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Last week, Amanda Nauman made a good catch when we posted the Jingle Cross World Cup starts lists last week:

Langvad, a Denmark native, won the rainbow stripes at the 2016 XCO World Championships and won Marathon MTB Worlds for the fourth time in 2017. She also brought extensive World Cup experience to Iowa City. The only problem was that it was on fat, knobby tires and not the 32mm variety.

When I spoke with Langvad after Friday and Sunday’s races, she said she does not have very much cyclocross experience. According to her website, she has only raced three cyclocross races prior to this year, winning Denmark Nationals three times. However, with a World Cup in Bogense, Denmark (also home of 2019 Worlds) in November, Langvad wanted to vie for some UCI points to improve her call-up and experience racing ’cross in the U.S.

Heading into Jingle Cross, Langvad was flying under the radar as a relative unknown in the impressive international field. As we saw when Katerina Nash won the World Cup on Sunday, the course was a mountain biker’s dream with its steep climbs and ripping descents, but how would Langvad adapt to the skinny tires, rigid suspension and gasp! dismounting and remounting?

It turns out, she adapted really well. Langvad battled near the front in Friday’s C1 and finished sixth and then repeated the feat in Sunday’s World Cup, finishing seventh. Her results are especially impressive since she started near the back in each of the races. We were unable to determine if she petitioned the UCI to have some of her mountain bike points count for cyclocross.

I spoke with Langvad after both Friday and Sunday’s races. She was obviously enjoying the experience and provided a great look at a relative ’cross newbie—albeit one who is darn good at riding her bike—who enjoyed her cyclocross experience.

Annika Langvad – Friday Night C1

Annika Langvad – Sunday World Cup

Stay tuned for more coverage from the 2017 Jingle Cross Festival in Iowa City.