Evie Richards and Victor Koretzky slide to wins in Snowshoe XCC

The world’s elite cross country had their first swing at the Snowshoe course on Friday, sprinting through the XCC World Cup. The course was long, for an XCC, and very technical making for interesting racing in the short-format discipline.

Elite women: Richards’ redemption

In the elite woman’s race, Loana Lecomte (Canyon Cllctv) led through the first corners and opening lap. Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took over going out onto the second of four laps.

While much of the course was drier than the last few days, one technical descent on the XCC course was still treacherously wet. That proved to be key for Evie Richards, who used the gnar to make her mark on Friday’s short track World Cup.

At the halfway point of the four-lap women’s race, Richards moved to the front and created space for herself on the descents. The Trek racer had clear space, but was still just off the front. Pieterse, Martina Berta, Lecomte, Rebecca Henderson, Alessandra Keller and Haley Batten all chased, just a handful of bike lengths behind the Malvern, U.K. racer.

Richards was able to hold off, or even extend her lead over the chasers as she climbed up toward the finish line on the final lap. Pieterse escape the chase group on the final climb, but was not closing in on Richards at all.

Evie Richards wins again in West Virginia, her first of the 2023 World Cup season.

“I Can’t believe it, I’m well happy. To finally get a win with my new coach, and with Riley getting a win yesterday its sick. I love coming here, the crowds love me, I don’t know why,” Richards said after the finish. “I feel like I’m a bit jet lagged still, like I’m in a bit of a daydream. I felt comfortable on the descent, and figured I needed two laps to get a good gap. There wasn’t much of a plan more than that.”

Pieterse finishes second with Rebecca Henderson (Mondraker Primaflor) holding off Alessandra Keller for third.

Haley Batten (Specialized) is the top North American in 7th. Jennifer Jackson (Liv Factory) finished 24th on Friday.

Elite men: Koretzky keeps winning streak alive

In the men’s race, it was, as usual, German Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon Cllctv) getting of the line fastest and onto the front. Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) briefly put his nose on the front after the first few corners but the Canyon racer was quick to re-take his place on the front as he would continue to do all race.

On the first lap, a group of four briefly escaped. In that group were Schwarzbauer, Schurter, Jordan Sarrou (BMC) and Victor Koretzky (Specialized)

By the fourth of five laps, though, the front group was all back together. The singletrack sections had forced the field to stretch out but a group of around 10 were still racing as a group.

Going out onto the final lap, Koretzky tried to launch an attack. That turned out to do little more than launch Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory) off the front and onto the descent. Schwarzbauer still wasn’t having any of it and quickly pushed back to the fore of the race. That opened another opportunity for Koretzky to launch his attack a second time, finally taking the lead into the steep, slimy descent.

That tactic earned Richards her advantage but Koretzky couldn’t shake the group off until the race turned back uphill. The Frenchman pounded the pedals to start to put his rivals in the rearview. Behin, Sarrou passed Schwarzbauer to lead the chase but Koretzky was uncatchable.

Victor Koretzky turned the final corner and sprinted the final uphill pitch with space to salute the U.S. crowd as he took the win. Sarrou earns second while Schwarzbauer takes third and, with that, the XCC World Cup overall title.

“Fourth win in a row, since Les Gets I’ve felt super good,” Koretzky said, before explaining his win. “It was a strange course, it was tough to manage the long laps, which made a little less strategy than a normal short race. At the start of the last lap, I was in a tough position with Charlie and Luca, but I managed to push and get the win.”

Gunnar Holmgren (Pivot Cycles-OTE) places 19th, missing the cut-off for front two rows which could be crucial this weekend for Sunday’s tactical start.