French fans got a double dose of glory on the final day of the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships with victories in both the Elite and U23 women's events and a second-placed finish in the men's U23 race.
The boisterous crowd packed into the ski resort of Les Gets in the Haute-Savoie region of Eastern France witnessed Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claim her fourth world championship cross country mountain bike world title, only 48 hours after securing victory in the short-track event.
The Absolute–Absalon–BMC racer was challenged by eventual runner-up Jolanda Neff on the first lap of the race but the Frenchwoman pulled 22 seconds ahead of her Swiss competitor by the end of the lap, remaining in cruise control for the rest of the race and going on to finish one minute and 35 seconds clear in the lead.
Ferrand-Prevot was greeted across the line by a glorious reception from her home fans, even accepting a French flag from the sideline as she waved it en route to the finish.
The elite women's event was preceded by the U23 women's and men's races respectively, with 19-year-old Line Burquier winning her maiden world championship title in the former.
Burquier made the tricky 3.9 kilometre course look easy when she overtook early race leaders Giada Specia (italy) and Ronja Blochlinger (Switzerland) by the second lap, going on to finish 43 seconds ahead of Dutch racer Puck Pieterse and 59 seconds behind Sofie Pederson of Denmark, much to the delight of the French faithful.
Specia and Blochlinger both finished one minute and 51 seconds behind in fourth and fifth place respectively despite taking the early lead.
Mathis Azzaro also came close to taking the win in front of his home fans in the U23's event but was bested by Italian Simone Avondetto, who finished 28 seconds ahead of his French competitor.
The upset victory came after race favourite and defending champion Martin Kossman of Chile looked set to maintain his lead in the first half of the race, before fading on the fourth lap as Avondetto overtook him with Azzaro not far behind.
Swiss racer Luca Schatti even managed to overtake Kossman on the final lap, with the former finishing 29 seconds behind Azzaro and 16 seconds ahead of the defending champion.
The climax of the final day of the Championships coincided with a thrilling neck and neck battle for victory in the elite men's race with little separating Switzerland's Nino Schurter from David Valero of Spain during the final lap of the event.
Valero unsuccessfully attempted to break away from his Swiss opponent on multiple occasions, but a stubborn Schurter held firm and maintained pace in the seventh and final lap before breaking his opponent during the last kilometre, where he got away in a technical section of the course which was not visible on camera.
Schurter eclipsed Valero by nine seconds, as well as a strong field consisting of Briton Olympic gold medallist Thomas Pidcock and recent World Cup winner, Italian Luca Braidot, with the former finishing an entire minute behind a third-placed Braidot, who in turn was 29 seconds shy of the victory.
The newly crowned champion and runner-up also embraced at the finish line in Les Gets in a stunning display of sportsmanship.
