Jolanda Neff is the new Olympic mountain bike champion after leading from start to finish at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. Switzerland dominated in this match. She started with three riders and top talent Sina Frei (silver) and Linda Indergand (bronze) also took a medal. Anne Terpstra was fifth on behalf of the Netherlands.
With 38 participants in four and a half rows, the women started their Olympic cross-country mountain biking competition at 08:00 Dutch time. The very young top favorite Loana Lecomte – the first-year pro won all her competitions this season, including all World Cups – got off to a good start and immediately punched a small hole at the Amagi Pass, the first hurdle of the day. The differences were small, but a traffic jam stopped all women after place ten. Anne Tauber was one of the women who was on foot.
The Austrian top talent Laura Stigger – still a year younger than the French – was able to join Lecomte. In the background, cyclocross rider Kata Blanka Vas – also so young, only nineteen springs young – caused a stir. From the last row of the grid, she had already advanced to third place. However, the Hungarian slipped in the opening run on the wet course just before the final climb before the line. Lecomte and Stigger therefore had a small gap on the rest of the favorites at the start-finish line. The Dutch ladies did not have the best start.
Ferrand-Prévot down
PFP on archive image – photo: Cor Vos
Shortly afterwards Jolanda Neff closed the gap to the leading duo, Switzerland was not with three ladies. That was ideal for world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, she didn’t have to do anything with Lecomte ahead. All the ladies then had to go on the longer climb of the bike. Walking Ferrand-Prévot made a hole and only Neff was with him. At the Sakura Drop – where, unlike yesterday, the ‘Mathieu van der Poel plank’ had remained in place – the Swiss saved her match with a technical feat, after she half missed the plank.
In the ensuing descent, Neff and Ferrand-Prévot both chose a different line. The Frenchwoman flew slightly out of the corner on the stone slope, fell half backwards and eventually lost half a minute. It turned out to be the decision very early in the game. PFP never came back to the front and Neff got wings. Behind her, Lecomte tried to reverse course, but she had Sina Frei and Linda Indergand in her wheel on behalf of Switzerland. Of course they didn’t do too much. Behind that group, Ferrand-Prevot tried to close the gap.
Terpstra and Tauber advance behind impressive Neff
Neff led from the first lap and was allowed to celebrate early – photo: Cor Vos
That happened far behind the technically superior Neff. Halfway through the game, she had already extended her lead to more than a minute. Behind the chasing group, Anne Terpstra and Anne Tauber moved forward after a somewhat poor start. Vas also came up strong after her crash and at one point we had a big chasing group with Lecomte, Ferrand-Prevot, Tauber, Terpstra, Evie Richards, Vas, Frei and Indergand. That was against the wishes of both Swiss ladies, who put pressure on that group on the heavy Wasabi climb.
They got that opportunity, because Neff drove around the front like a madman. The Swiss continued to expand her lead and did not run into problems for a moment. She could afford a mistake, but she didn’t make it. Frei and Indergand wriggled free in the background and completed the Swiss feat by driving to places two and three. Vas took a nice fourth place behind, twenty seconds ahead of Terpstra. Tauber and Ferrand-Prévot made a few mistakes in the final and fell back in the result. Outgoing champion Jenny Rissveds finished fourteenth.
Olympic Games 2021
Mountainbike Crosscountry (20,55 kilometer)
Jolanda Neff in 1u15m46s
Sina Frei + 1m11s
Linda Indergand + 1m19s
4. 
Kata Blanka Vas + 2m09s
5. 
Anne Terpstra + 2m35s
6. 
Loana Lecomte + 2m57s
7. 
Evie Richards +3m23s
8. 
Yana Belomoina + 3m54s
9. 
Haley Batten +4m27s
10. Pauline Ferrand-Précot + 4m32s
11. Anne Tauber zt
Switzerland wins silver (Frei), gold (Neff) and bronze (Indergand) – photo: Cor Vos
