Florencia Espiñeira has been on fire all season long, and another e-enduro gold medal in Bellwald, Valais, Switzerland has given them a near-stranglehold on the overall World Cup (E-EDR) title.
The Chilean expatriate from Whistler logged four stage wins, three second places and a pair of thirds across the nine-stage, 76.3-kilometre trial. Despite over 2,670 metres of total elevation gain, she finished in 54 minutes and 16.608 seconds: nearly half a minute ahead of German silver medallist Raphaela Richter (54:45.900). Alia Marcellini of Italy clocked in for bronze (56:40.142).
Espiñeira now wields a commanding 721-point lead over Laura Charles, who sits second in overall rankings but laboured to seventh this weekend.
“I’m happy for getting through this day, it was very tough, even happier to take the win," said Espiñeira in a press release. "It was a big battle with Rapha so, good day! I took it stage by stage, trying to go fast in every single one. I never stopped attacking.”
Maiden triumph
Over in conventional enduro, it was Elly Hoskin prevailing in the ladies' U21 race for her first World Cup (EDR) breakthrough.
Hoskin faltered out of the gate with an early Stage One crash, but pulled it together for consistent brilliance the rest of the way. Three runner-ups followed by two stage wins buoyed the Squamolian to the line in 44:27.939, well ahead of Vancouver Islander Emmy Lan (45:05.405). Simona Kuchynkova from Slovakia held on to her 160-point overall lead despite settling for third (45:16.736).
"It feels exceptional, that was such a hard day, and I wasn’t expecting it to be my day at all!" Hoskin told reporters after a nearly 55-kilometre trek on the bike. "Everything came together from a crash in the first corner of the first stage, I was like: 'I guess I’m shooting for stage wins now.'
"Priorities shifted but it was a good day. Stage Two, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy that as much but it came together really well in the race. That’s when I was like: 'maybe this is a good day.'"
The UCI Mountain Bike World Series will return Sept. 6 to 8 for its campaign finale after the imminent Paris Olympics. Full results from Bellwald, Valais are available here.
