Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) claimed back-to-back UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup wins at the iconic Canadian venue, while Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) dominated the men’s race, securing the XCO overall series and finishing off an amazing year for the South African UCI XCO World Champion.
Mont-Sainte-Anne, in Quebec, is renowned for being one of the most technical UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup venues around, featuring Downhill-worthy descents and terrain suited to an all-out Enduro event. The difficulty was ramped up even more for today’s season finale though – cold and damp conditions making every root and rock in the forested sections extremely slippery.
After the lightning-fast course from last week in Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid (USA), Mont-Sainte-Anne would require a completely different skill set; less pure power and more bike-handling prowess.
Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) thrives in these conditions, and the Frenchwoman showed off her talents from the start lap, leading from the off to claim the 11th UCI XCO World Cup win of her career – and second consecutive UCI World Cup in Canada.
The men’s race also witnessed a masterclass from Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing), who led off the line and never looked in doubt throughout. The South African’s win clinched him the title, completing a near-clean sweep for the season with only Olympic gold alluding the 2024 UCI XCO World Champion.
LECOMTE OUTLASTS STIGGER IN A CLOSE-FOUGHT BATTLE
Loana Lecomte has had a solid second half of the season and the Frenchwoman was a sprint finish away from making it back-to-back UCI XCO World Cup victories last weekend after her win in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland.
Coming into Mont-Sainte-Anne, the 25-year-old was a favourite, having won at the venue in 2023. And when riders woke to find damp conditions on course, her superior bike-handling skills meant her chances had just improved.
She was positioned in the lead group alongside Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing Team), Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing – Pirelli) and Candice Lill on the start lap but used her climbing credentials to build an eight-second advantage by the end of the first lap proper.
Behind her, Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) was working her through the field, recovering from an 11-second deficit at the end of the starting lap to lead the first chase group. Last week’s UCI XCO World Cup winner had another on her radar and knew she couldn’t let Lecomte build a lead this early in the race.
The Austrian made contact with the Frenchwoman by the end of lap two, while her team-mate – Friday’s UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup-winner Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) – was only seven seconds back.
The pair couldn’t use team tactics to their advantage though, with Frei fading in the third lap. Stigger didn’t appear to need the support of the Swiss rider; the Austrian national champion asking questions of Lecomte as they continuously traded places at the front of the race.
Behind them, a battle for fourth broke out – Lill and overall series winner Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) going toe-to-toe with the South African privateer targeting second in the overall. Richards too was gradually clawing her way back into the top 10 after suffering a rear-wheel puncture.
Lecomte and Stigger were inseparable going into the final lap of the season and it became a question of who would blink first. Approaching the halfway point, the French national champion surged on one of the course’s long climbs, and Stigger had no response. The gap was suddenly into double figures, and while Stigger founed her composure and chipped away at Lecomte’s advantage on the downhill sections, it was ultimately too little too late.
With no threat of a repeat of last week’s sprint finish, Lecomte was able to roll her way over the line, taking her second win of the season in style. Stigger finished second, nine seconds behind, to take second place in the overall standings, with Frei third.
Speaking after the race, Loana Lecomte said: “I’m very happy. I think I’ve raced with Laura [Stigger] since Juniors and it’s always a pleasure to race with her. She was very fast and since the Olympics, I’ve finished just behind her, so I was a little bit scared. I made some space and I tried to attack when I was the best and it was in the steep part. It’s not the first climb of the lap but it was one of the first and she was a little bit more tired than me. I’m very motivated and I just want to recover and restart the new season, new story. I love riding my bike and I want to continue.”
HATHERLY PRODUCES MASTERCLASS TO CLINCH FINAL ROUND AND OVERALL
Alan Hatherly was in a strong position going into the final round of the season, but his overall title wasn’t a foregone conclusion – Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) able to swoop in and leapfrog the South African if he won and Hatherly finished further down the pack.
As soon as the racing started though, it was quite clear that there was only way the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series was ending.
Hatherly was on a flyer from the off, going solo to build a 20-second lead in the first lap. The UCI XCO World Champion continued to extend the gap between him and the chasing pack, which was led by Koretzky and Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon Ford Racing Team).
The pair kept the South African on an invisible leash, holding the rainbow jersey’s advantage at 30 seconds as the race approached its midway point.
Koretzky soon started the flag though – a season’s exploits catching up with the Frenchman as his chances of a second-consecutive XCC-XCO double started to fade. Azzaro – second-place yesterday in the XCC race – meanwhile appeared energised, and started to reel Hatherly in. By lap six, the Frenchman had finally got onto the race leader’s rear wheel, but within minutes Hatherly was out of the saddle, attacking to try and drop Azzaro just as he was recovering from his exploits. Azzaro initially held Hatherly’s wheel on the long, drawn-out climb, but the rainbow jersey soon started to disappear into the distance, increasing his advantage to 14-seconds as he crossed the start-finish lap for the penultimate time.
