Laura Stigger crossed the line at Nové Město na Moravě alone, the clock behind her reading 47 seconds before anyone else appeared.
The Austrian rode away from the elite women's XCO field and eventually won by 47 seconds
on 26 May 2026, in a race she controlled the moment she chose to. It was a win without argument.
How the race was decided
The start was fast and crowded.
The elite women's race began with a very large group at the front and a very high pace from the first climb. Jenny Rissveds initially took the lead, but soon the movements began in a group that also included Puck Pieterse, Sina Frei, Nicole Koller, Martina Berta, Laura Stigger, and Ronja Blöchlinger.
The selection came in stages, over the climbs and through the rocks, until only a handful remained in touch.
Stigger sat near the front and waited.
She was always near the front in the early stages of the race before launching a surprise attack at the end of lap three, creating a gap which couldn't be closed.
Over seven laps on one of the calendar's fastest and most technical circuits, she was strongest exactly where it counted.
Stigger was simply unmatched through the technical sections on the Nové Město course as she continued to build a lead over the elite women's field whenever the trail pointed back down.
Behind her the race turned on misfortune and nerve.
Evie Richards was having a strong race until she crashed while in second place. That left the final two spots on the podium open and created a sprint finish between Jenny Rissveds and Sina Frei.
Rissveds raced strategically and sprinted in the last few seconds to pass Frei in the final moments of the race.
Rissveds took second, Frei third.
A step in the trajectory
Stigger arrived in Nové Město already announced. She had finished second in the short track the day before, and third at the earlier round in La Thuile. The pedigree is older than that: two junior world titles on the mountain bike, a junior road world championship, a teenage prodigy who spent years being expected to arrive. At 25, in the elite field, she has.
She spoke of relief as much as triumph.
Stigger credited both hard work and confidence in her equipment. "We always were there and it was a dream," she said. "Goosebumps."
"We always were there and it was a dream. Goosebumps."
The talent was never the question. Sunday was the answer.
