Danish rider Nikoline Splittorff and Samuel Pokala, Finland are the two gold medalists in today’s Mass Start event, Pokala winning by just 8 seconds and Splittorff by an impressive 4.16.
Splittorff, world champion in Mass start and clear winner in the CX80 MTBO World Cup last year, made a strong start to the new season, leading from half-way and 3.54 ahead at the pre-warning, a lead extended by 22 seconds at the finish. Silver and bronze medals went to the two Finnish riders Ruska Saarela and Ingrid Stengård; both gained two places in the last phase of the race at the expense of the Czech Martina Tichovska and French rider Constance Devillers, who finished fourth and fifth.
Women’s podium. All Photos: Donatas Lazauskas
Times were on the long side in demanding terrain, mainly forest with a lot of climbs and descents, west of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The course, 24.8 km long with 550 m climb, provided some critical route choice options, not least on the long leg 1-2 where three very different routes were used.
The men’s race was exciting for home spectators with two riders, Jonas Maišelis and Ignas Ambrazas, in contention for medals throughout. At the pre-warning, Czech star Vojtech Ludvik led by 3 seconds, but Pokala proved the strongest on the last section of the 27.7 km course with 600 m climb. Maišelis held his position at pre-warning to take the bronze medal comfortably ahead of Czech Krystof Bogar, and Ambrazas finished fifth after leading in the first part of the race and, later, pulling up from eighth.
Men’s Podium.
This race was also characterized by lots of hills and masses of route choice, not least on the second leg where a variety of variations were used, some significantly more advantageous than others. If you look on IOF Live at the GPS tracking of the race, you can decide what you might have done!
So a great start to the CX80 World Cup season; Pokala finished fourth overall last year with one race win, so in this respect he has already equalled last season’s performance. Tomorrow the tempo changes to Middle Distance, where courses are planned for winning times of 50-55 minutes.
The European Junior and Youth MTBO Championships are being held in conjunction with EMTBOC. Here, today’s winners over Long Distance are:
W17 – Irmante Aleliūnaite LTU by 4.33
W20 – Jade Boussier FRA by 0.37
H17 – Joel Holmgård SWE by 5.23
H20 – Eemil Koskinen FIN by 0.17
Leading EMTBOC results – Mass Start
Women
- Nikoline Splittorff DEN 1:25:40
- Ruska Saarela FIN 1:29:56
- Ingrid Stengård FIN 1:30:01
- Martina Tichovska CZE 1:30:15
- Constance Devillers FRA 1:30:26
- Camilla Søgaard DEN 1:32:07
Men
- Samuel Pokala FIN 1:33:27
- Vojtech Ludvik CZE 1:33:35
- Jonas Maišelis LTU 1:34:45
- Krystof Bogar CZE 1:35:31
- Ignas Ambrazas LTU 1:36:18
- Davide Machado POR 1:36:26