Jolanda Neff has said that a focus on technical skills allowed the
Swiss team to claim a sweep of the medals in the women's XCO race at the Tokyo Olympics.
Neff took the lead in the middle of the first lap after a crash by Pauline Ferrand Prevot and rode away from the field to finish the race more than a minute in the lead. She was followed home by her compatriots Sina Frei and Linda Indergand who rode together for most of the race.
After the race, Neff told
Reuters, "I knew it was going to be super tough race. This morning we had a complete change in conditions. We had a lot of rain. But the Swiss team has invested so much time in skills and technical training and it really paid off."
The Paul Davies' designed track on the Izu peninsula was the most technical in Olympic history and rivalled even the most technical World Cup tracks with its man-made rocky features and punchy climbs. The track was made even harder by a storm from the approaching Typhoon Nepartek before the race that left riders struggling for grip on the slick rock sections and slimy, muddy climbs.
400 [Failed to load instagram embed] https://www.instagram.com/p/CR0kSMZBN9h/?maxwidth=1000&hidecaption=1In a demonstration of her technical skills, Neff was forced offline to avoid Pauline Ferrand Prevot off the Sakura Drop. She then overtook Pauline who slipped out on the rock climb.
It was a tough run-up to the Games for Neff who
ruptured her spleen in 2019 then
broke her hand at the World Cup in Leogang in June. However, she was able to fully recover and prove herself to be the class of the field in Japan. She said, "I was in the flow, I had fun out there, it was my goal for today to have fun and to enjoy it and yeah it was a perfect race... It feels like a dream and I hope I don't wake up anytime soon."
Linda Indergand also believes the Swiss were best prepared for the technical nature of the course. She told
AP Olympics, "We had a really big advantage because of the technical course. We had the best lines and we knew we could ride our bike so comfortably, so when the rain came in the morning we were all excited to race.”
Sina Frei said, "I still can’t believe what happened today. I think you can always dream, and of course it was a big dream of mine, and yeah, to stand on the podium with two other Swiss girls is just amazing."
www.cyclingnews.com/news/neff-decries-ferrand-prevots-stupid-move-in-tokyo-olympics-mountain-bike-race
Keep it clean out there kids!
A little bit of pro smack talk after the race. Lol.
Also, there was a decent elbows out pass from PFP on Lecompte early in the race that had Lecompte looking shaken. Wouldn't have been a big deal for PFP though with her road bunch experience.
#thatsracing
Not saying this is actually how it happened, but if the shoe fits….
Jolanda is a High Cadence Spinner with a very smooth power curve. She's the absolute MTB Queen of it.
Low Cadence Power pedalers like Jenny Rissveds predictably had traction issues. Where Jolanda is very light on the pedals, Jenny and riders like her are heavy footed and their power curve has big peaks and valleys.
In conditions with good traction the power pedalers can outclimb her but when it's slick she has a definite advantage.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ZjbhdRXEI
Her feet are a whirling dervish. She's done it her whole career.
As for her technical skills they're beyond reproach.
Neff, given what just happen on the drop thought (and rightly so) best not to follow PFP and ride the other line and maybe close gap/get in front.
From what I've read and heard from Jolanda is that she's more of an old school "Ride by Feel" cyclist.
She doesn't obsess over numbers and they're not a big priority to her.
" I always race on my intuition and my feeling... To me, skills and fun on the bike are the number one priority. - Jolanda Neff
Thanks a lot.
And why is Austria so nowhere in the XC?
so many questions so few answers;-)
They wont be happy
Neff: hold my rösti...
What a beautifull track, glad a Techinical rider took the gold.
(watch "Bernard Kerrs winning run POV" was the complete opposite)
Then after the first lap was over in the men's race, I hit the pause button and said "Wait, now mud is coming to this course for the women??.... Jolanda's gonna rip em!"
But never in a million years though did I think Loana and PFP would both not medal...... and holy shit! Sina and Linda!!
Congrats to the Swiss team for sure.
Setbacks?
Not that i know anything about world cup level performance lol
There can be a discussion as to how much training, but it’s not a question whether it’s beneficial to have some.
Check out Dylan Johnson’s video on the topic.
Although I think Jolanda’s opinion on the subject is wrong, she just flat out rode better than everybody else today. She’s the better technical rider and it showed.
Spend some time in sports science and you will discover that people who really know what they are doing will say, will say we don't know, and those who don't know what they are doing will say we know.
I once got caught in a cold rain storm on a ride, got hypothermic and fell asleep on the trail
Only made that mistake once!
Despite saying she needs to work on her technical skills since time immemorial it was only this year that I saw her working on them with Frischneckt in the mud.
She needs a hard reboot; sports psychologist, not a bunch of crutches.
Full seasons of Belgian cross followed by EWS should do the trick
BTW her most recent Washington Post 'essay' was an enormous propagandist, self-help narcissistic sack of drivel I've read this week, and that's saying a lot.
Who in real life calls themselves courageous multiple times in a national publication?
Kate's team is only doing what Kate wants; she's doing herself a disservice by not improving her bike handling. I'm sure a large component of that is mental.
Having said that her genius on the bike comes from her core and between the ears. Just look at the posture of her mother, her strength coach, and yeah Jolanda makes perfect sense
The reality is if Batty had ridden in 2019 like she did in 2018 she would have gone for sure. Not only because she would have hit criteria but Canada would have been a top 2 ranked nation and had three spots.
Anyone know what is on many of the riders' downtubes? I first noticed the ribbing or whatever along downtubes in the last muddy WC race, does it help shed mud or what? Anyone know?