RACE HIGHLIGHTS | Elite Women XCO World Cup Val Di Sole, Italy

Race Highlights from the fourth round of the Elite Women XCO World Cup, held at Val Di Sole, Italy!

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The UCI Mountain Bike World Series unites mountain bike’s major formats under a single brand for the first time. The new UCI Mountain Bike World Series includes the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for Cross-country Olympic (XCO), Cross-country Short Track (XCC), Cross-country Marathon (XCM), Downhill (DHI), Enduro (EDR) and E-enduro (E-EDR).

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[Music] day three in Valle the Valley of the sun which hasn’t quite delivered on its famous name what it has delivered is a weekend of quality racing we turn our attention now to the cross country Olympic where halfway into the season and with just six weeks to go until the Olympics those who missed out on a place in Paris have all the more reason to fight for a World Cup title while those selected will be using this race to finesse their winning form following on from yesterday’s short track today’s XO 3.5 km long almost a course of two halves we have the Big B the soul trantino climb and then that leads us into the wood section the Red Bull rock and rolls the W steepness the hardest sections happen in those woods we then drop out over the whip four cross down into the grass section and normally you can get a bit of rest bite but the current rain has just made this grass sections more sapping and the big start finish straight where we saw the Sprint finishes in the xcc is going to be a key section here we go start line for the xcc women’s race xco women’s race fourth round of and they’re off and interesting to see who gets the whole shot shocky on the inside a look at that first Corner that’s very SL slippery outside inside it’s dry but outside and a crash yeah that’s what we could expect here it’s so slippery outside this m and it’s slippery and we saw in the U23 women Jack involved of that but also a lot of C from the was involved Alandra Keller just moving up on the outside and as we enter the woods here it’s Kiara Shi from Keller yeah the RS they know as well they have to be in a good position over here because otherwise they lost immediately a lot of time and there cilia blink she tries to get inside is a very steep comp moving up through as well the top 10 previously on that steep climb you had to cut in and cut back on itself and it was all bummed out with all deep dust this year I think they’ve made it a little bit easier a bit smoother a little bit easier it’s true and then they’re coming down on that four cross uh course a little bit time for the Riders to relax here it’s about the two big climbs more grass and the traction on here that looks super I’m wondering if the can make it on the bike K doesn’t not able for p this can’t she might be on different uh tires maybe M tires especially here this climb it’s very slippery you know we missed it we just were looking at the start but that backside it’s a long climb after that mud section and a fast like kind of almost FAL flat before we drop in now and also that false flat section it’s very red and mury and then backing that up with four in the xcc as well got her place booked in Paris we see L comp just getting distance now as you come up into the woods don’t know if that’s physical or whether it’s just a bit of tactics to give herself a bit of bit of space yeah like you see them now coming up this section this is slippery we’ve got the roots the rocks and they have to sit in the saddle maintain like you say that traction on the wheel keep some body weight back it’s really difficult we see the main section the the biggest I think the hardest section in the woods that steep section before we go into the multi- rout line o That’s not paa kka Caroline bu soon as she get back she gets that once she gets that like you said she gets that traction again once she gets the traction it’s big gear out the saddle rolling it using the power then straight back down spins again she flips between those two Styles yeah a high heart rate exhausted yeah it’s not just been able to ride the sections in practice it’s been able to do it when you’re at race intensity it’s so technical you know all the blood is in your legs not in your arms canas Le with Lana Le to the numbers three and four the race canas Le now in front of Lana a descend the chasing group those together you see but we saw we heard from Candis L an amazing kind of little interview as we were in the warm-up and just saying how she’s been she’s 31 years old and she’d been fighting for this for for years and years with the support of you know a small team her her husband as well you know they’re washing the bikes they haven’t got big Factory support but a big breakthrough this year rich the similar mistake as an to she crashed down in the feed station Ah that’s a nasty crash on that straight over there lost her garment or something on her bike bike Richard coming back from a bad crash in oh yes snapping her her break level down again a it’s a nasty crash to happen thankfully on the grass not on tarmac but there’s something in that feed Zone B where whether it’s a hole or a bump or or a bad biking the big difference I think when you do too much time on the road bike you get you become a bit tight on the bike you know you’re not it’s the wheels just a little bit there the tech there’s two parts of technicality the technicality of the big jumps and routs the kind of for cross stuff and then there’s the little subtle technical bits which is where we see now the wheel slipping and you just change your line adjust the tension on the hard working hard with your upper body as well it’s not only the ls but also the position on the bike yeah the the the grip your rear wheel the grip on your front wheel as well when it comes up on these steam climbs you have to mention it and and moving it in the right direction you see that again these St people not knowing