Puck Pieterse fights back to eighth as Sina Frei wins thrilling Les Gets XCO

Puck Pieterse finished eighth after an impressive fightback in the XCO race in Les Gets. The Dutch rider had plenty of ground to make up from her starting position and quickly worked her way through the field, but after a more difficult second half of the race, she could climb no higher than eighth. Victory went to Sina Frei after an exciting battle at the front that was only decided on the final lap.

Starting hard was clearly the plan for world champion Jenny Rissveds. The Swedish rider immediately pushed the pace and quickly opened a gap at the front, although her advantage was soon closed down again. Puck Pieterse, starting from the fifth row, rapidly moved up through the field and entered the second lap in eighth place. At that point, she was 27 seconds behind race leader Rissveds.

On the second lap, Savilia Blunk, who had finished third in Friday's Short Race, moved to the front. Not long afterwards, Frei — the winner of Friday's Short Race — took over herself. That created a four-rider leading group, while Pieterse was unable to make further progress for the moment and remained around 35 seconds behind the leaders.

As Pieterse moved up into seventh place, Berta was dropped from the leading group. That left Frei, Rissveds and Blunk as a trio at the head of the race. Keller soon bridged across to make it a four-rider group once again, while Berta was still hanging on not too far behind them. The battle for the podium was therefore still completely open as the race moved towards its decisive phase.

Pieterse began losing seconds to the leaders and had also been riding alone in no-man's-land for quite some time. On lap four, Sammie Maxwell finally caught her, giving the Dutch rider some company. The New Zealander immediately moved ahead of Pieterse as well, with the pair now sitting a little more than a minute behind the leading group.

With just under two full laps remaining, Frei accelerated at the front, and initially only Rissveds was able to follow her wheel. Blunk was not far behind, while Keller appeared to have been definitively dropped. However, when the riders entered the final lap — which was signalled by Peter Sagan — both Blunk and Keller had managed to regain contact with the leaders, setting up a fascinating final showdown.

Keller was immediately dropped again, while Blunk was also beginning to struggle. Frei pushed the pace at the front in an attempt to shake off Rissveds, but the world champion refused to crack. As they entered the forest shortly after the climb, however, Rissveds finally had to concede a few metres. Frei had opened the gap she needed and immediately increased the pressure in an effort to stay clear.

What followed was a hugely entertaining finale, with the gap hovering at around four seconds. In the end, that proved to be just enough for Frei, who held on to secure victory in Les Gets after a tense final lap. Rissveds was unable to close the final metres, while Pieterse completed her recovery ride by crossing the line in eighth place.