August 30, 2021 - (Val di Sole, IT) Day three of the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships saw rainbow stripes awarded to Nicole Göldi of Switzerland and Jérôme Gilloux in the E-Mountain bike cross-country.
Women E-MTB: Göldi takes gold
Nicole Göldi – who raced as a Junior in the cross-country Olympic (XCO) in 2020 – took Switzerland’s second gold of the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, after Sina Frei’s cross-country short track (XCC) win on Thursday, winning the women’s E-Mountain Bike cross-country race at Val di Sole.
Twenty riders representing nine nations clipped in for the mass start race of six 2.38km laps. They included 2019 UCI E-Mountain bike UCI World Champion Nathalie Schneitter (SUI), Sofia Wiedenroth (GER) and Mélanie Pugin (FRA), who have each won two races at this year’s 2021 UCI E-Mountain Bike Cross-country World Cups. Also in the field were such varied talents as Hungarian road race champion Kata Blanka Vas – aged 19 – who impressed with her 4th place in the XCO at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and Tracy Moseley (GBR), UCI World Champion for Downhill in 2010 and multiple UCI World Cup winner, aged 42.
Laura Charles (FRA) took an early lead just ahead of Göldi who pushed ahead early on lap 3, with Charles just behind. Wiedenroth was in 3rd, slipping back on time, with reigning UCI E-Mountain Bike World Champion Pugin just behind her in 4th and the British pair of Harriet Harnden and Moseley in 5th and 6th.
The leading duo escaped and it was only on lap 5 that the 18-year-old Swiss rider started to get a tangible advantage over the French woman. 2020’s silver medalist Kathrin Stirnemann broke into the top 6 and her fellow Swiss rider Andrea Waldis also passed Moseley, but the front five were away.
Charles fought back at the finish but it was the youngster Göldi who held it on the line with a gap of 13 seconds, claiming the rainbow jersey. Wiedenroth earned the bronze medal and the battle behind that had been raging was settled with Harnden pipping Pugin by just 1sec.
Men E-MTB: Gilloux’s sheer determination
The seven-lap men’s race saw 39 riders start, but it soon became clear that only two were fighting for the gold medal. Jérôme Gilloux, winner of the first four rounds of the 2021 UCI E-Mountain Bike World Cup, and his French countryman Hugo Pigeon swapped the early lead ahead of Swiss rider Joris Ryf – winner of the last two UCI World Cup races and a podium finisher in every one this year.
Behind him were two Americans; Charlie Mullins (6th in 2020) and Christopher Blevins, winner of the cross-country Short Track XCC on Thursday.
World no 1 ranked Gilloux, runner-up in the E-Mountain Bike races at both the 2019 and 2020 UCI World Championships behind Alan Hatherly (RSA) and Tom Pidcock (GBR) respectively, looked determined not to settle for a third consecutive silver medal and pushed the pace. He and Pigeon pulled away from Ryf, generating a gap of 45 seconds by lap 5, as the Team USA riders swapped places and Blevins honed in on the Swiss rider, searching for his second medal in as many days.
On lap 6 Blevins hit third spot and into the final lap, 27-year-old Gilloux made a move on his compatriot, putting 14 seconds into him to set up a winning time of 51:44 with a margin of 22 seconds.
Julien Absalon, five-time UCI XCO World Champion, and E-Mountain Bike bronze medalist in 2019, was one of five French riders to finish in the top nine – but the one that matters most belongs to Jérôme Gilloux, finally claiming the rainbow jersey.
Full results here.