The Frenchman had nothing left in the tank, and Hatherly was able to complete a victory lap in front of huge crowds in Canada – the South African putting on a masterclass in Mont-Sainte-Anne.
While first and second were settled, there was a scrap for third with Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing), Koretzky and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team). Alridge appeared to have the advantage after attacking on the final long climb, but Koretzky simply doesn’t know when he’s beaten – the XCC overall series winner using his sprinting skills to overtake the Scotsman in the dying stages of the season to clinch third and confirm second in the overall.
Speaking after the race, Alan Hatherly said: “The overall was one objective for today. The main objective was to win with the rainbow jersey. It’s one thing to win the UCI World Championships, but I wanted to win a UCI World Cup again this year just to finish. I was really excited. I went to the front in the start lap and got a gap straight away and I was like ‘okay, let’s go long’. It was super tough, and I had to be tactical when Mathis caught me, but I had more in the tank and just emptied it. I thought ‘this is it, the final 20 minutes of racing for the year and I just need to go for it’, and I did exactly that.
BÖHM AND LILLO DO THE DOUBLE
The Elite XCO races were sandwiched by the U23 UCI XCO World Cups, which saw commanding performances by Kira Böhm (Cube Factory Racing) and Dario Lillo (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) – the pair both recording XCC-XCO doubles in Mont-Sainte-Anne.
The women’s U23 UCI XCO World Cup kicked off proceedings on the last day of the season, and saw Böhm put in a dominant display to add the U23 UCI XCO World Cup to her victory in Thursday’s Short Track. But it could have been a very different story if it wasn’t for a crash by the U23 UCI XCO World Champion Isabella Holmgren.
Home favourite Holmgren had built an impressive lead after attacking on the second lap, increasing her advantage by almost a minute in a single loop of the Mont-Sainte-Anne course. But things came crashing down just one lap later – the 19-year-old going over the handlebars and hitting the deck hard. While she remounted, the off saw her lose more than four minutes, and she was forced to retire.
Böhm meanwhile seized the opportunity, pulling away from Olivia Onesti (Trinx Factory Team) and building an unassailable lead. Her win was the third of the season, securing her the overall series to go with the XCC title.
Speaking after the race, Kira Böhm said: “It means a lot to me. It’s nice that I did the double win here in Mont-Sainte-Anne like I did at the start of the season in Brazil. It was the best finish. I’m really looking forward [to the Elites]. It’s going to be fun but also super tough. [The most important learning] has been to believe in myself.”
The final action of the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series was contested by the U23 men. And it was an absolute cracker to end the season.
Lillo, Luca Martin (Orbea Factory Team) and Yannis Musy broke away from the rest of the field and accrued a sizeable advantage on the first full lap. Rather than battle each other for supremacy, the trio worked well to grow their gap and put themselves in a strong position to contest the top three spots.
The race didn’t go to the line though, with Lillo putting in an attack at the start of the final lap that Martin and Musy simply couldn’t track. The Swiss rider – who had already won both XCC races in North America – built up a head of steam and couldn’t be caught, logging the fastest lap of the race and overcoming a small crash as he time trialled his way to the line for only his second-ever U23 UCI XCO win. Martin came home second, with Musy third.
Speaking after the race, Dario Lillo said: “It means a lot. It hasn’t been the easiest season for me. I went into the season with high expectations, and I struggled quite a lot in Brazil with the first few rounds. Before the world champs, I was able to do a good reset, and from then on, I was able to take off. The trip we had with my team the last few weeks, I think that was the best two weeks in my life – we had so much fun, and it was a good atmosphere. I think you can see that in the results. In the second half of the season, [Luca Martin] and I had a few battles, and I knew what his strengths were, so I knew from my short races that the sprint in the last lap is quite good. That’s what I tried, and I was able to make a gap at the highest point, but I crashed, so it was hard to get back after that but I was able to do it and finish the race a few seconds in front, and that’s all that matters.”
In the overall series, Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing – Pirelli) finished 13th and completed the XCC-XCO overall double. It was the American’s last race in the U23 category, and he looks set to battle it out with the Elite class when he makes the step-up next season.
Speaking after the race, Riley Amos said: “Oh my god, that felt like the longest race of the year. That was so sick. By far the best track of the year and the conditions were so sick. I was absolutely crawling. It’s been a long year, and my back was hurting me really bad today. But it was sick to really push those descents and try and battle with every guy that came by me. It’s been an amazing year and I got both the overalls so there’s no better way to finish my U23 career.”
While Mont-Sainte-Anne is the final round of the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series, the action kicks off again next April with the opening race of the 15 round 2025 season in Araxá - Minas Gerais, Brazil. For more information about the 2025 calendar and the latest news, keep an eye out on www.ucimtbworldseries.com
