Vogel and Dahle-Flesjaa win Swiss Cup in Davos

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Florian Vogel (Scott Swisspower) celebrated his first victory of the season at the penultimate round of the BMC Racing Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Vogel, who was third at the Swiss Championships, won the race ahead of former world champion Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) from Spain and the surprisingly strong German U23 rider Julian Schelb. In the women's competititon, Swiss rider Kathrin Stirnemann surprised with second place "between" two Olympic champions: Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida) won the race, Sabine Spitz (Sabine Spitz Haibike) was third.

Men

In the men's race, a leading group of three established itself in the second loop of seven five-kilometer laps. However, this group did not include - as had been expected - the two BMC riders Lukas Flückiger and Ralph Naef. Vogel and Hermida were accompanied by the 20-year-old Schelb.

This trio managed to create a lead of half a minute during six laps. But then Schelb was no longer able to follow the two world class bikers. Thus the duel for the victory in Davos began.

Vogel launched his decisive attack in the final lap at the Cologna Stutz (named like Swiss cross country skier Dario Cologna), which is the longest and steepest climb of the Davos race course. Finally Vogel celebrated his first victoriy of the season, crossing the line some 20 seconds ahead of Hermida. Schelb was third, 1:10 back.

"I was feeling fine today, and I kept an eye on my watts. Therefore I was able to pace myself correctly. In every lap, I did very well on the Cologna Stutz. That's why I saw my chance there," said Vogel. He was very happy about this victory, which confirms his outstanding performance at the World Cup in Andorra last week.

Runner-up Hermida said, "Florian was super strong in these steep climbs. He got away a few meters which made it hard for me. Nevertheless, I am very happy about this result because last week in Andorra I had a bad day. Florian was seventh there, so I trust that my form is on a good level. Today was quite good as far as morale is concerned."

Schelb was very pleased with his first podium finish at the BMC Racing Cup and said: "Even after they had shaken me off, I was able to deliver top performance."

Behind him, BMC's armada regrouped itself. Lukas Flückiger reached fourth place when he finally managed to overtake his German teammate Moritz Milatz in the last lap. Milatz crossed the line 13 seconds behind Flückiger. Their teammates Martin Fanger and Ralph Naef were sixth and seventh.

Women

Record World Cup champion and reigning world marathon champion Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) was victorious in the women's competition after a thrilling race.

As usual, U23 World Champion Jolanda Neff was fastest rider right from the start, but then a seven-member group began to form at the front, from which Linda Indergand soon had to say goodbye.

Dahle Flesjaa had a small lead which she was not prepared to part with. "I was at the limit, but in first position I was able to shape the race according to my style. I was a few seconds ahead in the last downhill, and I did that stretch safely. That was a real good workout in a strong field." The 40-year-old Dahle-Flesjaa was 14.4 seconds ahead when she crossed the finish line.

Stirnemann surprised with a splendid final descent. She passed both Spitz and Suess to conquer second place. "I have certainly had some benefit from the fact that it had rained a little. As a result, the track was more difficult. I've just come from a week of altitude training and did not think that I would be able to do so well," said the young woman from Graenichen.

The battle for third place between Suess and Spitz was decided by a minimal malfunction of Suess's shifting system. Although Suess managed to come close to Spitz again, she was not able to pass the German rider. "Actually, I was doing a great job, but there were one or two mistakes too many," said European marathon champion Esther Suess.

Andorra World Cup winner Spitz was "very happy" about her race. She had a number of appointments last week. "Under these circumstances, everything is fine. The course was good for my training programme," said Spitz.

Juniors

New Zealand's Samuel Gaze won the junior men's competition. He had also been victorious in the junior World Cup in Val di Sole. Swiss rider Andri Beeli was second, Swiss champion Simon Vitzthum was third.

The junior women's competition was won by Swiss champion Alessandra Keller. She outpaced Mallory Barth, who celebrated a strong comeback after she had been out of contention with a broken collarbone.

Full Results