Annika Langvad won the elite women’s race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Stellenbosch today.
The Danish completed the six-lap race in 1:33:14, beating Pauline Prevot Ferrand (France) and Anne Tauber (Netherlands) into second and third respectively.
Annika Langvad pictured during the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, which she won. Photo: Full Stop Communications
The 10th-seeded Prevot Ferrand (France) took the lead in the first lap. The first-seeded Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) was in second, followed by the seventh-seeded Langvad in third.
Prevot Ferrand and Langvad took the lead and rode in tandem throughout the rest of the race.
They created a visible gap from Barbara Benko (Hungary) in third.
Mariske Strauss was, at this point, the highest-placed South African, finishing lap one in 30th.
Langvad took the lead and created an 11-second lead over Prevot Ferrand in the second lap, with Tauber having moved into third.
Prevot Ferrand moved into first place later in the third lap, with Langvad dropping to second and riding on the Frenchwoman’s wheel.
The top three – Prevot Ferrand, Langvad and Tauber – stayed the same on the fourth lap. Strauss moved up to 28th.
The trio maintained their lead in the front on lap five, as Neff and Catharine Pendrel (Canada) kept fighting for fourth place.
Langvad then took the lead again and created a 20-second gap on the final lap and soloed to victory in the end.
Strauss was the highest-placed South African, finishing in 28th.
“I got stuck in the first couple of crashes,” Strauss told In the Bunch after the race. “Someone stalled in front of me too, so I just eased myself into it and worked my way from there.
“The atmosphere was amazing. Around every corner, someone was shouting my name.”
Her compatriots Cherie Redecker finished in 35th, Amy McDougall 41st, Sarah Hill 47th and Ila Gray 49th. Candice Lill did not finish.
View more results below.
Women elite
1. Annika Langvad (Denmark) 1:33:14
2. Pauline Prevot Ferrand (France) 1:33:27
3. Anne Tauber (Netherlands) 1:33:48
4. Helen Grobert (Germany) 1:34:29
5. Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) 1:34:30
6. Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) 1:34:30
7. Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 1:35:09
8. Sabine Spitz (Germany) 1:35:57
9. Linda Indergand (Switzerland) 1:35:57
10. Alessandra Keller (Switzerland) 1:36:01
