It was already one heck of a debut in the elite ranks of the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series for Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford) after she took the runner up spot at Saturday’s short track race in the opening round in Brazil but then her opening volley in the cross-country Olympic round on Sunday turned out to be history making.
The 23-year-old crossed the finish line solo in Araxá with astonishment written all over her face as she became the first-ever elite women from New Zealand to claim an XCO World Cup, an achievement even more impressive given that she delivered at the first opportunity.
“It has not sunk in,” said Maxwell in a statement from Cycling New Zealand. “It’s the little things. On Monday we did media and they wanted a celebration pose. I thought well that won’t get seen, so it won’t matter what I do. And here it is on the social posts.
“The team manager said it was going to be a hot race, super punchy climbs so to stay in the bunch and with two to go, do what you want. Coming into the feed zone with two laps to go, he looked at me, and said now you go on the climb.”
Maxwell, wearing the jersey of the Oceania champion, quickly left the rest of her rivals in the lead group of seven behind when she went on that climb and then maintained and built on the gap.
“I’ve been working super-hard on technical skills on downhill,” said Maxwell. “So I thought if I could get to the front and attack, and if I can get 10 seconds gap, that is a big time to make up.”
The battle behind to make the junction was intense, and it was just an 18 second margin on her nearest rival heading into the final lap but Maxwell wasn’t going to let up for a second now that she had the sniff of a win.
“At the finish line, I honestly couldn’t believe it, I just kept telling myself ‘this is for a world cup win, hurt as much as you can because you won’t get it if you don’t’,” said Maxwell in a statement from the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
In the end Maxwell even had time to sit up and enjoy her first elite World Cup XCO victory, crossing the line with a look of happy disbelief on her face four seconds ahead of Nicole Koller (Ghost Factory Racing). Koller was also just ahead of Maxwell’s Decathlon Ford teammate Savilia Blunk.
The win from Maxwell, who won the U23 world title in 2023, seemed to mean all the more for the rider as it delivered victory to a team who had supported her through a challenging time in the sport. The Decathlon Ford rider didn’t line up in Brazil in the under 23 category in 2024 “as I have some things to work on with my brain” and also later that year had to appeal Cycling New Zealand’s decision to leave her out of the nation’s Olympic mountain bike team because of her eating disorder history. The successful appeal meant she was able to line up in France, where she claimed eighth.
“The team has been so incredible for me, I’ve had a bit of hard time the last few years and the team stood by me and said, ‘no matter what you do, as you long as you put your health and yourself as a person first, we will support you’,” said Maxwell.
“They were willing to support me walking away from the mountain biking team for a few years to get back healthy because they believed in me so much. So, to have everything fall into line for these amazing people is the most special part.”
