World Cup XCO Finals - Val di Sole

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<b>Val di Sole, the morning of the XCO World Cup finals. It rained all night long and the clouds were still hanging low in the morning.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>One year ago Annefleur Kalvenhaar died from a crash at the Meribel World Cup. Like last year, lots of riders added a little flower to their start number. She will never be forgotten.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>A broken chain right at the start of the race. U23 rider, Sam Gaze ran 2km to the first tech zone and was 6:13 back, but still rode strong. #allheart</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>The race for the Elite Women's overall was already Jolanda's, but the race for the day was open as always. 6 laps to go...</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>...under a slow drizzle, the Elite Women blast off.</b> -John Parkin
<b>Annika Langvad descending in the first lap. With 5 laps to go, we wondered if she just knew it would be her day.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>A common sight this season. Jolanda leading first lap.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Annika surely had a long and hard journey into this race. She won the Leadville 100 last weekend and headed straight to Italy from Colorado.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>After the World Cups in Mont Sainte Anne and Windham, Jolanda took a weekend off to give her body some rest and for Val di Sole and the World Champs next week in Andorra.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Catherine Pendrel and Irina Kalentieva looking strong, but couldn't hang with Jolanda and Annika.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Nope. Not fat bike tracks, but the lead moto leaving traces.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Emily Batty in the greasy, mossy, rocky, singletrack.</b> -John Parkin
<b>Georgia Gould focusing on the uphill ahead.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Pushing through the pain.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Annika surviving the slip. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Annika was stronger in the uphill and Jolanda tried to stay on her back wheel as close as possible...</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>...but Annika took the win by almost a minute. Enjoying the last meters of her first World Cup XCO win.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Annika pops the cork!</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Elite Women's Podium<br><br />
1st, Annika Langvad<br>2nd, Jolanda Neff<br>3rd, Irina Kalentyeva<br>4th, Maja Wloszczowska<br>5th, Emily Batty</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Jolanda celebrating her 2015 UCI World Cup XCO overall victory.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ralph Naf had little surprise on his bar for his last race before retiring.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Off they go. Nino just needing to finish better than 23rd to take the overall win.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Marco Fontana had superfans shouting for him on the race course...</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>...and took 8th in front of the home crowd.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>In the first laps Nino was not feeling fit and tried to save some energy in the draft of Vogel.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>The XC went down the 4x track on one of the descents with the jumps at the bottom.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Everybody was looking forward to Nino jumping the double on the first lap. Florian Vogel cut his line right before the jump, so Nino had to brake and roll the double. In the other 6 laps he showed the crowds that XCers can ride with style.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
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<b>Shaving seconds with style.</b> -Simon from SRAM
<b>Kapow! Nino kicks it out.</b> -John Parkin
<b>Nino wasn't the only one. True, effortless proper trail style from Manual Fumic.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>What's worse? This or GoPro on a stick?</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Nino focused. He wasn't letting it go to Julien today.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ralph Naf on one of his last descents in Elite World Cup XCO racing. #truepinner</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Andrea Tiberi in front of the home crowd. </b> -Sven Martin
<b>Julien followed Nino on the downhill and Nino followed on the uphill.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Nino, not afraid of the inside line.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Back and forth all race, Vogel, Abasalon and Schurter.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>It was tight! Julien, Nino and Vogel together heading into the last lap.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>But the reason why Julien could not counter Nino's attack on the last downhill. He was losing air in his front tire.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Nino played it safe, sprinted into the last descent out front and took the win by just 5-seconds.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Nino, in form leading up to World Champs and then the Olympics. </b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ralph Naf was welcomed by family and friends at his last race.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>With the UCI having the U23 Women's race after the Elite race, the spectators were gone and it even started to rain. This didn't Jenny Rissveds off a perfect ending to the season and a mark in the history book with 6 wins out of 6 races!</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>One more of Jenny for dominating the lonely suffer!</b> -John Parkin
<b>Two pairs of hard-worked and hard-won rainbow-lined legs.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Not the overall and not today's winner but the Overall Team award was in Julien's hands with BMC.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Florian Vogel on the podium again and looking wild for World Champs.</b> -Marius Maasewerd
<b>Cheers Ralph for a wonderful career!</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Poppin' the cork, Nino and Julien with many battles between them.</b> -Sven Martin
<b>Elite Men's podium<br>1st, Nino Schurter<br>2nd, Julien Absalon<br>3rd, Florian Vogel<br>4th, Jaroslav Kulhavy<br>5th, Maxime Marotte</b> -Marius Maasewerd<br><br><b>Vital would like to give a huge thanks to Marius and Sven for their XCO coverage this season! It's been fantastic and a nice addition!</b> -gordo
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Description

The final World Cup XCO race of 2015 was a heated battle with Nino Schurter, Julien Absalon and Florian Vogel yo-yo'ing their way through the Val di Sole course.

Marius Maasewerd, Sven Martin and John Parkin share the chronological suffering and the sights from Italy.

Vital can't thank Marius and Sven enough for their hard work covering World Cup XCO. It's been a fantastic addition to our coverage in 2015! #YEW

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