Bella's brilliant weekend highlighted a strong weekend of XC racing for Trek athletes
Isabella Holmgren won the Under-23 short track and Olympic-distance races at MTB World Championships to complete a dream week. Same lede sentence, two years in a row. Stamp it and ship it. The Lidl-Trek rider is something special on a mountain bike.
Holmgren won her fourth rainbow jersey in two years with a dominant performance in Sunday’s XCO race, finishing 2:16 faster than second-place Vida Lopez de San Roman. A technical up-and-down course in Crans-Montana tested the most-of-the-time road rider, but in the end she would not be denied.
“I was terrified on the descents and stuff, but I trusted [Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli XC team manager] Oscar [Saiz], and it was fun,” Holmgren said after the race. “I think my favorite part was before the main rock garden, there’s a lefthand corner, and I just felt like I was riding it really well.”
Isabella Holmgren, hands in the air, winning her fourth world title in two years.
Big hugs and huge emotions after another incredible performance.
Holmgren got to compete alongside her twin sister and Lidl-Trek teammate, Ava, who finished ninth in short track and seventh in XCO.
“Ava had a really good day, too. It was so much fun,” Holmgren said. “I’m so proud of her. She killed it.”
Isabella’s double-rainbow weekend highlighted a strong week for Trek athletes. Evie Richards capped the weekend with a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Elite Women XCO. The 2021 XCO World Champion looked strong on a course that demanded power and attention. Richards was especially happy with the performance after recently overcoming a difficult bout of Covid, and watching a potential podium bid come undone late during Tuesday’s short track race due to a flat.
Evie Richards was just 12 seconds off the podium on Saturday.
Gwendalyn Gibson (left) and Madigan Munro (right) gave strong performances.
“I’m so happy. I had a good day. I don’t even really feel disappointed that I didn’t get a medal because I feel like if you would have told me that when I had Covid, that I was going to be 12 seconds off a medal, I would have been like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take that,'” Richards said after the race. “I felt like I was doing well on the descents. I just held my own — my own pace. I didn’t make many mistakes apart from the last lap on the technical climb.”
The rest of the TFR crew gave confidence-building performances. Gwendalyn Gibson was 17th in Saturday’s XCO, and has now had top-20 finishes in back-to-back races after placing 13th in short track racing at the World Cup round in Les Gets. Madigan Munro finished 27th in her first-ever elite World Championship XCO, and Riley Amos was 28th in the men’s race on Sunday.
Riley Amos showed out in his first elite XCO World Championship.
One helluva weekend.
The squad will carry its momentum right into this weekend, when World Cup racing returns with an XC/DH doubleheader in Lenzerheide. Another gorgeous, technical course awaits. The team looks primed to make some noise.
