UCI Mountain Bike World Series 2023: Jenny Rissveds and Christopher Blevins land XCO wins in Mairipora

Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis Cycles Continental) and Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) put in assured performances in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Mairipora, Brazil on Sunday, taking wins in the elite UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup events.

Rissveds played the long game, allowing the American duo of Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) and Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) to battle for supremacy while she saved her watts for the final lap.

In the men’s race, fans were treated to one of the closest and most unpredictable battles in recent memory, as 13 riders headed into the final lap with nothing to separate them. Specialized delivered a supreme team performance with three on the podium, as Blevins rode his way through the field to claim just the second World Cup victory of his career.

After a win in the short track on Saturday, it was Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) who was able to use her front row gridding to full effect at the beginning of the women’s elite cross-country Olympic World Cup. The Brit applied pressure from the start, and her brisk early pace-setting had an impact on the start loop, with just a small selection of riders able to stay with Richards, including Batten, Rissveds, and Kate Courtney (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), as many more were caught up on the early climb and forced to dismount.

Moving into the first full lap though, a selection of riders closed the gap to the leaders and a sizeable bunch led the race until Chiara Teocchi, riding her first season for the Orbea Factory Team, took matters into her own hands. The multiple former Italian national champion moved through decisively and under her sustained pressure, Richards, Courtney and more were distanced, as Teocchi drew out a lead group of five. It didn’t last long though, as the American duo of Batten and Blunk attacked Teocchi on lap two, and moved clear of the rest to form a leading duo.

It was the Swedish rider Rissveds – gold medallist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – who was eventually able to bridge the gap to the leading pair on lap three, with Teocchi and Alessandra Keller (Thomus maxon), chasing in fourth and fifth place respectively.

The front trio remained locked together into the fourth lap, as further back, reigning Olympic champion Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) picked riders off one by one as she worked her way through the pack towards the front of the race.

Batten attacked on the climb towards the end of the fourth lap, and though Rissveds was able to make her way back to the American, her compatriot Blunk dropped back. She finally clawed her way back on the final lap only to see her countrywoman Batten accelerate again as she tried to drop Rissveds, but Rissveds counter-attacked and surged clear of the chasers. Behind her, Batten suffered a late crash on a berm allowing Blunk to move back into second. Rissveds raised her arms over the line 27 seconds ahead of Blunk who sealed second place. Batten rolled over the line in third. Teocchi was overjoyed as she finished fourth and Neff capped a fantastic comeback to finish in fifth and round out the podium.

After the race, Rissveds said: “It felt really good, I raced last weekend on the exact same course, and I was a little bit too excited and I tired on the second last lap. My goal was to feel the flow on the trails and also to stay patient, so I had that in mind the whole race, to just be patient, and I was. And then Haley tried to attack me a few times on the last lap and I still felt really strong and I knew I still had some power left in my legs.

“But what I’m most happy about is that Kelsey [Urban], my team-mate and best friend, did really well, she’s been struggling a lot with her health, she skipped half a season last year, and she’s been working so hard to come back and she’s killing it and I’m so happy for her.

“I kind of knew, it’s like an internal fight within the US girls, so I kind of played that card a little bit because I’m not stressed about Olympics or anything. I’m already qualified so I let them do the work and I just went for it.”

Blunk said: “It was an incredible race, super hard, but yeah I couldn’t be more happy, and it’s been a busy spring. I’ve been trying to race with high competition to get ready for these early World Cups and qualify myself for the Olympics so it’s been a huge amount of work the last three months and I feel like I’ve never been so committed to the process, day in and day out focused on these races and to have it pay off today, I can’t really explain it.”

Batten said: “Honestly, I think I was one of the strongest today, and I didn’t race like I should have, I think I got a little too eager and a little too excited, you can’t just ride away from the best riders in the world. I learned a lot today, it’s good to know I’m strong and I’m there and it’s just making sure I actually execute the way I need to.

“I’m OK, I’m more just heartbroken than actually physically hurt. Yeah that happens when you go a little too hard, mountain biking is a crazy balance of going as hard as you can and being able to hold back just a touch to ride smooth and fast, and I played with that line a little too much today, and it got the best of me. But yeah, a good fight and one of the most exciting races I’ve ever been part of.”

Dry, dusty conditions and moody skies did not diminish the heat and humidity for the men’s elite race, which nonetheless began at a frenetic pace. Heavy traffic and a few errors on the early climbs caused major issues on the start loop, with knock-on effects reverberating throughout the pack as many riders were forced to dismount and the impact was a huge spread of riders all across the course.

Team-mates Martin Vidaurre and Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) took advantage of the chaos to forge clear, and heading into the first full lap, seven riders had a small gap on the rest of the field. More riders tried to close in on the leaders but the Frenchman Koretzky, winner at Les Gets in 2023, maintained a strong pace and as the second lap began, the lead group had been whittled down to six. Swiss Filippo Colombo (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) took control with Koretzky and Vidaurre close behind, and France’s Joshua Dubau (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) worked his way steadily up to join them.

