More Than Just a Climber, Lecomte Wins Again at Lenzerheide
And Alessandra Keller turns in the ride of the day in front of the Swiss faithful
One year ago in Tokyo, the Swiss women treated the quadrennial target race as a home-county affair by sweeping the podium, with Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei, and Linda Indergand all taking home medals. However, since that race, the Swiss contingent has struggled to produce an encore performance, with Frei’s 3rd-place finish at the 2021 World Championships standing as the only top-three finish for a Swiss woman since then.
Sunday’s XCO World Cup in Lenzerheide provided the perfect opportunity for the Swiss women to regain some of their collective momentum. The disappointment Mona Mitterwallner expressed after crashing early in the last World Cup in Leogang highlights the passion the home-country races can bring out in riders, and so Sunday’s race served as a prime opportunity for the Swiss to enjoy some of that home cooking (apparently rösti is the national dish of Switzerland, if we are getting specific about it).
Of course, standing in the way of Swiss win on home soil would be, first and foremost, Loana Lecomte. After three World Cup races she *gasp* did not win, Lecomte finally put one in the victory column in the standalone race in Leogang last month. She did so by using her trademark climbing prowess on the alpine course to open up a large gap and take a relatively comfortable win.
While Lenzerheide provided a much different challenge than Leogang with a more rolling profile, less climbing, and more technical features, Lecomte still entered as the apparent favorite looking to keep her forward progress rolling.
Serving first as the Sonny to Rebecca McConnell’s Cher and then the Ringo to Lecomte’s Rest of the Beatles this season is Jenny Rissveds. The 2016 Olympic Champion has been on strong form since the opening weekend in Petropolis, making the break with the two top women in each race and coming away with three 2nds and a 3rd in the opening three World Cup races. Rissveds hasn’t quite had the oomph at the end to drop her competitors, but one has to figure if she makes the lead selection enough, something will break her way.
After a relatively grouped-together first lap, the front of the Elite Women’s race was quickly reduced to three riders. The two usual frontrunners in Lecomte and Rissveds were there, as was the great Swiss hope of the afternoon Alessandra Keller. The 26-year-old Keller finished 5th in the XCO race and has two short-track 4ths to her palmares this season, and early in the race, she seemed poised to finally break through to the podium proper on home soil.
And Keller was not just happy to be there in the lead group, she put in work in Laps 2 and 3 before Lecomte finally turned the screws in Lap 4 on the lap’s longest climb. Lecomte quickly got a small gap that she was able to keep at about 8-10 seconds the rest of the way to take her second-straight World Cup win and move into the second half of the World Cup schedule with some serious momentum.
A Bit Different, A Bit the Same
Thus far this season, the Elite Women and Elite Men’s XCO World Cups have been a study in contrasts in terms of how the races play out. The Elite Men’s races have been more races of attrition with groups getting dwindled down to a final selection. With Rebecca McConnell on ELITE form in the season’s opening month and Loana Lecomte now getting her footing, the Elite Women’s races have seen decisive early attacks that have forced riders to get in the boat or be left behind.
Sunday’s race in Lenzerheide was a bit different for the Elite Women, at least for the first 15 or so minutes of the race. After taking the holeshot, Rissveds led the field up the paved climb that kicked off the prologue lap. Not quite as steep or loose as your traditional opening climb, the incline kept the field together before they dove into a rooty technical descent that put positioning at a premium as things got a bit argy-bargy after the first few wheels.
Midway through the prologue lap, it appeared the race would already get a split, with Rissveds, Lecomte, and Neff getting a small gap on the rest of the field. However, Alessandra Keller and Martina Berta pushed hard to bridge to them at the end of the 12-ish minute prologue. Behind the lead five, six more riders came charging forward to make it a group of 11 heading out into the first full lap.
With the makeup of the lead group—all the hitters were there—one would be safe in putting their prop bet money on a Lecomte, Rissveds, or McConnell splitting the group on the climb, but no no no, it was the home-country hero—perhaps buoyed a bit by the Swiss support—Keller who ripped the lead group apart.
Seated in the saddle, she set a strong pace that only Rissveds and Lecomte could keep pace with. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot tried her best to bridge through no-person’s land, but when the leaders hit the descent, a split had clearly occurred. So much for the hopes of a tactical group race this afternoon.
Lecomte powered around Keller shortly before the drop into the woods and then proceeded to do her share of the work pushing the pace. Lecomte upped the speed without unleashing any spectacular attacks. Rissveds and Keller stuck with her, and the chasers dropped into a big hole, down 36” after the first lap. In the chase were Ferrand-Prevot, Neff, McConnell, Berta Anne Tauber, Anne Terpstra, Laura Indergand, and Kate Courtney.
After her big effort in Lap 1, no one would have faulted Keller for taking a few moments to enjoy her lofty perch at the front of the race. However, she decided to continue to make her presence known by leading up the big climb at the start of Lap 2. She then did the same thing in Lap 3.
Yes, her aggression helped keep Lecomte off the front on the lap’s biggest climb, but Lecomte was also more than happy to take over the lead beginning with the technical drop-in and push the pace the rest of the lap. In a way, it seemed to be her way of demonstrating she’s more than a one-hit-wonder.
With two laps to go, the three leaders were all together, and Neff, Terpstra, Ferrand-Prevot, and Berta were heading up the chase 1:18 back.
Lecomte Time
Even though Lecomte had let Keller do the work for the lead trio on the big climb in Laps 1 through 3, one had to figure the French star would play her ace card at some point. Well folks, that point was Lap 4.
Lecomte took the lead at the start of the climb and then turned on the afterburners on the paved section near the top. Rissveds and Keller did everything they could to match Lecomte’s pace, but they were left dangling about 5 seconds back.
Meanwhile, in the chase, Terpstra and Ferrand-Prevot broke free to make it a two-up race for 4th.
With only short, punchy climbs remaining in Lap 4, Rissveds and Keller were able to keep Lecomte relatively close. Like, instead of opening up an instant 20-second advantage, Lecomte settled into a seemingly manageable 6ish-second advantage on Rissveds and then Keller.
Rissveds led the chase, but throughout the remainder of Lap 4, Keller stayed close to the Swede’s wheel, keeping her hopes for a 2nd-place finish alive. At the bell, Rissveds chased 8 seconds, with Keller a few seconds behind her. Terpstra and Ferrand-Prevot were 1:59 behind the leader.
Heading into the last lap, Rissveds and Keller faced an age-old dilemma for a group of two chasers—do you press for the win and potentially blow up and take 3rd, or do you concede your shot at winning and race for 2nd.
The way things played out suggested the seasoned 2nd-place finisher Rissveds was doing the latter while Keller was taking the former tact.
Rissveds let Keller do the work in the first half of the bell lap such that the Swiss woman was ahead at the first time check. That time check showed the two chasers had lost 6 seconds on Lecomte, suggesting Keller’s work may have been for naught.
More importantly for Lecomte, it signified that barring the proverbial ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, she was on her way to her second World Cup win of the season. “Anything” did not happen, and Lecomte held on to take the win by an 8-second margin that seemed cushier than the time split would suggest.
With the win, Lecomte also passed McConnell to take over the World Cup overall lead by one point.
Rissveds’ strategy of playing for 2nd paid off, as she moved to the front midway through the bell lap and quickly got a gap on Keller that she held to lock up her third 2nd of the season.
Keller went home with her best finish at Lenzerheide since winning the U23 World Championship at the venue in 2018.
Ferrand-Prevot outsprinted Terpstra to take 4th, and American Kate Courtney got her best XCO result of the season with a 7th-place finish.
Full results are below.
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