The UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cups have been dominated by two riders this season – Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) having a 100% win record at every race that they’ve started. But both winning runs came to an end at elevation in Pal Arinsal (Andorra), with Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) and Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) demonstrating that the pair aren’t infallible.
Keller showed why she’s the reigning UCI XCC World Cup overall winner, biding her time and launching an attack on the last lap that UCI XCC World Champion Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) could do nothing about.
The win was her third XCC victory in Pal Arinsal - Andorra – the Swiss rider winning every UCI XCC World Cup ever at the Andorran venue – and the sixth of her career, taking her level with Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Pieterse in the all-time standings, and one shy of Richards’ record seven.
In the men’s Elite, Martin did to Blevins what the American has done to everyone else all year, throwing the hammer down in the final lap and building enough of a gap to hold off the series leader’s sprint as the pair raced for the line.
Martin’s win – a week after he clinched the French national championship in the XCC and Cross-country Olympic (XCO) – was his first UCI XCC World Cup win in the Elite class, but the U23 UCI XCO World Champion has already displayed that he’s comfortable after making the step up.
After the Elites, it was the turn of the U23s on Pal Arinsal’s high-altitude course, and it witnessed wins for the series leaders – Katharina Sadnik claiming her first UCI XCC World Cup victory, while Finn Treudler (Cube Factory Racing) made it three in a row.
CONSISTENT KELLER RETURNS TO TOP SPOT
Alessandra Keller is renowned for her consistency, and the Swiss rider’s ability to churn out top-10 results even when she misses out on the podium saw her clinch both the UCI XCO and XCC overall titles in 2024.
Her best result to date in this series’ Short Track has been third at the opening round in Araxá, Minas Gerais (Brazil), and the focus has understandably been on Richards and Pieterse, who have cleaned up at the opening five rounds. But as the season entered its second half, Keller has shown that she’s just getting started with the defence of her title.
Initially, it looked like the race would go the way of the last three UCI XCC World Cups – Pieterse appearing imperious as she led the field through the opening two laps, with Richards back at the front after sitting out the last round in Val di Sole - Trentino (Italy).
But by lap three of nine, the Dutchwoman looked like she had a fight on her hands to claim a fourth consecutive win, with Richards, Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) and Keller coming to the fore.
By lap five, this was our leading quartet, and the podium looked like it would come from this four, although Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team) had brought back the chasing pack midway through the sixth lap.
The following lap, Keller led into the first wooded section’s multiple lines for the first time, while Pieterse was unable to hold the pace of the Swiss rider, Richards and Rissveds.
On the penultimate loop, Keller and Richards had created a gap, with Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) timing her surge to perfection to slot into third. It was Richards who blinked first, launching her attack long at the sound of the final lap’s bell, but Keller had the legs on the course’s long start climb to take the lead into the first wooded section. The Swiss rider started distancing the rainbow jersey, putting in a few bike lengths as they wound their way around Pal Arinsal’s XCC course for the final time, and entering the start/finish straight, Richards knew she wouldn’t have the legs to contest for the win and appeared happy to settle for second. Blöchlinger did enough to hold onto third, with Pieterse fourth.
Speaking at the end of the race, Keller said: “Everyone knows how my winter was and coming back from an injury is never easy so I can’t complain about how it worked at the beginning [of the season]. Obviously, Andorra is a very good spot for me so I’m very happy to get the win here again.
“Evie is very strong as well. I think I was just missing that peak power after the injury. I’m slowly getting back. Obviously, I felt very strong from the beginning of the race, and I knew that the uphill is mild, so I really love that one.
“It’s good for me to be back on the top spot. I’m very proud.”
MARTIN TAKES DEBUT WIN TO END BLEVINS’ RECORD RUN
Christopher Blevins has been so dominant in the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, winning five out of five XCC races, that pre-race it was almost a foregone conclusion that the American would extend his record to six in a row in Andorra.