The quartet had almost 20 seconds on the rest of the field moving into lap three, and they worked together well into lap four, with a chasing group of three striving to make contact, including New Zealand’s Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck), winner of Saturday's short track event, Frenchman Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) and Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing). Blevins stormed past Gaze and Sarrou to close the gap to the leaders, to make three Specialized riders at the front, and Gaze and Sarrou were able to make the bridge to swell the leading group to seven heading into lap five.

The group only grew as the race reached the business end though, with seven more chasers briefly making contact, but the original four still maintained their presence at the front of the race with a narrow gap over Gaze, Blevins and Sarrou heading into lap six.

After a long period of relative stalemate, Colombo put in an acceleration but it was not enough to move clear of the chasers who closed the gap once more and with even more riders joining the pursuit, the leading group numbered 13 riders heading into the final lap.

The decisive attacks had to come, and it was a two-pronged drive from team-mates Vidaurre and Koretzky that kicked off the action, but it wasn’t enough to drop the challengers. Specialized had a third option though, and as soon as he had the space, Blevins sprung away and quickly opened up a gap, with Colombo in pursuit. The chase was not enough however, and in exactly one hour and thirty minutes, Blevins wrapped up an incredible victory, his second in the UCI World Cup, with Koretzky sprinting to second ahead of Colombo in third. The Specialized riders celebrated as Vidaurre made it three on the podium for them, coming in fifth, with Jordan Sarrou (Absolute–Absalon–BMC) pipping him into fourth position.

It was a bad day for Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), however. The Swiss rider, who won last year’s overall total and leads the all-time standings for most XCO World Cup victories, crashed early in the race and was only able to finish in 35th position, 2:47 off the pace of Blevins.

Blevins said: “It’s so surreal, I’m just kind of in a daze right now, this sport’s just so beautiful you know, when you’re on days like that there’s no place I’d rather be in the world. I came through the start lap I don’t know what place, 30th or something, I said I was just going to ride my own race, I had a really bad short track yesterday, and I think it’s a lesson, in this sport you’ve just got to listen to your body, you can always get more out of it than you think sometimes.

“It was a really interesting race, it eased up more than I thought, when we came through on the last lap it probably looked like a start lap with that string of people, I knew I could just sit in position, wait, and I always trust my last card I can play which is just that kick, but yeah it was beautiful, it played right in my favour.

“We’ve dreamt about a day like this as we are all on the same team, I don’t know if this has happened in mountain bike history, three in the same team on the podium? I love these boys, I love this team around me, I didn’t think today could be my day but you’ve just got to always believe in yourself and really anything is possible. Brazil, you’re awesome, hope we come back every year.”

Koretzky said: “It was super tactical race today, we managed it really well, Chris was really behind at the beginning, but we just had a slow down in the middle of the race just to help Chris to close the gap and then he was in the front group with us. Then Martin was in super good shape too and Chris was super aggressive on the last lap, then I just let Filippo try to close the gap to Chris, and I just overtook him in the last straight line on the grass, and we finished first,second and fourth I think so that’s perfect, we won the team overall, it’s amazing.

“I’m so proud of Chris as he’s had two super tough years and now he’s back on the front and on the podium and I’m super proud of him, and it’s also the first podium of Martin so it’s amazing and we just enjoy now.”

Third-placed Colombo said: “I really worked super hard this winter throughout my injury, and I’m super stoked to be back on the podium fighting for the victory until the last lap. It’s a shame, but Blevins was super strong. I knew I tried everything that I could. As I said, super happy to be back.”

Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) and Kira Bohm (Cube Factory Racing) both scored a double victory in the U23 Cross-country short track and Olympic World Cup events.

After Amos’ commanding victory in the men’s event on Saturday, the women’s event began with a strong start for the Swiss Ginia Caluori (Wilier-Victoria Factory Team XCO), pursued by short-track winner Böhm from Germany and the Canadian Emily Johnston (Trek Future Racing). They formed a leading group of three, on the start lap, with the field already scattered along the track in small groups.

The trio stayed together for the first two laps, taking turns on the front and adding distance between themselves and the chasers, Valentina Corvi (Santa Cruz Rockshox Pro Team) and Madigan Munro (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli), the latter recovering from an early crash.

On the third lap, Johnston lost touch with the other two leaders and shortly after, Bohm used the short climb to her advantage to open up a gap to Caluori in second. From there she continued to inject pace and put the hurt on her pursuer, but Caluori was unfazed and came back for a final lap head-to-head. In the end though it was Bohm who proved her strength, moving clear of Caluori and taking victory by 11 seconds, with Johnston finishing in third.

Bohm said: “Thank you so much. I'm so, so happy. I never thought I would be so strong today. I mean, I know that I have a good shape right now. In the XCC it wasn’t a surprise to me but today I’ve surprised myself a little bit.

“I felt really strong on the climb today, but I had some stomach issues. So I was feeling I couldn’t push so hard in the beginning, but then the last lap I thought I should try it.”

The second round of the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series takes place next weekend, 19-21 April, in Araxá, in Minas Gerais, Brazil.