It was complete redemption for Alizée Paties in the opening race of Stop #5 after ending the Short Track race in Czech with no points and a broken set of handlebars. Paties finished 1st to keep her place at the top of the leaderboard while Arthur Serrières claimed his second Short Track win in a row and third of the series.
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It was a shoulder-to-shoulder showdown between series leader Alizée Paties and World Champion Solenne Billouin almost immediately out of the water, passing Emma Ducreux to once again find themselves in a grinding battle in the front of the race. The two traded places on the bike before Paties slowly put on the squeeze and Billouin lost time with a fall in the rock garden. Paties eventually closed it out with almost 30 seconds to spare to keep her spot at the top of the leaderboard. Billouin’s silver finish sees her move into the top 3 of the series rankings, while 3rd place finisher Marta Menditto moves down into 4th.
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Just like Czech, the men’s race was a full 30 minutes of continuous overtaking, with nobody doing more of that than series leader Jens Emil Sloth Niesen and Ruben Ruzafa. Jens Roth, Michele Bonacina, Lukáš Kočař, and Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen all took turns to lead the race, but in the end it was Arthur Serrières who proved just too fast on the feet. The Frenchman now moves within 30 points of the top spot in the rankings, with the Full Distance race still to come. Not letting up on the pressure, Felix Forissier claimed 3rd place to continue his streak of podium finishes and inch one step closer to to Serrières and Sloth Nielsen at the top of the pile.
Get the detailed race report here or, if you missed it, watch the full Germany Short Track replay here.
And in less than just 24 hours we find out who still has enough gas in the tank to take the Full Distance. There’s 100 series points on the line, which will make all the difference heading into the tail end of this series. Recovery is now everything with the Full Distance race starting tomorrow at 11:30 local time. Race updates will be coming in regularly on the XTERRA Europe IG with live timing available here.
Arthur Serrières and Alizée Paties have both walked away with maximum points at Stop #5 in Germany, first blitzing the Short Track yesterday and then proving unbeatable once again in the Full Distance today. We always knew big shake ups in the rankings were coming in these three back-to-back weekends of racing, and today that became a reality.
The battle of the day and the battle to watch ahead is without doubt Arthur Serrières vs Felix Forissier. The two went shoulder to shoulder throughout the majority of the course to finish almost within 10 seconds of each other to move to the top of the ranklings. Serrières is the new series leader with Forissier only 12 points behind in 2nd. Previous leader Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen moves down to 3rd, but only 11 points behind Forissier. None of the top 3 are set to race at Stop #6, meaning this score will be settled in the series finale beneath the Brenta Dolomites.
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It was another strong win for Alizée Paties, coming in just over 3 minutes ahead of Loanne Duvoisin and almost 6 minutes ahead of Solenne Billouin. The result does not change the order of the top 3 but it has narrowed the gaps, with just 31 points separating 1st and 3rd. And just like the men, then next time these top 3 go to battle will be in Trentino, Italy, where it could go down to the absolute wire with nothing less than a podium finish required. Read the full race recap here.
The XTERRA World Cup now heads to US soil for Stop #6 in Beaver Creek this coming Saturday.
If most of the damage at Czech happened on the course, in Germany it happened on the leaderboard. This was the stop where the playing field (in terms of scoring races) finally levelled out to set up the kind of finish you’d expect from a World Cup series. World Champion Arthur Serrières now dons the series leader jersey while Alizée Paties holds onto hers once again. But with not much in it between any of the top 3 in both divisions, this series will almost certainly be decided on the trails of Trentino at the XTERRA World Championship next month.
The Serrières vs Forissier battle in the Germany FD race will go down as a series epic. The two French athletes threw everything they had at each other through the entire bike and the run sections, and in the end it was only 7 seconds that separated the two.
The result sees both athletes move to the top of the leaderboard to set up the ultimate battle in Trentino, where a win holds the potential to become the first double champion in XTERRA history. Serrières already knows how to win a World Championship, but Forissier is one of the few who know how to beat Serrières. Neither Frenchman is on the start list for Stop #6, meaning both athletes now have a month to figure out where to look for that edge over the other at the XTERRA World Champs race.
Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen has now stood on the podium at every single World Cup event so far, but without that elusive W he unfortunately ends his 4-Stop run as the series leader and drops into 3rd. The Dane has been open about his weakness in the water, but the sheer amount of overtaking he does to continuously find himself at the front of every race has made him one of the fan favourites. It’s only a matter of time before he fine tunes his swimming to open a floodgate of wins, but the question is whether he can do this season. A quick trip to the USA for Stop #6 could put him in good position to challenge for the series win, but as of now he remains off the start list and will be leaving it up to the final race.
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Alizée Paties absolutely dominated in Germany and will now have her sights set firmly on the double champ opportunity that is dangling in front of her. The Frenchwoman decided to take another shot at going full-time pro this year and the results are showing as she has not started a race without the golden cap (since claiming it at Stop #1) and raced almost entirely alone up front in the Germany FD race.
But even with an almost perfect series so far, Paties cannot take her foot off the gas. The points available at the World Championship leave the door open for a big swing, and a fierce female division will not make it easy for the Frenchwoman at the final Stop. Solenne Billouin already knows how to win in Trentino and Sandra Mairhofer will be back looking for redemption.
Despite not feeling at her best, Loanne Duvoisin still posted the fastest run of the day to claim 2nd place in the Full Distance. Having raced 5 Full Distance races the Swiss can now eliminate her 7th place finish at Oak Mountain from her scoring races, inching her closer to Paties at the top and putting her in with a shot for the series win.
