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PAL ARINSAL, ANDORRA

Jul 13, 2026 | News | 0 comments

Round 6 – UCI MTB WORLD CUP

PAL ARINSAL, ANDORRA

The next round of the UCI MTB World Series was held in Pal Arinsal, Andorra. At just under 2,000 m elevation, altitude played a huge role in this race and the team had been preparing for weeks. Similar to the last round, the course was dusty, dry, and littered with sharp rocks. Technical sections, steep open climbs, and the heat made for another brutal race.

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SHORT TRACK (XCC)

The XCC was plagued by wild weather, including lightning storms that threatened to cancel the race. Heavy rain followed, but thankfully, the weather cleared up just a few minutes before the women’s race, leaving the track unaffected by the downpour.

Emilly didn’t have the best start to the race, but stuck to her race plan and slowly moved through the field to finish in 26th.

“I stuck to my race plan and chipped away”
EMILLY JOHNSTON

“I just won my first World Cup…thats pretty wild”
BJÖRN RILEY

The men’s race was one to remember with Bjorn taking his first Elite World Cup win and the first win of the season for the team. Bjorn had an exceptionally well played out race, remaining in the start group until a few corners to go where he got to the front and held the gap up the steep finish straight. A huge moment for Bjorn that the entire team shared and will still be celebrating for quite some time.

“I think that’s the start, the number one, of many to come”
FRISCHI

Fabio also had a great race finishing just off the first row in 9th.

“For me, it was ok, but I am just really happy for Björn”
FABIO PÜNTENER

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CROSS COUNTRY (XCO)

Whilst the XCC was successful, the XCO was a series of unfortunate and unexpected events.

Emilly had a hard race, made worse when another rider’s wheel came up and hit her in the head, throwing off the remainder of her race.

“Her bike accidentally cooked me in the side of the head really hard and I couldn’t really re-focus after that.”
EMILLY JOHNSTON

Fabio was feeling good, sitting in 12th place until he sliced his tyre in an unsuspecting corner. The team made a wheel change, but had further mechanicals leading to a second wheel change, causing him to drop back into 31st.

“Legs were pretty good, but at the end I couldn’t catch many riders.”
FABIO PÜNTENER

Andri was also having a good race until the final lap when his cassette got caught in a course marker and was unable to get free until someone came and cut him loose with a knife.

“It was good until I caught a track marker in my cassette. I was stuck for, for sure like a minute…some guy came with a knife to cut me loose from the track and I had to run to this finish line.”
ANDRI FRISCHKNECHT

It was not all bad news, with Bjorn finishing in 6th place. He struggled early on in the race, but was able to refocus and race well despite not feeling like he had “snap”.

“I didn’t have snap.”
Björn Riley

In the overall standings, Bjorn is remains in 3rd and Fabio in 8th. Despite missing two World Cups for injury, Filippo is still in 12th.

XCC RESULTS

1st Björn Riley

9th Fabio Püntener

26th Emilly Johnston

XCO RESULTS

6th Björn Riley

31th Fabio Püntener

49st Andri Frischknecht

35th Emilly Johnston

There is now a six week break until the next World Cup, however the team will continue to race with National and European Championships in that break.

Photos by Piper Albrecht