UCI Cycling World Championships 2023: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot retains women's mountain bike cross-country world title
France's multi-talented phenomenon claimed the rainbow jersey in the cross-country Olympic discipline ahead of her compatriot Loana Lecomte and Puck Pieterse from the Netherlands.
Cycling Mountain Bike
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot scorched to her fifth world mountain bike cross-country Olympic discipline title on Saturday (12 August).
The 31-year-old Frenchwoman took the lead early on lap two of the seven 3.5km circuits in Scotland's Glentress Forest, having spent the first lap moving to the front.
Ferrand-Prévot and compatriot Loana Lecomte formed a front pair, but only briefly as the 2014 road race world champion quickly dropped her teammate.
The INEOS Grenadiers rider kept increasing her gap and finished more than a minute clear of Lecomte to secure her second rainbow jersey at these championships after takng the cross-country short track event on Thursday.
A big battle for bronze was taking place behind between Puck Pieterse of the Netherlands and Austria's Mona Mitterwallner. The two were together on the final lap with 21-year-old Pieterse attacking on the last descent to take the last spot on the podium.
Ferrand-Prévot now has nine individual world titles in mountain biking. She is also a former world champion in cyclo-cross and road race.
The 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships also awarded two Paris 2024 quotas for riders who have not yet secured a quota place through the UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification ranking or the 2023 Continental Championships.
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) is limited to a single spot during the event, and NOCs that have qualified through the elite race are ineligible to secure qualification through the under-23 race.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Read more about the qualification system here.
Results - Women Elite Cross-country Olympic - 2023 UCI Road World Championships
- Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) 1:24:14
- Loana Lecomte (FRA) +1:14
- Puck Pieterse (NED) +1:27
- Mona Mitterwallner (AUT) +1:31
- Alessandra Keller (SUI) +2:23
- Evie Richards (GBR) +2:39
- Martina Berta (ITA) +4:10
- Gwendalyn Gibson (USA) +4:17
- Jolanda Neff (SUI) +4:22
- Savilia Blunk (USA) +5:00
Find full results here.