On May 26th Mathieu Van der Poel achieved his first success in the UCI MTB World Cup 2019 in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic. For women, Kate Courtney confirmed!
The second stage of the Mercedes Benz UCI World Cup (replays visible on Red Bull TV) celebrated the 24-year-old Dutchman, son of Adrie Van der Poel (in the palmares he boasts two stages in the Tour de France and the cyclocross world title in 1996) and grandson by Raymond Poulidor (a Vuelta a España and seven stages in the Tour de France as well as many other titles). Mathieu van der Poel had already imposed himself on Friday 24 May in the short track, where the American Chloe Woodruff had surprisingly won in the women's field.
The women's race gave a lot of emotions, especially during the last lap. Anna Tauber was overcome on the steepest ramp - after the chain fell - by Kate Courtney who, after the victory in Albstadt the week before, is reconfirmed for the second time. The order of arrival is rather unprecedented: Jolanda Neff, in addition to having yielded positions for the initial overspeed, punctures losing further ground.
The ranking therefore sees the Australian Rebecca McConnell and the Canadian Haley Smith in second and third position, behind the 23-year-old Californian.
A special mention goes to the Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds who returns to compete. In addition, the forfeit of Annika Langvad, dominatrix of the last editions, should be noted.
The Italians Chiara Teocchi and Eva Lachner placed 19th and 20th respectively.
After the girls, in a Vysocina Arena in perfect condition, it was the men's turn. The usual battles were given to each other Nino Schurter and Mathieu Van Der Poel, dominator of the cyclocross season and fresh from good results on the road too, who was looking for his first victory by weight in the XCO.
The Dutchman, after a monstrous acceleration that literally left the world champion in place, went on to take first place.
The Czech Ondrej Cynk finished third, behind him Mathias Flückinger and Henrique Avancini. Among the Azzurri, good 7th position for the Italian champion Gerhard Kerschbaumer, 15th for Luca Braidot and 17th for Gioele Bertolini.
After two races Kate Courtney and Mathieu Van der Poel are leading the general classification with a good gap on the other contenders for the title!
As always, whether it's XC or DH, all races will be broadcast live on www.redbull.com.
Watch the second leg of the XCO World Cup on Red Bull TV.
Jacopo Pellegrini