It was Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) who took the early initiative though, launching off the start of the 11-lap race with Blevins hot on his tail. While the Swiss rider would fade shortly after, it was clear that Blevins wouldn’t have it all his own way in Pal Arinsal, with a competitive six-strong lead group forming, including team-mate Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing), Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team), Mathis Azzaro (Origine Racing Division), Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Luca Martin. The pack would constantly shuffle, with no one rider taking the race by the scruff of the neck, and at the halfway point, it could have been anyone's.
Aldridge was the first to have a dig on lap seven, but his attack was extinguished before it had properly got started – a mechanical forcing the Scotsman to dismount and put his chain back on, spelling the end of his search for a first UCI XCC World Cup win.
The following lap, it was Koretzky who showed his hand, with Martin and Blevins hot on his heels. But the Frenchman and reigning UCI XCC World Champion hasn’t looked like his 2024 best, and by lap nine, he’d slipped back to fifth with Blevins back in control.
The American’s signature move has been to attack on the last lap, but he went on the penultimate instead, with Martin and Azzaro the only riders not gapped. Koretzky’s day would go from bad to worse – a snapped chain forcing him to fall on a climb and ultimately DNF, while the Frenchman’s spill would also hold up Schurter.
Taking the last lap’s bell, Blevins still led, but Martin had other ideas, attacking on the course’s first descent before powering his way up the climb into the first wooded section. The Frenchman – wearing the tricolour jersey after winning last week’s national championships – had done something no one else has managed this year by creating a gap between himself and Blevins, and with time running out, the American would need to win it in a sprint. Martin held out though, consigning Blevins to second for the first time this year, while Azzaro came home third.
His win propels him up to third in the rankings, although Blevins still has a 578-point lead over second-place Koretzky.
Speaking at the end of the race, Martin said: “It’s amazing to ride with the big guys. It is my first year in the Elite. Last week I won the French championships two times. I’m so happy that the bike works so well on this track.
“Last week we had the French championship at altitude, and I tried to work at altitude. It’s hard to do intervals and stay in the right zone.
“Honestly, I’m totally dead after the sixth lap. And I say ride off the front now. The last bit I see the front wheel [of Blevins] and I think ‘I’ve got a problem’ but I gave it everything.”
SERIES LEADERS SADNIK AND TREUDLER ASSERT DOMINANCE IN U23
Katharina Sadnik recorded her debut win in the U23 UCI XCC World Cup, outsprinting fellow breakaway rider Valetina Corvi (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) at the line.
Corvi had led a group of 10 from the start, which was slowly whittled away, and as the race reached its halfway point, the Italian and series leader Sadnik attacked, dropping the likes of Ella Macphee (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) and Ella Maclean-Howell (Cube Factory Racing) like stones.
The pair would essentially time-trial their way to the line, but it was Sadnik who had energy left in reserve as she outsprinted Corvi. Sina Van Thiel (Lexware Mountainbike Team) completed the podium, crossing the finish line almost 30 seconds in arrears.
The men’s U23 race was a tighter affair than the women’s, with Finn Treudler seizing the initiative on the last lap to take his third consecutive win of the season.
The Swiss rider found himself down in 12th after the first lap but overcame a disappointing start to get into the seven-strong lead group by the end of lap three. He bided his time, marking other attacks from the likes of Heby Gustav Pedersen (Wilier-Vittoria Factory team), before launching one of his own on the penultimate loop that only Pedersen and Nicolas Halter could follow.
He built enough of a gap to be able to ride unopposed to the line, with Pedersen and Halter battling it out for the remaining podium spots – the Dane getting the better of the Swiss rider.
Treudler’s third consecutive win solidifies his top spot in the overall, with Pedersen more than 100 points back in second.
Speaking at the end of the race, Finn Treudler said: “Racing at altitude is so different for the body. The lungs are burning so bad after the race. I’m happy with my effort today. I didn’t burn too many matches, and I still took the win, so I’m happy. I messed up my start so I was a bit far back, but I knew that the race would be so hard that I could move up in the last part. In two weeks, I have to defend my European championship, which is a big goal, and then I’m off for some rest before the big goal of worlds at home.”
The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series action continues in Pal Arinsal - Andorra tomorrow as the Downhill riders compete in the sixth UCI Downhill World Cup of the season.
