Sina Frei won the 2026 UCI XCC World Cup overall title by 60 points over Jenny Rissveds. The Swiss rider sealed it with third place at the Lake Placid finale, then won the season's last XCO race the next day.
Third was enough, a win was Rissveds' only hope
The XCC finale ran at the Lake Placid Olympic Sites in rain and mud. The corners turned greasy and the rock garden slick, and riders fought for grip. Frei needed only a top-three finish; Rissveds had to win outright.
Frei and Rissveds set the early pace, and by the third lap a group of eight had broken clear with Rissveds driving a hard tempo as Jolanda Neff lost contact. Frei pushed on the start/finish straight while Rissveds clawed back on the bobsleigh-inspired descent; Berta then moved into second and attacked at the bell. Only Rissveds could follow, and Berta held off the sprint for her second XCC win in North America, with Frei third — enough for the overall.
A day later, millimetres against Berta
On Saturday, Frei returned for the final women's XCO of the season, with Rissveds holding 2,045 points to Frei's 1,825 and needing just 15 to clinch the XCO standings. Rissveds attacked first, but Berta answered by lifting the pace, and Ronja Blöchlinger crashed hard in a rocky section and abandoned. Rissveds faded to tenth by lap three, more than half a minute back.
Berta attacked again on lap six, with Maxwell first to close and Frei among the chasers. Frei and Berta came to the line locked together, both recorded at 1:25:59, the margin measured in centimetres with Frei just ahead. Samara Maxwell took third, six seconds behind, sealing Frei's second win of the weekend.
From a first world title to the season crown
The overall came from three round wins to Rissveds' two, over a rival the sources call the most successful XCC rider of all time. It follows a landmark summer: in August, Frei took her first Elite XCO world title at Val di Sole in 1:27:50.
Frei said she tried not to think about the standings during the muddy finale, but the title "was always somewhere in my mind." She added that in such conditions "the equipment is even more important," and that one slip could cost the overall.
