Second season win for Bankes and Surget with his first World Cup victory
Feb 04, 2023·Snowboard Cross
It was a spectacular night of racing once again in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday as the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup tour made it’s return to the scenic Ampezzo Dolomites resort for the second straight season. There we saw Cortina’s thrilling course play host to a triumphant night for Charlotte Bankes, who earned her second victory this season, and the young French athlete Merlin Surget taking home is first ever World Cup win.
Bankes not only winning Qualification, but also Saturday’s big final
Women’s big final here in Cortina saw, qualification winner Charlotte Bankes (GBR) in red, Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) in green, Manon Petit Lenoir (FRA) in blue and Faye Gulini in yellow.
Out of the gate it was Gulini with the fastest reaction time leading the group into the start section, followed by Petit Lenoir, Bankes and Trespeuch. Bankes was riding the first elements in the best way possible and so gained so much speed that she was able to pass Gulini and Petit Lenoir right before the first turn.
Trespeuch also gained a lot of speed in the start strait and tried to take the chance and follow Bankes into the first bank, but the inside line she chose was slowing her down, so she didn`t manage to pass Gulini and Petit Lenoir.
At the roller right before the last turn Petit Lenoir made a mistake, which slowed her down and gave her team colleague the chance to pass her right before the finish strait.
In the end, Bankes crossed the finish line first for the second time this season, Gulini got second, Trespeuch got third and so stood on the podium in every race so far this season and Petit Lenoir got fourth.
Surget with his fist WC victory under Cortina’s floodlights
On the men’s side of things, we saw some good racing in the big final with Glenn Blois De (NED) in red, Merlin Surget (FRA) in green, Jack Vedder (USA) in blue, and Leo le Ble Jaques (FRA) in yellow.
The only one who ever won a WC race in this big final line-up, Blois was leading the group into the start section, followed by Surget, Vedder and le Ble Jaques.
Le Ble Jaques who was riding the start section a bit better than Vedder passed him and was now riding bord by bord with his teammate into the roller section. But the new order didn’t last for too long, as Vedder passed le Ble Jaques again right before the first turn.
At the triple roller between first and second bank, leading Blois jumped too far, got out of balance and crashed into the fence. Surget who was right behind him at this moment managed to pass him, while the other two riders where almost riding into the fallen Dutchman.
After this race accident, the order was clear. The 23-year-old Surget won his first ever world cup race, the American Vedder got second, Surget’s teammate le Ble Jaques got third and the crashed Blois got fourth in the end. For both, Vedder and le Ble Jaques this was also their second career podium.
New and old World Cup leaders: Chloe Trespeuch (FRA), Martin Noerl (GER)
Next stop for the Snowboard Cross World Cup circuit will be the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships taking place in Bakuriani, Georgia from 19 February to 05 March. The Snowboard Cross events take place on 03 March with the single event and on 04 March with the mixed team event.
Next Snowboard Cross World Cup will take place in Sierra Nevada (ESP) from 10 – 12 March 2023.
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