Switzerland dominates in Team Relay

Switzerland came into the team relay on the opening day of the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, as the favourites, and they didn't disappoint, winning the gold medal on home soil on Wednesday.

This is the second year since the team relay increased to five riders from four, with the addition of the under-23 women's category to the existing elite women and men, under-23 and junior men. 

Each rider does a lap of the cross-country course, and countries can send the riders off in any order they wish, which can result in constant lead changes.

Italy jumped into an early lead on the first lap with their elite man, Gerhard Kerschbaumer, but lost it on the second to France, with Australia then opening a substantial gap on lap three with an impressive ride by their under-23 man, Reece Tucknott.

Australia's Holly Harris managed to hold it through the fourth lap, despite Switzerland's Jolanda Neff chasing. However, Switzerland had always remained close to the front, and their ace in the hole was the final rider – Nino Schurter.

Schurter and Germany's Manuel Fumic started the final lap together, and sprinted up the first climb, quickly catching Australian junior woman Zoe Cuthbert.

Schurter – the number-one-ranked rider in the world – then powered away from Fumic to give Switzerland their first win of the week, 13 seconds ahead of the German team.

Denmark, the 2017 silver medalists, took the bronze medal.

"It's crazy to win here in Lenzerheide, with the atmosphere in front of the home crowd," said Schurter, who only lives 20 minutes from the course.

"The course was quite technical and tricky after the rain we had, and that's what I like. We have world-class riders all the way from the junior to the under-23 to the elite ranks, so our goal was to win here at home.

"World championships are always special, and the team relay is something different from what we usually do. You take part as a team and everybody needs to perform well, which is different for mountain bikers, but I really enjoyed it."

