(Reuters) – France’s Vincent Tupin won the men’s elite super-G event in the second edition of the UCI Snow Bike World Championships on home snow in Chatel on Saturday, while Switzerland’s Lisa Baumann won the women’s event.
In a combination of mountain biking and Alpine skiing, riders speed down ski slopes on mountain bikes with studded tyres to set the fastest time and take the winner’s rainbow jersey.
Sixty-three riders — 49 men and 14 women — from 12 countries were on the entry list for the super-G and the dual slalom this year, an improvement on last year’s event which had only seven women taking part.
In a clean sweep by France in the men’s event, Tupin took the rainbow jersey with a time of one minute 45.54 seconds to deny last year’s winner and pre-race favourite Pierre Thevenard another gold.
Thevenard finished 2.39 seconds behind while Cedric Gracia was third, 5.72 seconds behind Tupin.
“I’m very happy, it was a lot of fun… it’s really nice to be able to do this in Chatel, with a lot of friends, it’s a great pleasure,” said Tupin, who won bronze in the event last year.
In the women’s race, Baumann prevented a podium sweep by the French when she took the gold with a time of two minutes 7.29 seconds.
The French trio of Vicky Clavel, Zoe Fayolle and last year’s champion Morgane Such finished second, third and fourth respectively.
“It was really slippery… but I’m happy with my run. It’s good to be here,” said a smiling Baumann, who came third in the super-G last year.
Baumann has the chance to become a double world champion when the dual slalom takes place later on Saturday, after winning gold in the event last year.
“Why not? I’ll do my best,” she said.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
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