There was a re-shuffling of the top three spots in the second round of women’s elite racing in Brazil at the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, with Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) continuing her winning form in Araxá on Sunday by adding the elite women’s cross-country Olympic (XCO) victory to Saturday’s short track (XCC) win.
Batten and the winner of the first Brazilian round in Mairiporã, Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis Cycles Continental), were locked in battle in the final lap with the rider from the United States ultimately attacking and carving out a gap of 17 seconds on the Swedish rider by the finish line. Batten’s compatriot, Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) – who had taken second place in the opening round of racing for 2024 – held on for third in Araxá.
“It’s crazy,” said Batten after the race. “You train so hard all winter but to put it all together on race day when it’s so tactical like that, I just had no idea what was happening, so to pull it off feels insane. For both Savilia and me this is a huge year, for the Olympic Games, so yeah, a pretty good day.”
After a race in which there were number of lead changes Batten had entered the last lap in a group of four, which included Rissveds, Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) and Blunk. Then it was soon just Batten and Rissveds out front, with the pair resuming a tactical game that had already been in full force through the penultimate lap.
“I know Jenny [Rissveds] pulled a good attack on me with one lap to go last weekend, so when I was leading that second last lap, I was like, ‘oh no, she’s going to do it to me again’,” said Batten, who finished in third place in Mairiporã.
Rissveds may have attempted to repeat the move in the dust and sun of Araxá, but to no avail, and then couldn’t quite find enough to respond when Batten made her move on the final lap.
“Haley was clever today,” said Rissveds in the post-race interview. “I tried to attack her but she hung onto my attack and then she went.
“It was really hard, I am not allowed to swear anymore, but if I was allowed I would swear right now,” a spent Rissveds chuckled.
Keller came over the line in fourth, while Anne Terpstra (Ghost Factory Racing) was fifth. The racing now returns to Europe, with the next cross-country round unfolding at Nové Město na Moravě from 24-26 May.
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