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Filippo Colombo (Switzerland)1:00:00
Row 1 - Cell 0 Alexandre Balmer (Switzerland)Row 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Sina Frei (Switzerland)Row 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Jolanda Neff (Switzerland)Row 3 - Cell 2
Row 4 - Cell 0 Nino Schurter (Switzerland)Row 4 - Cell 2
2Leon Reinhard Kaiser (Germany)0:00:13
Row 6 - Cell 0 Elisabeth Brandau (Germany)Row 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Maximilian Brandl (Germany)Row 7 - Cell 2
Row 8 - Cell 0 Ronja Eibl (Germany)Row 8 - Cell 2
Row 9 - Cell 0 Manuel Fumic (Germany)Row 9 - Cell 2
3Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Denmark)0:00:34
Row 11 - Cell 0 Alexander Young Andersen (Denmark)Row 11 - Cell 2
Row 12 - Cell 0 Annika Langvad (Denmark)Row 12 - Cell 2
Row 13 - Cell 0 Malene Degn (Denmark)Row 13 - Cell 2
Row 14 - Cell 0 Simon Andreassen (Denmark)Row 14 - Cell 2
4Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy)0:01:02
Row 16 - Cell 0 Filippo Fontana (Italy)Row 16 - Cell 2
Row 17 - Cell 0 Eva Lechner (Italy)Row 17 - Cell 2
Row 18 - Cell 0 Marika Tovo (Italy)Row 18 - Cell 2
Row 19 - Cell 0 Juri Zanotti (Italy)Row 19 - Cell 2
5Joshua Dubau (France)0:01:25
Row 21 - Cell 0 Mathis Azzaro (France)Row 21 - Cell 2
Row 22 - Cell 0 Loana Lecomte (France)Row 22 - Cell 2
Row 23 - Cell 0 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France)Row 23 - Cell 2
Row 24 - Cell 0 Maxime Marotte (France)Row 24 - Cell 2
6Christopher Blevins (United States Of America)0:01:37
Row 26 - Cell 0 Paul Fabian (United States Of America)Row 26 - Cell 2
Row 27 - Cell 0 Kate Courtney (United States Of America)Row 27 - Cell 2
Row 28 - Cell 0 Haley Batten (United States Of America)Row 28 - Cell 2
Row 29 - Cell 0 Keegan Swenson (United States Of America)Row 29 - Cell 2
7Jofre Cullell Estape (Spain)0:02:03
Row 31 - Cell 0 David Domingo Campos Motos (Spain)Row 31 - Cell 2
Row 32 - Cell 0 Rocio Del Alba Garcia Martinez (Spain)Row 32 - Cell 2
Row 33 - Cell 0 Claudia Galicia Cortina (Spain)Row 33 - Cell 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain)Row 34 - Cell 2
8Sean Fincham (Canada)0:02:23
Row 36 - Cell 0 Carter Woods (Canada)Row 36 - Cell 2
Row 37 - Cell 0 Laurie Arseneault (Canada)Row 37 - Cell 2
Row 38 - Cell 0 Haley Smith (Canada)Row 38 - Cell 2
Row 39 - Cell 0 Peter Disera (Canada)Row 39 - Cell 2
9Tim Van Dijke (Netherlands)0:02:39
Row 41 - Cell 0 David Nordemann (Netherlands)Row 41 - Cell 2
Row 42 - Cell 0 Anne Terpstra (Netherlands)Row 42 - Cell 2
Row 43 - Cell 0 Sophie Von Berswordt (Netherlands)Row 43 - Cell 2
Row 44 - Cell 0 Mathieu Van Der Poel (Netherlands)Row 44 - Cell 2
10Pierre De Froidmont (Belgium)0:02:55
Row 46 - Cell 0 Clément Horny (Belgium)Row 46 - Cell 2
Row 47 - Cell 0 Githa Michiels (Belgium)Row 47 - Cell 2
Row 48 - Cell 0 Emeline Detilleux (Belgium)Row 48 - Cell 2
Row 49 - Cell 0 Jens Schuermans (Belgium)Row 49 - Cell 2
11Frazer Clacherty (Great Britain)0:03:26
Row 51 - Cell 0 Sean Flynn (Great Britain)Row 51 - Cell 2
Row 52 - Cell 0 Evie Richards (Great Britain)Row 52 - Cell 2
Row 53 - Cell 0 Annie Last (Great Britain)Row 53 - Cell 2
Row 54 - Cell 0 Grant Ferguson (Great Britain)Row 54 - Cell 2
12Cameron Wright (Australia)0:03:29
Row 56 - Cell 0 Daniel Mcconnell (Australia)Row 56 - Cell 2
Row 57 - Cell 0 Reece Tucknott (Australia)Row 57 - Cell 2
Row 58 - Cell 0 Holly Harris (Australia)Row 58 - Cell 2
Row 59 - Cell 0 Zoe Cuthbert (Australia)Row 59 - Cell 2
13Matej Prudek (Czech Republic)0:03:43
Row 61 - Cell 0 Jaroslav Kulhavý (Czech Republic)Row 61 - Cell 2
Row 62 - Cell 0 Tereza Sásková (Czech Republic)Row 62 - Cell 2
Row 63 - Cell 0 Jitka Škarnitzlová (Czech Republic)Row 63 - Cell 2
Row 64 - Cell 0 Samuel Jirouš (Czech Republic)Row 64 - Cell 2
14Matthias Wengelin (Sweden)0:05:08
Row 66 - Cell 0 Emil Hedlund (Sweden)Row 66 - Cell 2
Row 67 - Cell 0 Ida Jansson (Sweden)Row 67 - Cell 2
Row 68 - Cell 0 Vilgot Lindh (Sweden)Row 68 - Cell 2
Row 69 - Cell 0 Linn Gustafzzon (Sweden)Row 69 - Cell 2
15Márton Dina (Hungary)0:05:17
Row 71 - Cell 0 Ádám István Fülöp (Hungary)Row 71 - Cell 2
Row 72 - Cell 0 Barbara Benkó (Hungary)Row 72 - Cell 2
Row 73 - Cell 0 Virág Buzsáki (Hungary)Row 73 - Cell 2
Row 74 - Cell 0 Attila Valter (Hungary)Row 74 - Cell 2
16Jhon Fredy Garzon Gonzalez (Colombia)0:05:17
Row 76 - Cell 0 Jeronimo Bedoya Botero (Colombia)Row 76 - Cell 2
Row 77 - Cell 0 Leidy Johana Mera Cadena (Colombia)Row 77 - Cell 2
Row 78 - Cell 0 Laura Valentina Abril Restrepo (Colombia)Row 78 - Cell 2
Row 79 - Cell 0 Fabio Hernando Castañeda Monsalve (Colombia)Row 79 - Cell 2
17Matevž Govekar (Slovenia)0:06:04
Row 81 - Cell 0 Rok Naglic (Slovenia)Row 81 - Cell 2
Row 82 - Cell 0 Tanja Žakelj (Slovenia)Row 82 - Cell 2
Row 83 - Cell 0 Vita Movrin (Slovenia)Row 83 - Cell 2
Row 84 - Cell 0 Miha Klemencic (Slovenia)Row 84 - Cell 2
18Gregor Raggl (Austria)0:06:20
Row 86 - Cell 0 Emanuel Zangerle (Austria)Row 86 - Cell 2
Row 87 - Cell 0 Lisa Pasteiner (Austria)Row 87 - Cell 2
Row 88 - Cell 0 Anna Spielmann (Austria)Row 88 - Cell 2
Row 89 - Cell 0 Moritz Bscherer (Austria)Row 89 - Cell 2
19Kohei Yamamoto (Japan)0:06:53
Row 91 - Cell 0 Ari Hirabayashi (Japan)Row 91 - Cell 2
Row 92 - Cell 0 Koutarou Murakami (Japan)Row 92 - Cell 2
Row 93 - Cell 0 Urara Kawaguchi (Japan)Row 93 - Cell 2
Row 94 - Cell 0 Akari Kobayashi (Japan)Row 94 - Cell 2
20Arsentii Vavilov (Russian Federation)0:06:58
Row 96 - Cell 0 Kristina Ilina (Russian Federation)Row 96 - Cell 2
Row 97 - Cell 0 Nikolay Ivanov (Russian Federation)Row 97 - Cell 2
Row 98 - Cell 0 Viktoria Kirsanova (Russian Federation)Row 98 - Cell 2
Row 99 - Cell 0 Ruslan Boredskiy (Russian Federation)Row 99 - Cell 2
21Filip Sklenarik (Slovakia)0:09:55
Row 101 - Cell 0 Martin Haring (Slovakia)Row 101 - Cell 2
Row 102 - Cell 0 Radka Paulechová (Slovakia)Row 102 - Cell 2
Row 103 - Cell 0 Janka Keseg Stevkova (Slovakia)Row 103 - Cell 2
Row 104 - Cell 0 Jakub Jencuš (Slovakia)Row 104 - Cell 2
22Volodymyr Kozlovskyy (Ukraine)0:10:07
Row 106 - Cell 0 Genadiy Moiseev (Ukraine)Row 106 - Cell 2
Row 107 - Cell 0 Iryna Popova (Ukraine)Row 107 - Cell 2
Row 108 - Cell 0 Maria Sherstiuk (Ukraine)Row 108 - Cell 2
Row 109 - Cell 0 Pavlo Lukan (Ukraine)Row 109 - Cell 2

 

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