Alessandra Keller wins an epic Snowshoe 2022 XCO World Cup

Alessandra Keller won her first XCO World Cup race at Snowshoe. A race marked by rain, mud and fog in which the Swiss was the fastest after a fall of Jenny Rissveds in a key moment of the race.

Alessandra Keller wins the Snowshoe XCO World Cup 2022

With a circuit partially covered by fog, the Snowshoe women's XCO race started. The Swedish Jenny Rissveds imposed a very high pace from the first lap, in total there would be 7, and that allowed her to open a small gap quickly.

Switzerland's Jolanda Neff was very strong from the start in the more technical areas and that allowed her to make early contact with Rissveds. She was not the only one. And before the start of the second lap a lead group was formed with 7 cyclists: Rissveds, Neff, Anne Terpstra, Alessandra Keller, Kate Courtney, Savilia Blunk and Haley Batten.

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Overall leader Rebecca McConnell was almost 40 seconds behind in 14th position. The Australian was suffering from the hard crash she experienced on one of the bridges during Friday's Short Track.

By lap 3, the race was breaking down into small groups, and in first position Jenny Rissveds was again leading alone with Alessandra Keller chasing about 5 seconds behind, while Anne Terpstra was holding third.

But in reality the gap was still minimal and behind them were a large number of riders ready to surprise in the final laps, such as the recent US champion Savilia Blunk, her compatriots Haley Batten and Gwendalyn Gibson, or the Austrian Mona Mitterwallner.

The rain appeared with three laps to go and became more intense as the kilometers went by. 

By then, the race had already broken completely and in front, Jenny Rissveds and Allesandra Keller were leading the race with constant attacks on each other without seeming to be affected by the weather.

The gap to Anne Terpstra, in third position on lap 6, was already more than half a minute, and more than a minute to Mona Mitterwallner in fourth.

The fog, water and a circuit full of roots was leaving us an epic race in which Jenny Rissveds was fighting to unhook Alessandra Keller definitively without success. The Swiss was holding well the attacks of Rissveds in the most technical downhills and did not let the difference was more than 7 seconds between them.

On the last lap, the rain became even more intense and in one of the most slippery areas of the circuit, Jenny Rissveds suffered a crash in which she lost the first position to Alessandra Keller.

Keller was facing a golden opportunity to win her first XCO World Cup race and the Swiss rider took advantage to launch an attack that gained a lead of almost 20 seconds over Rissveds in just a few meters.

Alessandra Keller arrived first at the finish line to win the Snowshoe 2022 XCO World Cup. The first in the Elite category of her sporting career. Sweden's Jenny Rissveds came in second more than half a minute behind and Anne Terpstra third.

Mona Mitterwallner was fourth and Switzerland's Jolanda Neff came in fifth to complete the podium.

Results Women's XCO Snowshoe 2022 World Cup

1. KELLER Alessandra (THÖMUS MAXON) 
2. RISSVEDS Jenny (TEAM 31 IBIS CYCLES)
3. TERPSTRA Anne (GHOST FACTORY RACING) 
4. MITTERWALLNER Mona (CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING
5. NEFF Jolanda (TREK FACTORY RACING XC) 
6. BLUNK Savilia
7. BATTEN Haley (SPECIALIZED FACTORY RACING) 
8. GIBSON Gwendalyn (NORCO FACTORY TEAM) 
9. BOHÉ Caroline (GHOST FACTORY RACING) 
10. COURTNEY Kate (SCOTT-SRAM MTB RACING TEAM)