding out of bounds at one point or another on the course, so officials didn't bother enforcing anything. The only thing that bothers me is the climb Locomte rode out, she definitely gained several seconds each lap. Neff and Terpstra both pushed their bikes in the same spot because of how muddy the racing line was. PFP was the only podium contender able to ride that section due to her power, but she was noticeably slower.
  • 2 1
 @kegron: PFP pulled out ~30 seconds on the final lap, so hard to say if Loana slowed or PFP was stronger at the end. Bottom line Loana didn't need to do what she did because she is an amazing mud rider. Lecomte's victory at Le Gets '21 was absolutely clinical, no dropper post and she decimated the entire field in the mud with a near faultless ride.
  • 3 0
 @tinmug: the uci course eyeless are clear , the course must r bounded by plastic stakes 1.5 to 2m high. Orange markers on the ground aren’t the course boundary. Most of the course was bounded by these thin plastic stakes. They were dark in colour so as to not interfere with the tv footage Also as required by the rules.
Secondly she was clearly trying to stay as close to them as possible and bobbed snd weaved in and out between them every lap as she struggled to maintain front wheel direction on the grass. Difficult to apportion a cheating label here unless there’s a vested interest in doing so
  • 1 0
 @Jamminator: +1 ;-)
  • 3 0
 @tinmug: nope, many riders went outside those markers. We just saw Lecomte because the camera happened to be focussed on her at that moment. There were tyre tracks both side of the orange markers.
  • 13 0
 I can usually take or leave xc racing but if Pidcock is racing the world champs next week with Nino I'll definitely be tuning in.
  • 15 4
 Is it accepted practice to give away the results in the headline? It's available world wide on youtube, so some may have not wanted to see the winners before having a chance to watch.
  • 5 4
 Not sure why someone downvoted my comment with no reply or disagreement - stupid feature of this site I think. But it’s still a very legitimate point - I woke up this morning in the US, planning to watch the woman’s race that had just ended ( I watched the mens live yesterday) but I didn’t realize I needed to avoid Pinkbike if I didn’t want to know Lecomte won. So then when Pauline pulled ahead, I already knew she must be going to have a mechanical, flat, or crash before it happened, which I did not appreciate.
  • 7 0
 @MarkJ70: they only hide world cup results in the title, best avoid all mtb sites if you're about to watch a race
  • 3 1
 @MarkJ70: Agreed. If an event is replayable, no spoilers please.
  • 14 7
 Great course, fantastic coverage, not a dumb finish line set up. And a worthy winner. Some of the above statements may not be true.
  • 2 7
flag jclnv (Aug 20, 2022 at 9:26) (Below Threshold)
 If you think that was a great course you need to stick with cyclocross.
  • 12 0
 @jclnv: whoosh!
  • 3 1
 Pfp told you she was coming. She's also a lot lighter than at the beginning of the season like I said haha.

Made it surprisingly close; I thought Loana was going to decimate the field regardless of everyone else's fitness.

I told you all Anne Terpstra is a different rider. Doesn't have world beating power at the moment but definitely has world cup overall talent. So flow.

Jolo. What can I say.

Bohe - big deal. Mona covid, Stigger off the bike for weeks.

Mix in some Americans and an Aussie - should be a good worlds.
  • 1 0
 pfp was in the lead nearly all the time until she dropped a chain and loana passed by.
  • 1 0
 @nullzwo: yes
  • 7 2
 would have been faster on a CX bike
  • 4 0
 That’s what I thought as well, the rock-garden was a nice running-section, the rest pretty easy dry grassy CX course. (I had to turn it off after 15 minutes of watching, it was really embarassing)
  • 5 0
 All I want to know is who was the vice champion?
  • 4 1
 Did anyone else notice Pidcock pulling on a rider trying to get past him on a corner, around lap 2 or 3.
  • 5 1
 Just a shoulder tap to make sure the guy knew he was there as he was coming through.
  • 2 0
 Oh great show we missed... This sport is like in in WW some times... We get the important info like in sort of some morse code... Hard to believe we are in 2022..
  • 9 5
 #nospoiler
  • 3 0
 Way to go Tom! (No Friday fails this week?)
  • 3 0
 Loana "I don't ride in north america" Lecomte
  • 6 4
 Tom Pidcock will be a cycling hall of famer.
  • 41 2
 i dont think anyone outside the US of A cares about 'halls of fame' lmao
  • 1 2
 BTW where is this cycling hall of shame?
  • 8 0
 @tigerfish50: strava?
  • 5 0
 @tigerfish50:

"BTW where is this cycling hall of shame?"

Right now, Austin Texas seems to be.
  • 4 10
flag az-shredder3 (Aug 20, 2022 at 8:08) (Below Threshold)
 You guys are so toxic. You really should be ashamed of yourselves.
  • 2 1
 How writing a few comments from the results of the womens race can give a completely different picture.
  • 5 0
 Yes, it looks like another comfortable win for Lecomte....however, it's not telling the full story. PFP looked back to her best, and possibly pulling away. Too early in the race to know, but she kept the gap, and cut into it towards the end. Did Lecomte ease up?

Next week in Les Gets should be a great race....
  • 4 2
 Holy spoiler alert. Not that I could watch it anywhere I know of.
  • 1 0
 If you’re UK based, it’s on iPlayer
  • 1 0
 It was on BBC TV, BBC sport website and BBC iPlayer, plus GCN/Eurosport.
  • 2 0
 @Starch-Anton: It's on YouTube too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb40XiKVAkE
  • 2 0
 I liked seeing Joshua Dubau making it 14th on the Decathlon bike
  • 1 0
 Pidcock racing in Les Gets?
  • 4 2
 Wot? No Flückiger?
  • 34 0
 I thought I saw him standing on the grass...chewing.
  • 1 1
 @jayjay1989: All that fresh grassy field would have been the perfect course for him ;p
  • 4 0
 @jayjay1989: With some bovine perspiration on his upper lip area.
  • 1 0
 @commental:
  • 1 0
 It would be better if they simply had a XC Eliminator course and race.
  • 1 0
 Nice ride by cyxlicrosser Dasn Soete
  • 3 2
 PFP dropped a chain!
  • 2 0
 True she was ahead of Loana when it happened and it took her about 1 minute to repare because the derailleur was stuck in the mud. She even took back time from Loana after that.
It's the game but that show she's able to match compete with Loana for the world title.
I wonder if some of the commenters here (and those who downvoted you !) watched the whole thing...
  • 3 3
 #yorkshire
  • 1 1
 Where's Nino?
  • 2 4
 what happened to Fluckiger..... ;-)
Below threshold threads are hidden







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv65 0.028583
Mobile Version of Website