- Nino Schurter takes second place in the cross-country race in Les Gets, France, despite a defect.
- The 37-year-old has now overtaken his compatriot Mathias Flückiger at the top of the overall World Cup.
- In the women’s category, victory goes to the Austrian Mona Mitterwallner for the second time in a row.
- Nicole Koller comes 9th as the best Swiss woman.
The hot phase of the mountain bike season has started. At the third-to-last race weekend, Nino Schurter overtook his compatriot Mathias Flückiger again at the top of the overall standings. However, the veteran would have wanted more than just second place.
As in Andorra a week ago, Schurter was thrown back by a flat tire: On the 6th of 8 laps he suddenly pointed to his rear wheel, but was able to have it repaired shortly afterwards. Due to the lost half minute, he fell from 2nd place to 5th. With a veritable comeback, the 10-time world champion catapulted himself forward again and even put the local Victor Koretzky, who had been leading for a long time, under pressure. In the end, the victorious Frenchman crossed the finish line with a 17-second lead.
Guerrini with exploit
Behind Schurter, Vlad Dascalu, a Romanian, made it onto the podium – and thus prevented another Swiss podium finish by just 5 seconds: Marcel Guerrini achieved his best World Cup result in fourth place (previously 8th place).
Flückiger didn’t quite get up to speed and had to give up his hopes of a top position halfway through the race. In the end, 1:52 minutes behind Koretzky was enough to finish in 9th place. With Joel Roth (10th), a fourth Swiss rider even made it into the top 10.
Schurter, who made it to the podium for the 4th time in the 6th race of the season, is again leading the overall standings ahead of Flückiger. There are still two race weekends left in North America.
Swiss women without exploit
In the women’s category, Mona Mitterwallner secured her second World Cup victory in a row. The Austrian distanced herself from season dominator Puck Pieterse in the penultimate lap and crossed the finish line solo. The Dutchwoman came second, 38 seconds behind. The two had pulled away from world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) in the 4th of 6 rounds, who secured third place.
For once, it was not Alessandra Keller who crossed the finish line as the best Swiss woman, but rather Nicole Koller. The 26-year-old celebrated her best result in the World Cup thanks to her 9th place. Alessandra Keller, the In the short track on Friday, he finished 3rd on the podium, lost touch with Pieterse and Co. early on in high temperatures and a bone-dry track and ultimately had to settle for 13th place.
Behind her, two other Swiss women made it into the top 20. Sina Frei crossed the finish line in 15th place, Jolanda Neff was 17th.