Loana Lecomte, at 21 years of age, dominates and wins the 2021 Albstadt XCO World Cup

After Friday's Short Track the expectation had only grown and the number of favourites aiming for the podium had increased. But France's Loana Lecomte proved that her decision to compete in the elite class was the right one and won the 2021 Albstdat XCO World Cup with absolute superiority.

Loana Lecomte wins the 2021 Albstadt XCO World Cup

As soon as the lights turned green, Switzerland's Linda Indergand took the lead of the race again, as she did in the Short Track, but it only lasted until the first uphill of the opening lap, when Dutch rider Anne Terpstra took over and began to stretch the group.

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We were only on the opening lap and the attacks kept coming, but the one by Loana Lecomte really made the difference. The Frenchwoman attacked and went solo with no one able to follow her. By lap 1 Lecomte had a 22-second lead over the chasing group of Anne Terpstra, Kate Courtney and Pauline Ferrand Prevot.

World Champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot led the chase and from second position she broke away from the group to close the gap to Lecomte. In this way the race was left with Lecomte in the lead, Pauline Ferrand 21 seconds behind and Kate Cortney 29 seconds away. Following behind, the first group was almost 40 seconds away from the first position with McConnell, Sina Frei, Jolanda Neff and Linda Indersgand.

Loana Lecomte's superiority was confirmed at the start of lap 2 when we saw her advantage over Pauline and Kate Courtney continue to increase to almost 40 seconds. 

The first victim of the agonising start to the race was American Kate Courtney, who began to fall off the pace as Bec McConnell gained third place and Jolanda Neff moved up to fourth.

While Loana Lecomte was riding strong and confident, Pauline Ferrand Prevot looked a little more fatigued by lap 3. Lecomte's lead was already 47 seconds over her compatriot and 1 minute over Australia's Bec McConnell in third place.

The gap only increased and Lecomte dominated the race with an iron fist, proving that her victories last year were not just a one-day affair. Behind, Bec McConnell was feeling the fatigue of her climb to the podium and began to fall away as Kate Courtney recovered and with compatriot Haley Batten battled for third place.

After 59 minutes of racing, Loana Lecomte was already 52 seconds ahead of Pauline Ferrand Prevot and more than 1 minute ahead of the rest of her rivals. And if many of us were expecting to see her in front, perhaps we did not imagine such superiority over riders like Courtney or Ferrand Prevot.

At the start of the last lap there were few riders who had any cards left to play. Lecomte, with a lead of more than a minute, was on course to win her first 2021 World Cup. Ferrand Prevot was content to hold on to second place trying not to expend more energy than necessary and behind her, American Haley Batten was protecting her third place with Kate Courtney following close behind.

With no surprises, Loana Lecomte won the 2021 Albstadt XCO World Cup with an incredible superiority considering she is still 21 years old. Pauline Ferrand Prevot came second and American Haley Batten closed the podium.

Spain's Rocío del Alba García had a very good race from start to finish and made it into the top 20, in 17th position. Natalia Fischer finally came in 66th position.

Results Women 2021 Albstadt XCO World Cup

1. Loana Lecomte 1:21:38
2. Pauline Ferrand Prevot +0:53
3. Haley Batten +1:15
4. Kate Courtney +1:20
5. Yana Belomoina +1:30
6. Anne Terpstra +1:47
7. Linda Indergand +1:57
8. Jenny Rissveds +2:11
9. Eva Lechner +2:54
10. Sina Frei +3:03