Nikoline Splittorff (DEN) and Andreas Waldmann (AUT) took the wins as the world’s best MTBO athletes raced the opening sprint at the CX80 MTBO World Cup Final in Bulgaria.
Friday featured a fast sprint in the town of Yagoda, where Splittorff and Waldmann still managed to take victories by large margins.
Two Danes in top 3
In the women’s race, Splittorff took the lead after the first long leg to control 4 and never looked back. At the finish, she was a full 37 seconds ahead of her closest competitor in the overall World Cup standings, Ruska Saarela (FIN).
Camilla Søgaard (DEN) was also fast on the bike today, taking third place ahead of Constance Devillers (FRA), Silja Yli Hietanen (FIN) and Iris Aurora Pecorari (ITA).
Splittorff’s win means that she can no longer be caught in the overall World Cup standings and is certain of her fourth World Cup title in a row before Saturday’s long distance.
Silja Yli Hietanen’s impressive fourth place was enough to make her the U23 World Champion ahead of Iris Aurora Pecorari, while Lucie Nedomlelova (CZE) took the U23 bronze today.
Strong Austrians in front
Austria had a great day in the men’s class, because in addition to Waldmann’s World Cup victory, young Hannes Hnilica raced to a second place, which was also enough to make him the U23 World Champion.
19 seconds was the difference between the two Austrians in front.
Vojtech Ludvik (CZE) extended the overall lead in the World Cup standings with a third place today, a further 15 seconds behind.
Like Splittorff, Ludvik cannot be caught tomorrow and can thus celebrate his first overall World Cup victory before the long distance.
The rest of the top 6 in the men’s class was made up by Ignas Ambrazas (LTU), Fabiano Bettega (ITA) and Paul Debray (FRA).
In the U23 class, silver went to Armel Berthaud (FRA) behind Hnilica, while Matteo Traversi Montani (ITA) took the bronze.
Find results, basic TV stream and GPS-tracking in the MTBO World Cup Final LIVE Page.
The first MTBO athletes will set off on Saturday’s long distance at 11:00 CEST (UTC +2) and, like the sprint, it can be followed on the LIVE page.