Today’s race resulted in a surprise win for Lithuania by 46 seconds, with Czechia 2 and Switzerland 1 in second and third places, after Denmark seemed on course for victory well into the final leg.
Women riders in the three-person teams take first leg, and it was no surprise that the two leading Danes Nikoline Splittorff and Camilla Søgaard quickly opened up a lead on the 9.2 km course (290 m climb), and in due course came to the changeover ahead of the rest of the field by over 2 minutes. The Lithuanian rider Gabriele Andrasiuniene came in fourth, 2.14 down.
Denmark’s two teams continued ahead throughout Leg 2, arriving at the changeover 25 seconds apart and with Lithuania’s second-leg runner, Jonas Vytautas Gvildys right up with Denmark 1. Czechia 2 came through in fifth place and Switzerland 1 in eighth.
Morten Örnhagen for Denmark 1 was going well until at the tenth control he took a wrong path, and didn’t immediately realise his mistake. This error proved significant and he finished 1.40 down on the winner in fourth place. Jonas Maiselis for Lithuania rode the third-fastest third leg to bring victory for his team, whilst Vojtech Stransky gained 3 places for CZE2 and Adrian Jaeggi 5 places for SUI1, second-fastest and fastest on the last leg respectively.
The race started and had the changeover and finish in the town Folgaria, attracting a lot of local interest in the narrow streets. The course also included parkland, field and forest, together with both steep and flatter sections, and was a good test for the final day of the 2023 CX 80 World Cup in MTBO.
The Team World Cup overall was won by Czechia with 63 points, with Switzerland second (58) and Finland third (51). Lithuania and France were just behind, both finishing with 50 points.
Leading results, CX80 Mixed Relay
- Lithuania 1 (Gabriele Andrasiuniene, Jonas Vytautas Gvildys, Jonas Maiselis) 2:02:15
- Czechia 2 (Rozalie Kucharova, Martin Kanta, Vojtech Stransky) 2:03:01
- Switzerland 1 (Ursina Jaeggi, Flurin Schnyder, Adrian Jaeggi) 2:03:28
- Denmark 1 2:03:55
- Italy 1 2:04:01
- France 1 2:05:37