Evie Richards dug deep on Friday at Mont-Sainte-Anne over the final short-track lap to hold off a host of riders and claim second place behind winner Jenny Rissveds, which meant that she banked the top-eight finish that she needed to win the 2025 overall UCI MTB World Cup XCC title ahead of the Swede. Here is all you need to know:
– Heading into the final XCC race of a long season, Briton Richards had produced an excellent campaign of consistent results which included two brilliant wins to open the season and four second places.
– Before lining up in Canada, Richards revealed: “Any results you have in the past, not that you forget, but it goes quick. You are as good as your last race. It doesn’t matter if I won a race four years ago. I am a different rider and I am a different person to what I was four years ago. I definitely feel with age, every year, I have become a better racer and I can use my tools better when I get to the start of a race.”
– On Friday, the Trek Factory Racing – Pirelli rider certainly delivered on that as she powered to the front from the start line with overall XCO leader Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) jostling with her.
– Lap three saw the first move by in-form Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), however Richards hung on to the back wheel of her rival with the rest of the contenders catching up to them on lap five.
– Rissveds knew that she had to win and hope Richards blew up behind to have any chance of the overall XCC title, so she launched another attack on lap six that only Richards and Swiss Sina Frei could follow.
– The Swede soon pulled clear on lap seven to cruise through the last laps to win in a time of 21 minutes and 40 seconds, however the drama remained behind as several riders chased the wheel of Richards in red.
– The 2024 Vallnord XCC world champion, though, was in no mood to give up the title after such a superb season and she dug deep on the final lap to hold off Swiss rider Ronja Blöchlinger and finish second.
– After banking the 200 points needed to win the overall title by 110 points from Rissveds, the 28-year-old said: “I was nervous because I wanted to win the race, but I also needed a top eight. I didn’t want to make any mistakes. It was always on the radar and I just enjoyed being in the red (jersey). As the season got on, I really didn’t want to lose it. It has been a really big goal this year and I am really happy.”
– In terms of the fifth Italian stop, which she had to miss through illness, she added: “I was recovering from one illness in Leogang and I was coming down with another one. When I decided to miss Val di Sole, I said to Mum and Dad, ‘I don’t care about the overall, I just need to get healthy and we’ll go from there’. I was really unlucky, but I am happy I took that time to get healthy and then come back stronger.”
– With the victory, Rissveds keeps alive her chance of winning the XCO overall title at Sunday’s race as she accrued 80 XCO points as well compared to Maxwell’s 38.
– In the men’s XCC race, Swiss rider Lars Forster finished the year on a high with fourth place while Dane Simon Andreassen also impressed in seventh to finish the 2025 season in an admirable fifth spot overall.
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