The French snowboard cross team dominated the second sprint competition of the World Cup tour staged at Feldberg (GER) today.
In front of 5,000 excited spectators Nelly Moenne Loccoz and Pierre Vaultier secured a double victory for their home country with the 2014 Olympic champion earning another milestone of his career.
By winning his career 16th World Cup race ahead of World Cup leader Nikolay Olyunin (RUS) and Lluis Marin Tarroch (AND), Vaultier became the most successful male snowboard cross racer of all time ahead of Jasey Jay Anderson (CAN, 15 wins) and his fellow countryman Xavier de le Rue (FRA, 11 wins).
“I was struggling pretty hard in the semis with Olyunin pushing it like in yesterday's finals. That wasn't good news for me as I still had today's final in front of me. I had to keep some energy for the finals,” said Vaultier after an exhausting day of battling with the world's best.
“But I ended up first with my best friend Lluis [Marin Tarroch] next to me as third. Such a great day. But topping it all with becoming the most successful racer of all times makes today even better.”
1-2-punch for France
The women's competition had it all with tons of passes and thrilling photo finishes, Moenne Loccoz clinched her career third win, extending her lead in the World Cup ranking and earning redemption for yesterday's fourth place finish:
“Yesterday was very hard. I was very disappointed of my riding. So, I really wanted to do well today. I knew I was strong on this course, so we worked hard to achieve that goal,” she stated.
But as Olympic bronze medalist Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) and Michela Moioli (ITA) rounded out the podium as second and third, respectively, everything went according to plan:
“With Chloe [Trespeuch] being second, and Pierre [Vaultier] winning we did a great job. It's a great day for us.”
The snowboard cross World Cup tour continues in four weeks with the second snowboard cross World Cup race ever in Russia to be staged in Sunny Valley from February 20th – 21st, 2016.
Results
Full results can be viewed online:
