Pauline Ferrand-Prévot defends her world titles

In the course of the mountain bike racing season so far, the young Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse has dominated. But what is true for the mountain bike World Cup does not necessarily apply to a world championship. This was made clear by the French top rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot with her double victory in the short track and Olympic distances. We would like to add here that the Austrian Laura Stigger was absent due to illness and also the Swede Jenny Rissveds abstained from the start, she complains about insufficient ferritin values and fatigue. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was all the more focused.

It seems that she put everything on the World Cup in 2023, World Cup victories have perhaps taken a back seat for her. After the successful Frenchwoman already won the Short Track race on Thursday, it was all about completing the double on Saturday. And in this race she showed impressively how superior she was to all the other racers. Right from the start she put pressure on her and soon put a distance between herself and her pursuers. The strongest chaser was her compatriot Joana Lecomte, but she lost more and more ground to Ferrand-Prévot lap by lap. Behind her a small chasing group had formed consisting of Alexandra Keller, Evie Richards and Puck Pieterse. Towards the end of the race, Mona Mitterwallner, who became marathon world champion on Sunday, August 6, 2023, also caught up with the group and overtook all the riders to take third intermediate place. However, the chase had perhaps cost the Austrian a bit of strength, she had to admit defeat to the Dutchwoman Pieterse towards the end of the race and settle for the 4th final place. In the end, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the 2023 World Championship title over the Olympic distance (XCO) with a clear lead over Joana Lecomte and the other female chasers.