Blevins and Richards achieve the first victories of the season in the Araxá World Cup

The World Cup kicked off this Saturday in Araxá with the electric and vibrant Short Track heats. On the red sand of Minas Gerais, the British Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) and the American Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) secured the first 250 points in the overall World Cup standings.

Solid victory for Evie Richards in the women's race

The runner-up of the XCC World Cup last year demonstrated her skills in this discipline on the Brazilian circuit, completing a very serious race from the start; taking the lead when required by the movements of her rivals and attacking in the final part to secure a final four alongside New Zealander Maxwell and Swiss riders Keller and Frei.

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Jenny Rissveds (Canyon) and Laura Stigger (Specialized) set the pace of the group in the early stages, even gaining a slight advantage over the rest of the riders before Loana Lecomte (BMC), Evie Richards (Trek), Sina Frei (Specialized), and Alessandra Keller (Thomus) joined the duo, forming a sextet that quickly opened up a gap over the rest before the second pass through the finish line. 

However, as usual in XCC, the margin was not definitive, and cyclists like the Oceanian Samara Maxwell (Decathlon) and the Canadian Jennifer Jackson (Orbea) also reached a front group that once again exceeded fifteen units.

Almost halfway through the race, Lecomte decided to push a little harder on the climb to select and, above all, stretch the group, although the response from the Swiss riders Keller and Frei and a brave Richards slowed down the race again and left about twenty cyclists with a chance to reach the podium halfway through the final lap. Nevertheless, Keller, Richards, Frei, and Maxwell started the last lap with an interesting advantage over the rest, which the world champion took advantage of to once again demonstrate her skills in the short discipline and start the World Series with a victory ahead of an also ecstatic Samara Maxwell and Alessandra Keller.

UCI MTB World Series XCC Elite Women's Classification

1st Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) 21'25"
2nd Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) at 1"
3rd Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) at 5"
4th Nicole Koller (Ghost Factory Racing) at 12"
5th Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) at 22"
6th Jennifer Jackson (Orbea Fox Factory Team) at 24"
7th Candice Lill at 24"
8th Jenny Rissveds (CLLCTV) at 25"
9th Kira Bohm (Cube Factory Racing) at 28"
10th Kate Courtney at 28"

Blevins led the Specialized double in Araxá

The men's race was more tactical, with almost the entire peloton riding compactly for much of the eight laps on the fun Araxá circuit. The European champion of the discipline, Danish Simon Andreassen (Orbea Fox Factory Team), was the first to increase the pace before the second pass through the finish line. British Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale) responded quickly, as did several favorites of this World Cup like Victor Koretzky (Specialized) and Mathias Fluckiger (Thomus).

It was the Swiss rider who passed first at the end of the third lap ahead of Mathis Azzaro (Origin Racing Division), who was also very active in the middle of the race. American Christophe Blevins and Chilean Martín Vidaurre, both from the Specialized team, also fought to position themselves as high as possible alongside Andreassen, who occasionally moved to the front of the group.

The pace increased three laps from the end, in the sixth lap where the pistachio green of Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon) appeared for the first time. However, the top thirty of this short track were still riding within a margin of just 10 seconds. Everything changed on the climb of the seventh lap. Blevins launched a strong attack that was responded to by the French champion Mathis Azzaro. A small problem that forced him to dismount prevented Koretzky from following his compatriot and the American. Before the bell rang, Sarrou (BMC) and Andreassen joined the front.

Unleashed and recovered, Koretzky returned to the first group to once again position himself first and crown the final climb behind Blevins, who, although he couldn't drop his teammate, managed to beat the Frenchman to lead the Specialized double in Araxá. Azzaro completed a podium with three of the most active riders in this race.

UCI MTB World Series XCC Elite Men's Classification

1st Christophe Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) 21'40"
2nd Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) at 1"
3rd Mathis Azzaro (Origin Racing Division) at 2"
4th Thomas Litscher at 6"
5th Jordan Sarrou (BMC Factory Racing) at 7"
6th Simon Andreassen (Orbea Fox Factory Racing) at 8"
7th Luca Braidot (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) at 9"
8th Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB) at 10"
9th Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) at 12"
10th Lars Forster (Thomus Maxon) at 13"

The races will return to Araxá this Sunday with the dispute of the different XCO heats in all categories. A moment to evaluate the true form of all the favorites over the Olympic distance in this early part of the season.