![\"ccs-62657-0-49200200-1526884928.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-49200200-1526884928.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>olanda Neff performs at UCI XCO World Cup in Albstadt, Germany. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski\/Red Bull Content Pool.<\/span><\/p>\nNeff\u2019s now trademark start line smile belied the ruthlessness of what was to come. By the end of lap two the technically supreme Swiss had amassed a two minute lead and never looked back.<\/p>\n
There were big rides too from the reigning overall title holder, Yana Belomoina. Returning to the track where she had taken her first ever victory after missing the first round due to a hip injury, she rode to a superb second place. Holland\u2019s Anne Tauber matched her result in Stellenbosch with another third.<\/p>\n
Neff said: \u201cThe conditions were my best friend today! I was happy when I knew it was rainy and muddy. We had a real mountain bike race and I loved every second.\u201d<\/p>\n Big rains were promised for the elite men\u2019s race, but they never arrived. Conditions remained tricky however and it felt like the emerging stars of Mathieu Van Der Poel and Samuel Gaze were set to make their presence felt.<\/p>\n For Gaze\u2019s Specialized S-Racing however, it was to be a weekend to forget. Despite arriving in Germany riding a wave of confidence of the back of some great early season success, first Jaroslav Kulhavy retired with drivetrain issues only for Gaze to retire shortly after. Those results relegated him to the third row of the starting grid but the defending champion went from the gun and was at the front before the end of the start loop. He forged on until only Tempier was left and, clearly not fancying leaving it to a last lap sprint, he pushed hard on to the penultimate to finish on his own. Tempier finished second, with Van Der Poel third, and crossed the line to the Swiss holding his Scott bike proudly aloft – the boss was back.<\/p>\n<\/a>Yana Belomoina, Jolanda Neff, Anna Tauber perform at UCI XCO World Cup in Albstadt, Germany. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski\/Red Bull Content Pool.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski\/Red Bull Content Pool.<\/span><\/p>\n
Last season, Schurter had done the impossible and achieved the perfect season but 2018 hadn\u2019t been as kind. He\u2019d lost out to Gaze in South Africa and a freak mechanical had put him out of the Short Track race at the start of the weekend.<\/p>\n