Mona Mitterwallner and Laura Stigger finished second and third in the cross-country race for another historic success for cycling Austria. Never before had two Austrian women stood together on the podium of the top three. For Laura Stigger, it is already the third podium finish in a row in Leogang.
It is a fantastic weekend for Austrian mountain biking at the home World Cup in Leogang. After the two World Cup victories of Vali Héll and Andreas Kolb in yesterday's downhill race, Mona Mitterwallner and Laura Stigger are now second and third in the Cross Country Olympic. It is the first time that an Austrian duo has finished in the top three in the history of the sport and thus another historic day in Saalfelden Leogang: “Today we can also thank the Austrian fans for this success. No matter where we drove, we heard the names Laura and Mona. That was truly an absolute madness and pushed me to my absolute limit”, explains a happy Mona Mitterwallner, who was able to continuously work her way forward from round to round after a low-key start from the front row of the grid: “It is not a given that everything goes well at the home World Cup, as you saw last year. This year was definitely a successful weekend for me with the front row of the grid and the podium. It was important to me that I could call everything up today. I have not quite achieved the ultimate goal, but nevertheless I am happy to be able to celebrate with family, friends and fans.”
Podium hat-trick for Stigger
For the third time in a row, Laura Stigger placed third in the home race: “It’s something very special for me to race at home. It’s just good for me,” says Stigger, who is also happy about the historic podium double with compatriot Mitterwallner: “It shows how strong we are in Austria and I hope that with the success we can let the fans live and celebrate. It’s something special to have such a strong team and we’re looking forward to more. From the successes this weekend you can see how much the home crowd means. I would like to see the home crowd everywhere now,” smiles Stigger.
On the other hand, the World Cup leader and up-and-coming player of the year, Puck Pieterse of the Netherlands, recorded a solo ride and thus an unassailable start-finish victory: “Puck is at a brutally high level, so young and already so strong. But the season is still long. Hopefully we will be able to challenge it,” said Stigger.
The weekend's races will be shown on Eurosport.com, discovery+ and worldwide on GCN+. In addition, Red Bull TV broadcasts the entire weekend live in Austria and Germany.
