We are already halfway through the season and we are following the KTM Vittoria Team in Leogang, Austria for the fourth round of the UCI MTB World Cup. This Austrian stage is reputed to be different from the previous ones due to its technicality, its altitude and its changing weather conditions.

The weather played its part, with a very greasy and muddy course for the XCC on Friday, before offering a rather dry circuit for the rest of the weekend. The mechanics and the riders have racked their brains to find the best settings and ensure optimal grip over all the races.

Léna Gérault, XCC & XCO

XCC : In increasing form for the last few weeks, Léna Gérault expects a lot from this XCC. The pressure is high at the start, second row, behind Alessandra Keller. Unfortunately she misses the pedal and finds herself at the bottom of the pack. She remobilizes and makes the effort, goes up the girls one by one and puts herself back at the forefront. The course is muddy and super technical, Léna adapts to it despite the watts expended at the start of the race. She manages to grab a very nice 7th place, reassuring about her form and above all ideal for a front row placement on Sunday.

XCO : This season, it is the first time that Léna has been in the front line at the XCO start. The conditions are met for a good race. And Léna proves it to us with a very good start. She places herself in the good wheels, manages and attacks in the technical portions. 10th at mid-race, she knows she can grab her first top 10 of the season. She continues her effort and move up to 8th place during lap 4, it is a perfect race that she achieves. Gradually, the efforts begin to hurt, the legs burn and Lena holds on. It is in 9th position that she concludes this race with good feelings, 2nd French, well done!

Mathis Guay, first U23 french and top 10  !

Mathis loves this track which is physical, technical and even fun on certain sections. Among the U23, the level has nothing to envy to the elites, the succession is assured! He got off to a good start and moved up front in the right group. He does his race, manages despite the very high pace and understands that he too will achieve his first top 10 of the season. After Nove Mesto where he finished 15th, he enters the best riders and signs the best French time on this round, only 2 minutes from the winner!

Maxime Loret, courageous !

Technical and physical, two words that speak to Maxime Loret and two skills that you must have on this Leogang race. placed in the middle of the pack, he starts strong and as usual, everything moves very quickly, each turn and each launch shakes up the ranking. He is in good shape, his legs respond and he manages to exploit his technique, arriving close to 30th place. Unfortunately the cramps occur again on this round and it becomes difficult to keep up. The efforts are hard to take and the legs tense up. He inevitably lost places and fell to 50th position, as at the last World Cup in Nove Mesto. A difficult moment and result for our champion, but these are races that make progress and that will allow to come back even stronger this summer.

the gallery

Photos : Léo Gruber – lgrprod

“This weekend has been incredible, it’s the first time that we have achieved 3 Top-10 in 4 races! The Team has clearly been on an upward slope since its creation and it feels good when this is reflected in the results! Looking forward to the next round.”

Jérôme Dericbourg – Team Manager

See you next week-end with Léna Gérault for the french national XC Marathon championships, Stay tuned !

Kévin Laporte | 12-06-2022