Loana Lecomte has won the women’s elite cross-country UCI Mountain Bike World Cup title after finishing fourth in Lenzerheide ©Getty Images

France’s Loana Lecomte secured the 2021 women’s elite cross-country International Cycling Union (UCI) Mountain Bike World Cup title as Britain’s newly crowned world champion Evie Richards won her first World Cup race in Lenzerheide in Switzerland, while France’s Victor Koretzky secured victory in the men’s elite cross-country Olympic event.

In the women’s cross-country Olympic event, Richards stormed to victory in 1hr 19min 16sec - some 19 seconds clear of Australia’s Rebecca McConnell in second.

Richards is fifth on the season’s standings with 935 points, while McConnell closed the gap to the top three with 955.

However, the World Cup leader Lecomte built an unassailable 485 point advantage at the top as she came fourth in 1:20:28.

Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds, who won the short track race on Friday (September 3), climbed a place to second for the season as she rounded off the podium in the Olympic event in 1:20:14.

The women’s cross-country World Cup leader Lecomte built an unassailable 485 point advantage at the top as she came fourth in Lenzerheide’s cross-country Olympic race.

Fellow French rider Pauline Ferrand Prévot announced that she had ended her 2021 season before the Olympic race, although for now clung on to the final podium position on 990 points.

Evie Richards won her first ever UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race, triumphing by 19 seconds ©Getty Images
Evie Richards won her first ever UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race, triumphing by 19 seconds ©Getty Images

The men’s cross-country Olympic race saw Koretzky build on his third-place finish in the short-track to win this 28.70-kilometre race in 1:18:23 and move on to 1075 points for the season, putting him third in the individual standings.

He finished two seconds clear of Nino Schurter, denying the Swiss rider a joint-record 33 cross-country World Cup victories.

However, cross-country world champion in the Olympic discipline Schurter still climbed a place in the overall standings to fourth on 1004 points.

His compatriot and Olympic silver medallist Mathias Flückiger completed the top three in Lenzerheide with a time of 1:18:32 to stay top of the leaderboard on 1429 points, putting him on the brink of an overall victory.

Flückiger’s nearest challenger Ondřej Cink of Czech Republic lost further ground in Lenzerheide, finishing eighth in the Olympic discipline race after coming 10th in the short-track to leave him on 1089.

Jordan Sarrou of France slipped out of the top three to fifth after finishing one minute and 33 seconds behind Koretzky to place 13th in the race.

The final UCI Mountain Bike World Cup of the season is scheduled for September 18 and 19 in Snowshoe in the United States.