Double Takes Les Gets
Photos by Michele Mondini. Video by Trax Media
Aldridge and Martin go two-for-two. CFR rolls deep in France.
The mountains above Les Gets carried a different weight this August. Alpine sun sharp on the slopes. Air pressed heavy across the course. Every line demanded exactness. Every lap stripped away the field. Cannondale Factory Racing didn’t bend. They rose.
Friday night lit the stage. Short Track. Six laps at breakneck pace. The kind of race where a breath costs you positions. Charlie Aldridge held steady through the churn. Riders bumping, angles tightening, the course folding on itself. He waited, measured, then opened the gap with a move as clean as it was final. By the time he hit the tape, the noise behind him was already falling away. His first elite World Cup victory. A mark that will not fade.
The women’s race held its own rhythm. Jolanda Neff stayed balanced through the climbs, each lap cut with the same precision. Ninth at the line. A performance that speaks not in spectacle but in certainty. Ana Santos carried a different victory. Back from injury. First full World Cup in months. No soft return. No easing in. She shouldered the full distance with quiet conviction.
By Sunday evening the ledger was clear. Two victories. Four riders in the top ten. A roster showing depth, resilience, and hunger in equal measure.
The Scalpel cut across every frame of the weekend. From Aldridge’s decisive strike and Cole’s elite caliber ride to Martin’s home-soil breakthrough, from Neff’s top-ten control to Ana’s return to the fold. Les Gets became a record of their presence.
This was not a pair of results. This was a passage written into the ongoing chronicle of Cannondale Factory Racing. The kind that shapes seasons and solidifies legends.