UCI Mountain Bike World Series: Puck Pieterse and Luca Schwarzbauer clinch short-track titles

Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sealed the women’s short-track title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series after finishing fifth in the season-ending race at Mont-Saint-Anne.

Only Alessandra Keller (Thomus Maxon) could deny Pieterse, but the Swiss rider struggled in the second half of the eight-lap shoot-out and limped home outside the top 10.

At the front, Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing) timed her late break to perfection to take the race win by five seconds from Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) in second and Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Genuins Racing Team) in third.

But it was all about Pieterse, who got her tactics spot on. The Dutch rider admitted she realised early on she didn’t have the legs to win so opted to shadow Keller to protect her lead in the overall standings.

Keller couldn’t maintain her pace and as she faded, Pieterse remained consistent to cross the line fifth and complete a rare double, having already clinched the cross-country title with a round to go.

“It was so hard, I just didn’t have anything left in the legs,” Pieterse said. “From the first lap I felt my legs really heavy and every time on the climb the girls could punch a lot, so in the beginning I decided to stay with Alessandra and then Rebecca or Loana or Laura made an attack and I was just totally empty.

“But I think the rest was empty as well. I gave everything I had. I’ll let it sink in tonight and tomorrow a bit and then try to focus on one more time to go full gas.”

In the men’s race, Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) finished seventh to wrap up the short-track overall title.

Only Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC) could deny the German and he made a great start, but he couldn’t get the win required to put pressure on Schwarzbauer and make it interesting.

Sarrou crossed the line second, behind Victor Koretzky, who launched a late assault to complete a hat-trick of short-track race wins to finish the season.

It looked like Schwarzbauer would capture the title in style when he hit the front and held the lead with a lap to go but he had already emptied the tank in his bid to protect his overall lead.

“Today was a super tough ride from the beginning on and as expected I could not get the overall out of my mind, so I was only trying to finish in the top 20 positions,” he said.

“For sure I tried in the end but I would have for sure ridden differently if I would not have been in this position in the overall because here on the main straight into a strong headwind a few times we had that gap, and I knew every second I could add to the gap between the top 20 and myself can be a helpful one.

“That’s why I kept on pushing on. I am so empty.”