Schurter wins another battle with Absalon in Solothurn

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Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) and Esther Süss (Wheeler iXS) took their fourth and third respective wins of the 2013 season at the Bike Days cross country in Soloturn during round 3 of the BMC Racing Cup.

Men

Schurter outsprinted Julien Absalon (BMC Racing Team) in the men's 38.5km race. He came around Absalon with about 150m to go. It was the third time that Schurter has beaten Absalon this season.

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"I thought Absalon was better on the climbs than me, but in the last lap, he did not get away," said the current world champion Schurter. "After the eliminator yesterday, I was still feeling a little tired, but I had enough for today's final sprint. This is a good race in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Schurter's teammate Florian Vogel finished in third place with a strong ride. He had been with Christoph Sauser (Specialized Racing) and Absalon and Schurter as part of the race's lead quartet. But on the sixth lap of seven total, Sauser snapped his chain and as a result dropped out of the lead group.

Vogel later lost contact with Absalon and Schurter toward the end of the race and almost, but not quite got them back on the long flat, paved section of the course.

"It was not easy against the two Scott riders," said Absalon, who was outnumbered in the lead group. "I had to decide if I should make the tempo or wait. I decided for to make the pace. Therefore, I lacked some energy at the end."

"Today, that was good interval training. and for me the work for the World Cup in two weeks is more important than today's result."

Vogel finished third at 30 seconds. "On the climbs, I'm not as explosive, I was feeling good," said Vogel.

BMC racers Lukas Flückiger and Moritz Milatz completed the top five.

Women

Süss dominated the women's race and celebrated her third victory in this year's BMC Cup. The 39-year-old got away on the second of five laps and eventually finished with an advantage of 1:17.

"On this course, it is difficult to go ahead alone. If the others are united behind you, then they can work together on the long paved section," said Süss. "But I had good legs, and I never went fully on the limit to still have reserves for when they were chasing me."

It was the fourth consecutive time Süss had won in Solothurn.

Kathrin Stirnemann (Sabine Spitz Haibike) finished in second, three seconds ahead of Katrin Leumann (Ghost Factory Racing). Stirnemann, who won the eliminator sprint the previous day, suffered from a lack of power on the second lap and lost contact to Leumann.

Together with junior world champion Andrea Waldi (Colnago-Alto Adige), the gap to Leumann was closed to 10-15 seconds and then eventually they were all back together.

"I tried to avoid them catching me. It may be that I have put out too much energy yesterday," said Leumann.

On the last lap, Stirnemann applied pressure on her rivals. She rode in for second place.

Waldi was happy with her fourth place in the elite field, just 1:43 behind the winner. The 18-year-old again showed her strength in her first year racing among the elite women..

Juniors

Alessandra Keller (Strüby MTB Kader) dominated the junior women's race and won her three-lap race, 2:34 ahead of American Kate Courtney (Whole Athlete) and 2:42 ahead of Chrystelle Baumann (Prof Raiffeisen CCL).

Dominic Grab (Team Grab-Credo / VC Maur) won the five-lap junior men's race race in the morning. He finished 22 seconds ahead of Manuel Fasnacht (Scott-Swisspower) and 28 seconds ahead of Milan Vader (Dutch National Team). Grab thus took the overall lead from Simon Vitzthum (Bischibikes).

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