A week after Champery and the World Cup’s elite riders headed to Italy for the penultimate round of the series, this time on dry trails.
Video courtesy MTBCut
Atherton’s strong qualifying run (1st) and 3rd spot actually puts him into the World Cup leaders jersey ahead of Minaar by only 7 points meaning a show down for the title at the last World Cup round in the US in late August, just before the World Champs.
1 Marc Beaumont (GBr) GT Bicycles 0:03:18
2 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:01
3 Gee Atherton (GBr) Commencal 0:00:03
4 Andrew Neethling (RSA) Trek World Racing 0:00:03
5 Steve Smith (Can) MS Evil Racing 0:00:04
6 Steve Peat (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:04
7 Danny Hart (GBr) Giant Factory Team 0:00:04
8 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Lapierre International 0:00:05
9 Josh Bryceland (GBr) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:06
10 Markus Pekoll (Aut) Solid Aclass Factory Team 0:00:06
At the Cross country the race saw the third sprint finish in a year between World Champion Nino Schurter and Julian Absalon and for the third time it went in favour of Schurter. The Swiss rider had worked with compatriot and team mate Florian Vogel for almost the entire race often forcing Absalon to do the pacing. Schurter admitted after the race that he felt that Absalon was the stronger rider but nipped ahead of him into the final flat singletrack section in the run in to the finish knowing that there was nowhere for Absalon to retake the spot. Here too there will be a showdown at the final World Cup for the overall but Absalon was playing down his chances saying he is focusing on the World Champs in Mont-Saint Anne.
Mens XC results
1 Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 1:44:09
2 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 0:00:04
3 Florian Vogel (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 0:00:20
4 Mathias Flückiger* (Swi) Trek World Racing 0:01:26
5 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:01:46
6 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Rubena-Birell-Specialized Cycling Team 0:02:31
7 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:03:05
8 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:03:27
9 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International 0:03:45
10 Burry Stander (RSA) Specialized Factory Racing 0:03:51
11 Fabian Giger (Swi) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 0:04:05
The woman’s race saw the 5th winner in as many races as the curse of the World Cup ladies continued. Every round of the series has been won by a different rider this year and the lead has flip-flopped on several occasions too. Last weeks big loser Catherine Pendrel had a fantastic race going of the front at the end of the first lap but Marja Wloszczowska bridged across near the end and was able to pull away form a tiring Pendrel into the crucial final singletrack that caught out Absalon. By way of consolation though the Canadian gets back the overall leaders jersey heading into the final round.
1 Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) CCC Polkowice 1:23:00
2 Catharine Pendrel (Can) Luna Pro Team 0:00:05
3 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 0:00:14
4 Katherine Compton (USA) 0:00:20
5 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Pro Team 0:00:58
6 Esther Süss (Swi) 0:01:15
7 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Pro Team 0:01:31
8 Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain 0:01:47
9 Nathalie Schneitter (Swi) Colnago Arreghini Sudtirol 0:02:15
10 Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:02:30
