Intro:

Julien Absalon maintained his dominance in the XCO discipline in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, winning Sunday's (1st June) race in Albstadt - his third success in four rounds of the new campaign.

Script:

The XCO - or Cross-Country Olympic - riders took centre-stage in Albstadt on Sunday.

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot proved to be the protagonist in the women's event.

Having missed the first two rounds of the season, the Frenchwoman returned and triumphed in the Czech Republic at the Nove Mesto event

And she continued in her stride as she dominated and secured victory in Germany.

Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa finished a distant second, with Jolanda Neff of Switzerland back in third.

Neff remains top of the standings with 650 points. Dahle-Flesjaa is second with 560 while Ferrand-Prevot moves to third courtesy of her second consecutive 250-point haul.

- -

Meanwhile, in the men's race, Julien Absalon's near flawless campaign continued in Nove Mesto.

Switzerland's Nino Schurter set the early pace, he eventually closed the race out in second place ahead of France's Stephane Tempier.

Abasalon's win means he now has 890 points in the overall standing and a massive 310 point advantage over Schurter.

Daniel McConnell of Australia is third with 530.