For the last leg of the UCI World Cup, the party heads to the Val di Sole. Trentino and Val di Sole are ready to welcome the biggest names of the international XCO, DH and 4X scene together with thousands of enthusiasts who will attend those fantastic 2015 World Cup Finals. This part of the year is a feverish time for the valley, as in August the whole of Italy does very little except go on holiday. Organisers expect more than 20000 people in the area for the event!
In the XCO men’s category, Nino Schurter, with 1100 points, leads the ranking after the last two overseas victories. But Julien Absalon trails on 910 points and has won more world titles than many have won races. The smallest mistake will be paid dearly because both of them have the same target, the victory. Jaroslav Kulhavy from the Czech Republic is on 782 points, but realistically he’s out of contention for the series win. Kulhavy will need to keep looking over his shoulder because the riders in fourth and fifth place are very close. We are talking about Mathias Fluckiger and Florian Vogel, both from Switzerland.
Nino Schurter performs at the UCI World Tour in Lenzerheide on July 5th, 2015 // Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
In the women’s XCO, Jolanda Neff from Switzerland still dominates the ranking: her second place at Windham (USA) gave her 1100 more points, enough to leave the solid athlete Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja behind by 190 points. Catharine Pendrel from Canada could give them some trouble by properly managing her 726 points, but everything is yet to be proven. What is clear is that Pauline Ferrand Prevot, from France, winner at Windham, will fight hard to be back on the podium. And she is sixth with 570 points at the moment.
Our Subaru-MarathonMTB.com racer Sebastian Jayne will be looking to capitalise on his great block of altitude training in Livigno, stay tuned for his post race report!