After two rounds in South America and six rounds in Europe, the UCI XCO World Cup series heads stateside for the final two rounds. The penultimate stop of the 2025 World Cup in Lake Placid had everything you’d want: dominance, home-soil heroics, and drama. Jenny Rissveds continued her late-season resurgence with a flawless win in the women’s race.
A few hours later, Christopher Blevins sent the home crowd into raptures, outduelling his Specialized teammates in a tactical thriller to secure both the race victory and the overall series title.
Brief Results
Women's elite
1st. Jenny Rissveds: 1:20:15 (Canyon CLLCTV XCO)
2nd. Evie Richards: +2:16 (Trek Factory Racing Pirelli)
3rd. Samara Maxwell: +2:31 (Decathlon Ford Racing Team)
4th. Savilia Blunk: +2:36 (Decathlon Ford Racing Team)
5th. Alessandra Keller: +3:35 (Thömus Maxon)
Men's elite
1st. Christopher Blevins: 1:19:54 (Specialized Factory Racing)
2nd. Adrien Boichis: +0 (Specialized Factory Racing)
3rd. Mathis Azzaro: +2 (Origine Racing Division)
4th. Martin Vidaurre Kossmann: +2 (Specialized Factory Racing)
5th. Simone Avondetto: +4 (Wilier Vittoria Factory Team)
Women's elite: Utter domination from Rissveds
From the moment the elite women took off in Lake Placid, it was clear Jenny Rissveds had arrived in the US with the momentum she had found in the latter part of this season. After a chaotic start loop where Laura Stigger briefly escaped and traffic snarled behind, the reigning World Champion methodically worked her way to the front, and then, as we have come to expect this year, never looked back.
By the end of the first lap, Rissveds had erased Stigger’s slim early advantage and begun to open daylight on the field. While Savilia Blunk and Evie Richards fought to establish order in the chase, Rissveds simply rode away, settling into her rhythm. Her gap continued to extend to 40 seconds, all within the first 20 minutes of racing. On her own, she set an unrelenting pace on the climbs and danced through Lake Placid’s rocky, rooty descents, always looking in control.
Alex Hunt
Behind, the podium battle was anything but settled. Richards took charge of the chase midway through lap two, with Blunk glued to her wheel and Ronja Blöchlinger lurking not far behind. It was unfortunate for Samara Maxwell, who repeated her teammates' misfortune from Lenzerheide, crashing and temporarily dropping back to seventh, before recovering brilliantly. By lap four, she and Alessandra Keller had reeled in the trio of Richards, Blunk, and Blöchlinger, igniting a fierce five-way scrap for the remaining podium spots.
Rissveds turned the screw lap by lap, and by the penultimate lap, she had nearly three minutes in hand. Barring all but catastrophe, the win was a done deal for the World Champion. Now the focus shifted to the fight for second. Maxwell set the tempo in the chase before Blunk countered, and with two laps to go, the three riders, Maxwell, Blunk, and Richards, were inseparable. On the final lap, Richards launched one last-ditch attack, shaking free of both Blunk and Maxwell to secure second place.
But there was no touching Rissveds, an utterly dominant performance crossing the line alone, 2:43 ahead of Richards, sealing her second World Cup XCO victory of 2025. Maxwell completed the podium after holding off Blunk in the closing metres.
Men's elite: Blevins does the double in his home race
The men’s World Cup finale in Lake Placid delivered wheel-to-wheel all-out racing down to the line. From the gun, attacks, counterattacks, and a nail-biting duel ignited the race, with no single rider able to get away.
Straight off the bat, Dario Lillo launched himself first through the short start loop. Once things settled, a large lead group formed, with Maximilian Foidl, Simon Andreassen, and Christopher Blevins trading turns on the front as riders jostled for position on the opening climbs.
By the end of the first lap, 12 riders were all within touching distance of each other, but Blevins was setting the tone for what was to come. The American drove a fierce pace that steadily thinned the group. Fabio Püntener briefly asserted himself at the front, midway through the race. This upping of the pace established a five-rider move that included Blevins, Adrien Boichis, Mathis Azzaro, and Luca Martin. Behind them, Simone Avondetto and Marcel Guerrini led the chase, desperately trying to claw back seconds.
With three laps to go, the front of the race swelled again; the front five were joined by four chasers, putting nine riders all within a handful of seconds, each waiting for someone else to blink. Avondetto was the first to lay down his cards; his surge shredded the front group back down to five. The Specialized Factory Racing trio of Blevins, Boichis, and Vidaurre found themselves controlling the front of the race. With the trio working well, it was hard to look past the win coming from one of the three.
Coming round to take the bell, Blevins retook the lead, Püntener briefly threatened, but Boichis countered hard on the climb, gaining a small gap. Although it was enough to close down Püntener's attack, it wasn’t enough to keep the home hero Blevins at bay. Roared on by the American crowd, he launched his own move on the final ascent, powering past his teammate to take a dramatic win.
Even with one round remaining in the series, today's win puts Blevins out of touch in the overall standings, handing him his first series title in XCO.
Behind Blevins, it was his Specialized Factory Racing teammate Boichis who crossed the line in second place, with Azzaro getting the better of Vidaurre in a two-up sprint for the final podium spot.
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