Richards and Koretzky proved unstoppable in West Virginia as the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike Short-Track World Cup series headed across the pond to Snowshoe, USA
In the women’s race, no one had any answers for the power of Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing XC) who launched a devastating attack with two laps to go and never looked back.
The 26-year-old looked a class apart on the slippery, technical descents and only series leader Puck Pieterse (Alpecin- Decuninck) came close to matching the British national champion’s pace once she had built up a gap.
Richards crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Pieterse with Australian Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Genuins Racing Team) another four seconds back in third.
Pieterse retains the series leader’s jersey going into the final round in Canada next weekend.
And in the men’s Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) left it until the final climb on the final of five laps to launch an attack that no one could match.
A group of eight had started the last lap in a tight race led mostly by series leader Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) but it was France’s Koretzky who had the legs to make the decisive move eventually crossing the line two seconds ahead of title challenger Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) and four seconds ahead of Schwarzbauer.
In terms of the series, the third place for Schwarzbauer and second for Sarrou means the German still has some work to do to secure the title leading his French rival by 190 points going into the final round of the season with 250 points still on offer.
The U23 riders were in short-track action on Thursday night with Switzerland’s Ronja Blöchlinger (Liv Factory Racing) and USA’s Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing XC) taking the wins.
Blöchlinger made it seven short-track World Cup victories from seven this season to extend her stunning run of form and guarantee herself the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike Short-Track World Cup series title.
She crossed the line some six seconds ahead of UCI Short Track World Champion Samara Maxwell of New Zealand. Noëlle Buri (Bixs Performance Race Team) was third.
Riley Amos was a hugely popular home-nation winner, holding off a strong challenge from Canadian Carter Woods (Giant Factory Off-Road Team - XC) who came in five seconds back. Orbea Factory Team’s Luca Martin was third.
Series leader Adrien Boichis (Trinity Racing MTB) suffered a puncture in the middle of the race but managed to battle back to 11th spot. His performance means that like Blöchlinger, he goes into the eighth round in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada with an unassailable lead in the series.
Full results and standings are here
The cross-country stars are back in World Cup action on Sunday with the Cross-country Olympic races starting with the U23 men at 9am.
You can follow the U23 action live on UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube channel: from 08:45 EDT and then the elite racing live on GCN+ globally, and across Europe on the Eurosport app and discovery+ from 12:45 EDT
