Julbo Athletes Rock the Podium at Les Gets XC World Cup

Julbo Athletes Rock the Podium at Les Gets XC World Cup

Austrian Mona Mitterwallner won Sunday's women’s elite XCO race, Americans Haley Batten and Savilia Blunk earned the fourth and fifth podium spots, and Joshua Dubau placed fifth on the men’s side. It was Haley’s first World Cup back after a June concussion.

photos by Michele Mondini and Keno Derleyn 

THREE JULBO ATHLETES stood atop the podium at the sixth stop of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets, France, over the weekend. Fresh off her win in Pal Arinsal, Andorra, last weekend, Mona Mitterwallner (Cannondale Factory Racing) won Sunday’s women’s elite XCO race, while Americans Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) and Savilia Blunk (Rockrider Ford Racing Team) earned the fourth and fifth spots on the podium.

HALEY PLACED FOURTH in Friday’s hot, dry and dusty XCC (short track), while Frenchman Joshua Dubau (Rockrider Ford Racing Team) took the fifth podium spot in the men’s elite XCO race.

THE LES GETS WEEKEND was Haley’s first World Cup back after she experienced a concussion while preparing for this year's third World Cup in Leogang, Austria, in June. (She wrote about her concussion and recovery here.) Short on points after missing two World Cups during her recovery, Haley had a back-row start in Friday’s Short Track. She stormed through the pack of 40 competitors to place fourth, earning a front-row start in Sunday’s XCO.

HALEY JOINED MONA, Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Puck Pieterse to an early lead in Sunday’s XCO, gaining a 20-second gap over second place after lap 2. Each woman in the quartet traded the lead and took advantage of small mistakes over the subsequent two laps before Mona made a decisive attack and built her lead through the penultimate and final laps. She ultimately beat Puck by 38 seconds.

HALEY AND PAULINE FOUGHT for the third step of the podium through the final two laps, before Pauline attacked and gained 20 seconds on Haley to take third place, while Savilia maintained her final podium spot by about 30 second.

SUNDAY'S RESULT IS SAVILIA'S top World Cup XCO finish ever as an elite racer and her second top-10 finish of the season.

On the elite men’s side, Joshua Dubau finished in fifth, 31 seconds off the men’s winner, Victor Kortezky.

AFTER THE NEXT TWO WEEKENDS off, the UCI World Cup will resume in North America, with the seventh stop on September 28-October 1 in Snowshoe, West Virginia, and the season finale a week later at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Québec. Last year Savilia earned her best results of the season at Snowshoe, while Haley placed third in the XCO at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Mona stood on the podium in both venues, placing fourth and second in the XCO races in Snowshoe and MSA, respectively.

Explore Haley, Mona and Savilia's Favorites

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