UCI MTB World Cup Mont-Sainte-Anne – Loana Lecomte takes final women's elite cross-country win of 2024

Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) has time to soak up the victory at Mont-Saint-Anne (Image credit: Getty Images)

Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) soared to victory in the elite cross-country Olympic race of the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series, making the most of the damp conditions at the challenging Mont-Sainte-Anne circuit in Canada.

Lecomte came over the line to take the final round of the series ahead of Laura Stigger (Specialized Factory Racing). Stigger had joined the French rider at the front by the end of lap two but ultimately couldn't respond when Lecomte attacked on the final lap of the six-lap race, finishing nine seconds back.

"I made some space and I tried to attack when I was the best and it was in the steep part," said Lecomte in a series media release. "It’s not the first climb of the lap but it was one of the first and she was a little bit more tired than me."

Friday's short-track winner Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing) came third in Sunday's cross-country race, with Candice Lill fourth after she quickly recovered from a slow launch off the start line. Keller, the series winner, claimed fifth.

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series is now on hiatus until 2025, when it will start the new year of racing at Araxá - Minas Gerais, Brazil from April 3-6.

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.