The same goes for World Champion Solenne Billouin, who closes the gap between her and Duvoisin by adding a fourth Full Distance score to her tally after her DNF at Stop #2. The World Champion admittedly did not have a great day out, but still found herself on the podium 4 times in 7 days to keep her 3rd place in the rankings and also within reach of a series win.
For the athletes, the closing gaps at the top will only add more race-day pressure, but for the fans following along - it’s turning into an absolute screamer. The series now heads to the USA to take on ‘The Beast’ in Colorado before the final battle beneath the Brenta Dolomites settles the 2023 series score once and for all.
Yesterday wrapped up a mammoth press session, with the top elites full of praise for both the course and organisation. The setup that the O-SEE crew has put together is truly incredible, and if anybody was wondering how Stop #5 would live up to Czech - Germany is more than ready to answer.
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Both series leaders weighed in on the races ahead with Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen stating, "It's about time that I won one of these!". The Danish rider certainly has what it takes after working his way to the front of the ST race in Czech, but just couldn’t keep the French at bay in the final stretch. Alizée Paties also returns after a minor bump (and a broken bike) in Czech and will be looking to return to her winning ways.
There was a bit of a mad scramble for replacement tyres yesterday, as athletes seemed to struggle to find that balance between speed and control on the rocky sections. Several punctures and a broken wheel were the battle scars of yesterday with athletes looking to find those precious seconds everywhere they can.
But today we’ll see who got everything right - from tyre choice to balancing rest, recovery and recces - with just hours to go before the Short Track races kick of at Stop #5 here in Zittau.
The women’s Short Track race starts at 15:30 local time with the men at 16:45. For those not in Zittau, both races will be livestreamed direct and for free on the XTERRA Watch Live page.
Just a day out from the Short Track race and if anything is a factor it’s the heat. Just 30°C but the inescapable effects of the heat and sheer sweat out on the course might bring back a few memories for those who took on the trails of Taiwan back at Stop #1 of the series.
But sporadic thunderstorms have helped to cool things down a bit, with at least one electric swim recce yesterday afternoon having to be cut short due to a massive downpour and all-out lightning show. Fortunately the course is so dry that it's likely not affected much but there is bound to be a bit more mud than dust in places.
The combo of heat and lightning, however, has not stopped the recces with last week’s winner, Solenne Billouin, seen out on the run course, series leader Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen spotted on the bike section, and Beatriz Ferreira, Bart Cooymans and Stepanka Bisova all seen testing the drop.
The Cross Tri NL team is also finally in town, having skipped the 4-hour drive from Prachatice to Zittau and opted for a 4-day bike ride instead.
The World Cup train has officially rolled into Zittau, Germany, for another double-feature of racing as the pros gear up for Stop #5 in the series.
It’s only been 3 days since Stop #4 where Czech continued to deliver long after the Short Track race wrapped up, leading to a few weary faces at breakfast the next day that could or could not be connected to the beer mile that went down in the town square. No names will be mentioned, but let’s just say the French didn’t win every race that weekend.
But almost all the athletes have now made the 4-hour trip to Zittau and the focus has turned to balancing rest and recovery with course recces - especially the single-loop 37K bike section that has the potential to be a deciding factor in the Full Distance race.
The Short Track race also comes before the Full Distance this weekend, so there will no doubt be a lot of thought and consideration into how to tackle the two formats to come away with the maximum amount of points.
There are also those who didn’t compete latest weekend that will be arriving with fresh legs. Eric Lagersrom pushed Arthur Serrières to the very end at Stop #2 in Oak Mountain and now arrives as the fresher of the two to make for a very interesting battle.
Stop #5 in Germany comes right in the middle of 3 back-to-back weekends of pro racing that will undoubtedly see multiple changes in the rankings as 5 races play out in just 15 days.
It’s the last of the regular season stops on the European continent so you can expect the Euro athletes to be out in force and throwing absolutely everything they have at it, especially those that felt they could have come away with more points at Stop #4 in Czech the weekend before. Following Germany there is only one stop left at Beaver Creek in the USA before the series finale in Trentino, so for many - Zittau is crunch time.
With the Short Track race taking place on Friday, the day before the Full Distance race, the official start list is based on the World Cup rankings after the dust has settled in both races at Stop #4 in Czech. The top 20 in the standings are guaranteed a spot alongside five worthy wildcard selections.
But for the Full Distance, the competition is already looking strong. Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen will be racing his 5th straight World Cup event alongside World Champion Arthur Serrières, APAC Champ Kieran McPherson, the Forissier brothers, Maxim Chané, and the Boss, Ruben Ruzafa. But if there’s one name on the list that will have them all worried it’s the USA’s Eric Lagerstrom. It will only be Lagerstrom’s 2nd World Cup race, meaning he won’t qualify for the series bonus, but he can still deny the rest of the field the maximum points. Last time out the American took Arthur Serrières down to the wire, eventually taking 2nd at Oak Mountain.
Only Suzie Snyder will be missing from the top 6 in the women’s race as the scramble for a podium finish in the first-ever World Cup will surely produce an epic battle on the slopes of Zittau. It’s not yet certain who will make the trip to the USA the following weekend, meaning this stop needs to count. And by no means is it an isolated battle. The start of the Short Track race will mark only the middle of a 4-race mental and physical battle that would have begun in Prachatice and only end 7 days later in Zittau as those at the top - Alizée Paties, Loanne Duvoisin, Marta Menditto, Sandra Mairhofer and World Champion Solenne Billouin - look to ease the pressure as they head into the final race of the series at the XTERRA World Championship in Trentino, Italy on September 23.
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