Tom Pidcock hit by punctures as Jordan Sarrou wins XCO blockbuster in Snowshoe, Puck Pieterse wraps up title

Jordan Sarrou took a thrilling victory in a blockbuster UCI Cross-country Olympic World Cup round in Snowshoe, outsprinting championship leader Nino Schurter, while Tom Pidcock overcame two tyre changes to finish fifth.

After Pidcock bided his time early on, the world champion made what looked like the decisive move of the race four laps in, taking just Sarrou and Luca Schwarzbauer with him.

But both Pidcock and Schwarzbauer punctured at almost the same point a lap apart, while Pidcock needed a further trip to the tech zone to change another flat.

That left Sarrou up front alone for nearly two laps before Swiss trio Schurter, Marcel Guerrini and Mathias Fluckiger – sat second in the championship – caught him just before the last lap in what looked set to be a heartbreaking finish for the Frenchman.

That looked confirmed when Guerrini attacked Sarrou in the second half of the last circuit, and initially only Schurter could follow while Pidcock looked to close what had been a 36-second gap down to single figures.

But Pidcock’s Herculean effort was not quite enough to drag him back to the front group, and trouble for Fluckiger meant Schurter and Sarrou were left to battle it out for the win.

Schurter appeared to have put in the decisive move on the final rock zone just a few hundred metres from the finish line.

But Sarrou had other ideas, drawing seemingly impossible strength at the death to surge back past on the inside of the last corner and take his first ever victory at this level.

Nearly three minutes back, legend Henrique Avancini finished his last World Cup race to a standing ovation and a tearful goodbye.

It was not a disaster for Schurter, who strengthened his lead in the overall standings, as Fluckiger finished fourth behind Guerrini while Pidcock took a brilliant fifth despite his mechanical woes.

“I think I got into a rhythm a little bit for half a lap, before I punctured again. Once I hit my rhythm, it all went to s***,” admitted Pidcock afterwards.

That means the men’s championship will be decided at the final round in Mont-Sainte-Anne, but Puck Pieterse had no such plans in the women’s race.

The Dutchwoman arrived in Snowshoe knowing she just needed to finish within 23 points of second-placed Mona Mitterwallner.

But the Austrian challenger found herself in trouble early, 31 seconds down on the opening loop and never really looked like closing down Pieterse, who later revealed she had gone all-out at the start.

Predictably, she could not keep that pace up throughout though, and it was Laura Stigger’s surprise attack just before the start of lap three that proved the decisive move.

Stigger leapt off Martina Berta’s wheel and instantly put 10 seconds into the Italian champion, who could not stem the bleeding for the rest of the race.

She eventually finished third, after the patient Loana Lecomte overhauled her with over a lap to go, the French champion biding her time before attempting to chase down Stigger, getting 15 seconds away at one stage.

But she could not sustain that charge and was forced to settle for second, five places ahead of best Brit Evie Richards, who won the short-track on Friday.

She led early on in Snowshoe but quickly dropped away from the leaders, finishing just over a minute down.