Apocalyptic conditions greeted the UCI XCO World Cup riders in South Korea as heavy rain turned the course into a mud bath, leaving races that seemed to play out in slow motion. Frei and Lillo defied the miserable weather to chalk up their maiden XCO victories.
On the UCI XCO World Cup’s first visit to Asia, Frei became the 53rd women’s victor in the discipline and the 10th to triumph in Cross-country Olympic and Short track in the same week after her Friday triumph in MONA YongPyong, while Lillo joins a club of 63 other male winners.
They took their wins in contrasting styles, as Lillo dominated while Frei waited until the final lap to make her move, but both riders lit up the gloomy day with beaming smiles as they crossed the finish line.
Meanwhile Nicolas Halter (Thömus maxon) and Valentina Corvi (Canyon XC Racing) claimed victory in the Under 23 competitions, as the 2026 WHOOP UCI MTB World Series curtain-raiser came to a close in South Korea.
FREI BESTS RISSVEDS AND MUNRO IN BATTLE ROYALE
Jenny Rissveds (Canyon XC Racing) looked to have the Elite Women’s race sewn up when she shot out to a 25-second lead on the opening lap, instead she was forced to settle for second following an enthralling race-long battle against Frei and Madigan Munro (LIV Factory Racing).
Rissveds immediately piled on the pressure with only Frei and Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) able to follow, as Evie Richards (Trek - Unbroken XC) missed her pedal at the start on what turned out to be a difficult day for the Brit that included a heavy crash.
Soon Rissveds went completely clear and appeared set to pick up where she left off last season and run away with her third successive victory, but she hit a wall on the second lap, allowing Frei to re-establish contact after dropping Blunk.
As conditions continued to cause problems behind - including domino effects whenever a rider crashed on descent - Frei, Rissveds and Munro continued to trade blows, with the latter attacking Frei as she took the bell for the final lap.
Yet the Swiss rider bounced back to first overhaul Munro, who recorded the best performance of her career on the way to the podium, then Rissveds who had led every single time across the line until the one that mattered most.
As Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team) inched into view behind, Rissveds slipped at a crucial moment giving Frei the critical breathing space she needed to clinch her maiden XCO win – just months after breaking her hand.
“Finally. It took years, but once again our staff was so amazing. We had such great bikes, so light and that was crucial in these weather conditions,” Frei said.
“This winter when I was injured, I did a lot of stepper work [in the gym] so maybe it helped me because otherwise I never run! Patience was crucial for sure today, and for me it was important to try and ride my own race. The bike was working so smooth up and down and it was such a great atmosphere here.”
LILLO SECURES DOMINANT MAIDEN WIN
With Specialized Factory Racing’s reigning champion Christopher Blevins missing the opening XCO round with a collarbone injury suffered in training in South Korea, the Elite Men’s field was wide open and the young guns stepped up in style.
The entire podium was aged 25 or under while another of the most impressive riders of the day was Finn Treudler (CUBE Factory Racing), making his first appearance in an Elite UCI World Cup.
Treudler’s afternoon was derailed by a series of mechanical issues that the rookie struggled to manage, but even if he had enjoyed a trouble-free race then it would’ve been a struggle to match the peerless Lillo.
Like Rissveds, Lillo built a comfortable lead of 17 seconds over Treudler in the first lap as the 22-year-old was the only rider within half a minute of the early favourite. And though Treudler kept in touch for another lap, ultimately his first chain slip cost him any shot at victory and further bike problems consigned him to a 12th-placed finish.
With the men’s race significantly more impacted by equipment than the women’s, some riders including Canyon Factory Racing’s Luca Schwarzbauer elected to switch to an intermediate tyre à la Formula 1, while early Specialized Factory Racing contender Martín Vidaurre saw his challenge also ended by a premature puncture.
Instead, Cannondale Factory Racing pair Luca Martin and Charlie Aldridge stepped to the fore in Treudler’s absence, toting the famous Cannondale ‘leftie fork’ that worked wonders in the mud, and rode onto the podium at 1:46 and 2:39 behind the victorious Lillo.
“I don’t know what to say. At the beginning of the week, when I looked at the forecast and I saw it was rain predicted for Sunday, I already told my teammates that Sunday’s going to be my day,” Lillo said.
“When I woke up in the morning it was like ‘ok, today is the day’, I was so nervous before the start. We had a plan and everything just happened.
“During the race, before the last lap, I didn’t really have any emotions in me. I crossed the finish line and the feeling I have at the moment, I’ve never experienced something in my life like that.
It’s really difficult to put into words, I think I need a few minutes to understand what just happened.”
CORVI AND HALTER STORM TO U23 WINS
Valentina Corvi became the first UCI XCO World Cup winner of the 2026 season as she stormed to U23’s victory at MONA YongPyong.
The Italian attacked from the off and built a 40-second lead on the opening lap that she continued to grow throughout the race, eventually finishing 3:28 ahead of Elina Benoit (Lexware Mountainbike Team) as Bailey Cioppa rounded out the podium.
Returning to the category that she won by 178 points last season, Corvi stamped her authority on the race immediately with Benoit clearly the second-best rider as she looks to improve on her seventh-place overall finish in 2025.
“It’s amazing, today has been a really hard race,” Corvi said. “The mud was really hard and we had to run a lot, it was really tough. I’m super happy to win this.
“I just tried to make my pace, my speed and not to make mistakes in the downhill. And just keep pushing, I saw the gap was becoming really big, I’m really happy. I just enjoyed this win and I’m looking forward to the next stages.”
Nicolas Halter didn’t have quite as straightforward an afternoon as Corvi, but he also led every lap en route to a 35-second victory.
Paul Schehl (Lexware Mountainbike Team) rallied on the final lap to cut almost half a minute off Halter’s lead, but the Swiss rider had built up such a buffer that he still crossed the line arms aloft with no other riders in sight.
Like Corvi, Schehl simply rode the rest of the pack off his wheel early on, and Canyon XC Racing’s Thibaut François Baudry was the only other rider to finish within a minute of him.
“I can’t believe it yet,” Halter said. “I already felt really good in the first uphill and I knew today is a good day. I think the key today was to ride smooth. Everybody makes faults but no big faults so I think that was the key today. Full gas all the time but never in the dark red.
“I just concentrated on myself, I knew the race will be long, it was pretty slow so I just tried to ride smooth all the time and then I got the gap.”
Five countries were represented on the U23 podiums, a fraction of the 37 nations that were on the entry sheets across the UCI Cross-country and Downhill World Cup rounds in South Korea.
However, neither Halter nor Corvi could help their teams make much impact in the mixed team standings as Specialized Factory Racing lead the way after round one, with Trek - Unbroken XC and Cannondale Factory Racing just 56 and 62 points behind.
Frei, Lillo, Halter and Corvi’s victories brought an end to the opening WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series of the season but the Cross-country competitors aren’t out of action for long as the UCI World Cup returns to Nové Město na Moravě in Czechia from May 22-25.
