Gunnar Holmgren flirts with elite top-10 in Les Gets World Cup
Canada’s Gunnar Holmgren came within two laps of an absolutely sensational result in the elite men’s World Cup XCO on Sunday in Les Gets. Building off of an already-impressive showing in Friday’s short track XC, Pivot Cyles-OTE’s Ontarian was riding in the top-10 alongside the world’s best until an untimely mechanical put him out of contention.
While it may not have ended the way he wanted, it is a huge moment for Holmgren. It’s also a fantastic showing as the World Cup leaves Europe behind for 2023 for the final to return to North America for the final two rounds.
Elite Men: mechanical holds back Holmgren
A crash mid-pack in the very dusty start straight caused chaos right away in the elite men’s race. With a second-row start, Gunnar Holmgren was safely in front of the commotion. Other than letting past Nino Schurter, who had started further back due to missing Friday’s XCC, Holmgren held his position early on, flying along in the top 20.
A mix of dust and steep climbs quickly started to break up the group. Schurter (Scott-SRAM) led an early group with Vlad Dascalu (Trek Factory Racing), Victor Koretzky (Specialized), Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon Clltv) and Jordan Sarrou (Specialized) with him. Holmgren sat in the chase group, following the wheel of Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus Maxon) in 15th.
Holmgren continued steadily moving through the field and, by lap six of eight, into the top 10. The Orillia racer’s moved up the standings all year, in part with the help of strong XCC showings, and looked to be having a breakthrough moment in Les Gets. That momentum ground to a halt on lap seven
Slightly further forward Nino Schurter was having mechanical trouble of his own. Riding with Joshua Dubau (RockRider), trying to hold on to a flying Victor Koretzky, the Swiss racer punctured his rear tire. Scott-SRAM’s sensation had a quick change but was still left with a sizable gap to close to the two Frenchmen in front of him.
Schurter would eventually catch and pass Dubau to take second place, but not until the eight and final lap. A hard-charging Vlad Dascalu finished close behind in third. But Victor Koretzky was untouchable at home in France. The Specialized Factory Racing star wins Sunday’s elite men’s XCO. That seals a home-race double World Cup win for Koretzky, who also finished first in the short track XC on Friday in Les Gets.
Holmgren would hold on for 33rd in Les Gets, in a result that barely hints at what he accomplished on Sunday. Tyler Orschel followed in 43rd, Léandre Bouchard 45th, Raphael Auclair 59th, Sean Fincham 74th, Victor Verreault 77th and Quinton Disera 79th.
Elite Women:
The women had a cleaner start, attacking the first hill bar-to-bar in a massive group. That made it difficult for Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, also starting mid-pack after missing Friday’s XCC due to illness, to make her way through the pack. Loana Lecomte (Canyon Cllctv) led with Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) and Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker) in third.
With Ferrand-Prevot and several other favourites in the group off the start, it took a few laps for the women’s race to sort itself out.
A big group formed early, looking to make it hard for the French world champion to move forward through the field and launch one of her trademark solo attacks. Unable to drop the INEOS rider as a group, Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) was the first to launch an attack and try to whittle down the group but with little luck.
Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing) would eventually escape to add another World Cup win to her XC Marathon world championships title. Dutch phenom Puck Pieterse (Alpecin Deceuninck) added a silver to her XCC gold from Friday.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (INEOS) rallied from illness to take a podium finish in third, just ahead of a U.S. duo of Haley Batten (Specialized) and Savilia Blunk (Rockrider). It’s a phenomenal result for Batten who is making her way back from a concussion earlier in the season which has kept her away from racing for the past few World Cup rounds.
Canadian national champion Jenn Jackson (Liv Factory Racing) finished her race inside the top 30 in 29th. Laurie Arseneault (Pittstop Racing) ended Les Gets in 60th.