that the leader is coming again and you shaking her head what’s going on over there and obviously in that Tech Zone they can take water from one side and then spare wheels from the other that’s the generally thing if you have a flat tire you can get there and swap out for wheel you don’t have to fix it yourself but it can be a pretty stressful area if you’ve got a group of riders coming in at one time or if there’s any any you know issues with the surface you know so like we saw yeah it’s more difficult there you have to be in the first position yeah you see there’s almost two lines but both of them are hard to ride and you definitely don’t want to be on the wheel of somebody and we see Keller going on the right then M crossing over a strong one one it’s difficult you just roll in you carry only a small amount of speed and then it hits this long climb fully in the sun up to the second Tech feed Zone and it’s a tough climb maybe 20 seconds 30 seconds long and it’s super steep grabs the gel as well the leader in the overall standing Haley baton try to find her gel for the last two laps then we have TBA Anna TBA from the Netherlands yeah best race so far this season for the Dutch or factory team brao drops down here this is one of the most harder technical sections big rocks big routs as we drop down now as well just coming to the left kind of not quite on the view from here but super routy super technical really hard to keep traction it’s then off camber into a really big route section and then we start climbing again it’s so physical yes she’s taking the outside line it’s a bit longer but she’s keep on her speed and she has a little bit of a gap I mean a little bit it’s 40 seconds so uh there’s time for her to ride her own race on lines Peters are now 18 5 188 on the working hard and again this is we talked about it before but it’s there’s riding this section in practice that’s one thing but it’s riding these technical climbs when you’ve come into them with your your heart rate so high the fatigue is building we’re on like five or six who’ve just gone past an hour in the race it’s so difficult to hit that line lap after lap so the last lap foron proo dominant second lap she got the Gap the pressure being on and so far we’ve SE I’ve only seen her make one mistake on a small climb just clipping out the rest of it has been so smooth do have to P don’t have to take too many risks in The Descent but 34 seconds I think that’s it it’s going to be a crash really and that’s what she needs to be aware of now she needs to just it’s about focusing concentration on those techy sections you know if you have a bad off 34 seconds is easy to close yeah the Gap has been there are most of the time constantly like that Bon R F Keller 8 nth 10 Batton be interested to see whether this result sitting here maybe this will be enough to keep her overall chances Alive Now on 11th place again this Gap the pace back to three minutes now back to rised coming through from a a poor start due to a bad griding after the xcc Ken working hard teral style kind of all rolling over the bike Pat our overall leader at the moment which dropping down into the feed Zone we saw yesterday losing a Sprint to Puck Peters are here but no Sprint finish today there you go high five with the mechanic the team behind her no stress today and it’s going to be again another win second win of the season for our world champion Pauline foron proo dominant performance breaking away on the second lap of six getting the Gap and making it look relatively easy and it’s the win in fou trentino for our French World Champion PA foron Provo what a performance perfect race for her yeah but Peters are as well really good solid race and improvement from noo Al kernick European Champion holding off Candice l a solid race again as she watches on towards that big appointment in Paris later in the season second pace for Puck Peter S for C kernick all about the game but what a ride this was the result for the day we have heard from before for Candis L her goal forever was to make the podium and she’s done it today in ble Candice Lil third place for the Privateer from the South Africa off to the games now and actually putting herself now as I’m just going to the games but as a medal potential another woman that’s going to be happy with her performance day great comeback L comp struggling the first half of the season but coming back here for a fource place you can see the smile on her face for the canyon Collective Rider and fifth place last step on the podium and again big smiles sevilia blun dap and Ford racing team and here we go big big sprint RFS in eight baton fif but it’s R takes eighth place our overall leader baton can she come rounder oh he going to go to the Line This is tight it’s going to be a photo finish I think it’s baton who just takes eighth position from rfets yeah it was not an easy one yeah I felt um I did three big days of training so today I felt a bit tired but I could manage to take the front and to stay in the lead so yeah I’m quite happy with that and our winner today second row of the year second win of the year for Ron world champion breaking away on the second lap so strong on the climbs today said an interview that she’s had a hard training week and didn’t know quite how she’d be but that’s a dominant performance if you’ve got some fatigue in your legs taking the win today over a minute clear nearly a minute clear from P Peters I think although there’ll be happy with their Podium The Other Women will be scratching their heads thinking how they’re going to be able to beat the Inus Grenadier and there we go here’s the results proo Pak petza Lil L blun ster M baton rfets and Keller rounding out your top 10 here we’ go high exio standings Haley baton with her eth today managed to keep her overall leaders jersey Alexandre Keller civilia Blanc Jenny rfed Allon for despite missing the first two rounds now up to fifth Candice Lil great result up to sixth bit further back K courtne the 11th Laura ster good race today up to 12th