Maxwell wins UCI MTB cross-country title
- Dave Worsley
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Samara Maxwell continued her successful weekend at Araxa, Minas Gerais, Brazil with a win to follow her silver 24 hours earlier in the short track race.
Maxwell survived a nail-biting final lap chase to win an emotional maiden UCI World Cup round, Elite UCI Cross-country Olympic (XCO) World Cup race.
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The New Zealander broke for glory on lap seven, causing the group of favourites to splinter behind as only teammate Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) and Nicole Koller (Ghost Factory Racing) could live with the 23-year-old’s frantic pace.
The 23-year-old led the chasers by 18 seconds at the start of the final lap but was hanging on by her fingernails through the final few corners with Koller finishing just four seconds behind the first-time victor.
Maxwell described the previous day's XCC second place as a “dream come true”, she must quickly get used to this reality of being a main contender at UCI Cross-country World Cups as the Kiwi blazed clear of a star-studded lead group and held off a determined pursuit from Nicole Koller who also had the carrot of a first win at this level.
“I genuinely can’t [believe it], Jenny [Rissveds] was so strong at the start and I was on the limit the whole time,” Maxwell said. “On the descents I’ve been working so hard technically over the summer on my skills, it was just a matter of getting to the front and I just went for it.”
Asked when she believed she would win in Araxá, Maxwell responded: “At the finish line. I honestly couldn’t believe it, I just kept telling myself ‘this is for a world cup win, hurt as much as you can because you won’t get it if you don’t’.
“The team has been so incredible for me, I’ve had a bit of hard time the last few years and the team stood by me and said, ‘no matter what you do, as you long as you put your health and yourself as a person first, we will support you’.
“They were willing to support me walking away from the mountain biking team for a few years to get back healthy because they believed in me so much. So, to have everything fall into line for these amazing people is the most special part.”