Cuervo and Morath win the Finale Ligure 2023 XCM World Cup: "The race was really hard"

The recently released calendar of the XCM World Cup reached its second appointment in Italy, in what has become known as Finale Outdoor Region. There the Colombian Arias Cuervo and the German Adelheid Morath have taken the victory on a 100 km course with almost 4000 m of positive vertical drop.

Arias Cuervo and Adelheid Morath claim XCM victory in Italy

After its premiere in Nove Mesto, the new XC Marathon World Cup arrived in Italy to take place in what is now known as Finale Outdoor Region, in the spectacular surroundings of Finale Ligure. A coastal area where the sun and the heat were the protagonists of the race.

In the men's race, Colombian Diego Alfonso Arias Cuervo, runner-up in the 2021 XCM World Championship, took the victory by finishing first, just over a minute ahead of Czech rider Martin Stosek (Canyon Northwave MTB Team). Fabian Rabensteiner of the Italian Wilier-Pirelli Factory Team MX closed the podium in third place.

This is how Cuervo explained his victory after the race:

"The race was really hard. I had a tough time because there were a lot of climbs and they were really rough. Around the 60km mark I started upping the pace, I was tied with the second placed rider but during that climb I was able to pick up some space and distance between us and that’s when I managed to make a bigger gap and win the race.

It’s the second most important win of my career after the 2021 World Championships in Elba."

In the women's race, the German Adelheid Morath won the race after a breakthrough start in which she opened the necessary gap so that Lejla Njemcevic, the winner in Nove Mesto, had to settle for second place at the finish. The podium was closed by Namibia's Vera Looser.

At the conclusion, Morath commented:

"I think it was the hardest race in my whole career, it was super tough. The course was like 3700m of climbing but in a very technical terrain, so steep and loose, but beautiful. The first part was rooty and a little bit wet and then the last part was so dry, steep and hot. It was brutal with the sun, so there was some suffering.

I tried on the first climb to make a gap and I felt good, so about 10km in I got the gap and I kept it to the finish, it was incredible.

It means a lot to me that now we have world cup racing in marathon, it’s a big step and also for women’s racing, so it really meant a lot to me, I'm very emotional. Today was a day that I will keep in my mind for a lifetime."

The next big event on the international XCM calendar will be the World Cup in Scotland on August 6th and the XCM World Cup will return on September 16th in France.