Photo: Michal Cerveny
World Cup number 2 for me this year! I was riding at the front of the race, and that was awesome! I was riding in 2nd to 6th spot the entire race, ending up in 6th and just missing out on the podium.
I really start feeling and believing in a new level on consistency this year. Last year I was aiming for a top 10 at the World Cup races, this year I end up in 6th spot, when the marginals are not on my side. That is cool, since there’s still a lot of races left this year.
The race in Nove Mesto was a tight battle all the way. Eventual winner Pauline Ferrand Prevot rode on a high in her own league this day and was impressively untouchable. She had one of those races, that everybody dreams of, and I can clearly image how thrilled she must have been, being so dominant in her first appearance on the MTB world cup circuit this year!
The race for the rest of the podium positions was between Pendrel, Gunn-Rita, Kalentieva, Neff and me. Unfortunately my frontwheel slipped on a root on the second last lap, I went down and my handlebar got skewed and I lost precious time and momentum putting it back in place. The characteristic feature of the course was the many slippery roots and nobody made it through the race without a little slip here and there. My slip just cost a little too much time.
Photo: Michal Cerveny, Specialized
Now, my Team and me have moved on to Albstadt in Germany, where on sunday the next World Cup will kick off. I know my shape is good, so it’s all about reloading mentally and physically, and then leave it all out on raceday. Remember to follow me live on Redbull.tv at 11.30 AM.
Photo: Michal Cerveny
Not a single inch of the course wasn’t packed with spectators in Nove Mesto. Wuhauoa, how crazy is that!!
Hi Annika,
Great race – congratulations on a really stunning result! Hope you don’t mind me yelling at go-go-go at the TV in times where you were dropping in speed:-):-)
An obvious difference between you and the other riders in top 6, you choose to ride heavier gears/lower cadence. To me it looked as if you had to struggle a bit to much in the steep sections eventually having to get of the bike.
Is that just your preferred riding style or did you miscalculate the need for an even lower gear?
Best of luck in Albstadt – fyr den af:-)
..or maybe it’s just my style of riding ? 😉 Thanks for the observings and the cheerings! There’s a big difference between watching the race from outside and being in the race. All riders stuggled on that rocky uphill no matter cadence and also on parts of the course not shown on tv people struggled on the roots on the uphills as well. Nobody rides flawlessly when riding on limit for 1,5 hours