Mountain bike: Mitterwallner and Avancini reclaim cross-country marathon rainbows

Avancini reclaims his rainbow

Austria’s Mona Mitterwallner (2021 UCI World Champion) and Brazil’s Henrique Avancini (2018 UCI World Champion) today reclaimed their rainbow bands at the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country Marathon World Championships.

Each beat talent-packed fields across a beautiful and challenging course that finished in the Glentress Forest at Tweed Valley, in Scotland.

Under light cloud, with moderate temperatures around 13 degrees Celsius, the UCI mountain bike cross-country marathon (XCM) races – part of the UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland - began with mass starts from the historic Traquair House. Riders covered a 96.5km route that featured 3,200m of elevation, crossing though five Scottish forests.

Avancini reclaims his rainbow

The118-strong men’s field featured a host of international talent and former UCI World Champions. The top-five bib numbers were worn by Italy’s Fabian Rabensteiner (European Champion and winner of the first round of the 2023 UCI World Cup), Germany’s Andreas Seewald (2021 UCI World Champion and 2022 runner-up), UCI Ranking Number 3 Martin Stošek (CZE), Simon Schneller (GER) and Hugo Drechou (FRA). However, the biggest threat was to come from outside of that group.

At the first split after over an hour of racing, Germany’s Martin Frey led from Hans Becking (NED), 2018 UCI World Champion Henrique Avancini, Colombia’s Héctor Páez (2019 and 2020 UCI World Champion) and Lukas Baum (GER). They were the front riders in a pack of 30 that also included Seewald, UCI Ranking Number 1 Rabensteiner, Stošek, South Africa’s Alan Hatherly and British hope Cameron Mason.

After two hours, a group of five – Baum, Hatherly, Italy’s Lorenzo Samparisi, Mason and Avancini – had eked out a 20-sec gap from a group of eight riders including Frey and Rabensteiner. At Split 3, Avancini and Baum had pulled 30-sec clear of Becking and Alexandre Balmer (SUI), with Rabensteiner and Stošek together a minute behind the Brazilian leader.

By the final split, Becking had fallen back to the five-strong Rabensteiner group. Balmer was dropped by a strong looking Avancini, but with Baum closing back up and Stošek slightly distanced but holding on.

And it was the 34-year-old Brazilian Avancini who raised his clenched fists across the line in a time of 4:14:42, to reclaim his rainbow bands from five years earlier. The Czech Stošek closed in for second (+28sec) and Baum dropped to third at +1:34. Two minutes later, as Balmer faded, Marc Stutzmann (SUI) and Héctor Páez came through for 4th and 5th respectively.

Mitterwallner powers home solo!

A women’s field of 62 set off with the favourites including 2021 UCI World Champion Mona Mitterwallner, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lejla Njemčević (winner of the year’s first UCI World Cup), the UCI Ranked no 2 and 3 riders Stefanie Dohrn (GER) and Estelle Morel (FRA), as well as Katazina Sosna of Lithuania.

An hour in, two riders had gone clear: South Africa’s Candice Lill (2022 Commonwealth Games cross-country Olympic bronze medalist), and Mitterwallner. They had pulled almost a minute ahead of a group of seven, including Morel, winner of the 2nd round of the 2023 UCI World Cup Adelheid Morath (GER), Paula Gorycka (POL), Vera Looser of Namibia, Sandra Mairhofer (ITA) and New Zealand’s Samara Sheppard. Half a minute further back was a trio including UCI Ranking no 1 Njemčević.

After almost 2 and a half hours of riding, the front pair had been joined by the trio of Gorycka, Morath and Morel to form a lead group of five, with a 90-second gap back to the chasing group of six. They were three minutes clear of the next nearest riders, with Sosna +6:04 and leading Briton Isla Short +7:14.

By Split 3, just over 3 hours into the race, Mitterwallner made a 13-sec advantage over Lill, with Morath solo 1 minute further back and Morel at +2:00. And the 21-year-old Austrian went away solo, pulling out a 2-minute gap from Lill as they went into the famous Glentress Forest, with Morath, Morel and Njemčević all more than 8 minutes behind Mitterwallner.

In the final reckoning, Mitterwallner – who in 2023 has podiumed in XCO at her home UCI Mountain Bike World Cup round and the UEC European Championships – crossed the line in a time of 5:07:50.

The South African reduced the gap at the end, claiming the silver medal 54sec behind. The bronze belonged to Morath, almost 10 minutes behind Mitterwallner. Njemčević and Morel were 4th and 5th, respectively, on a hard fought battle in the Scottish forests – where the day belonged to Austria and Brazil.