Van der Poel's mountain bike comeback ends in disappointment after two crashes, Blevins wins

After the women's race in the morning, which Mona Mitterwallner won after Puck Pieterse suffered a flat tire, the men's race started at noon local time. It was chaos right from the start, as we saw Van der Poel crashing hard while moving up. The Dutchman got back on his bike fairly quickly, but another crash shortly after spoiled his chances once again. He went over the handlebars during a jump, forcing Van der Poel to chase after him.

It was an exciting battle at the front. A large group of about fifteen riders was evenly matched in the opening phase, resulting in a large group at the front. French rider Mathis Azzaro was in the lead, but several riders followed close behind him.

In the third lap, we suddenly saw Van der Poel standing still next to the course. After his double crash, the Dutch rider could not continue and was forced to record a DNF. This was not the comeback that MVDP had hoped for!

The front group remained intact for a long time, but world champion Alan Hatherly accelerated in the fifth lap. This caused the group to split, with only five riders able to follow the South African. Not too much later, several riders were able to catch up, resulting in a large group entering the final phase.

In the second-to-last lap, Blevins managed to open up a nice gap. Fabio Püntener followed about four seconds behind, while Victor Koretzky and Azzaro rode further back. At the start of the final lap, it was Blevins against the rest. A group had come together about ten seconds behind Blevins. However, the American stayed ahead of his competitors and took his second victory of the season.