Näf earns first victory of the season ahead of Schurter and Flueckiger

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Ralph Naef (BMC) celebrated a surprise win against world champion Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) at the finale of the BMC Racing Cup in Muttenz, Switzerland. Schurter took the overall victory ahead of Julien Absalon (BMC) and Lukas Flueckiger (BMC) who was third in Muttenz. In the women's competition Esther Suess (Wheeler iXS) secured the overall victory with a narrow win against Sabine Spitz (Sabine Spitz Haibike). Kathrin Stirnemann (Sabine Spitz Haibike) was third.

Men

A lead group of four emerged in the Schaenzli bike arena in rainy conditions after the fourth of eight laps. A bit earlier, Marcel Wildhaber (Scott Swisspower) had had to say goodbye due to a mechanical, and then BMC rider Reto Indergand was not been able to hold the pace of the group on an uphill section. However, with seventh place overall, Indergand finally won the U23 competition.

At one point, Flueckiger had to pull himself back to the leaders, when after a running section, he had some problems getting into his clipless pedals. But last year's world championships runner-up had enough energy to catch up again.

Näf also succeeded in doing this. On the penultimate lap, he attacked in the singletrack before the descent, but he risked too much and crashed. Entering the final lap, he had closed the 15-second-gap again.

"At that time I didn't think that I could win the race. Nino always applied heavy pressure on us in the uphill sections, but he couldn’t shake me off," said Naef.

Whereas Florian Vogel (Scott Swisspower) faded a bit earlier, Naef still was in third position with 500 metres to go. He passed Flueckiger and Schurter and rode "a long, good sprint" which earned him his first victory of the season.

"Nino was catching up on the finishing straight again, so I had to fight him off again. It's fantastic to win the finale here in Muttenz, just seven days prior to the world championships," said Naef.

Schurter will also travel to the world championships in South Africa in a positive mood. "Ralph always managed to gain time in the slippery sections, where I had to catch up time and again. But I'm quite happy, I think I was the strongest guy on the climbs." The Scott-Swisspower rider won the BMC Racing Cup overall standings ahead of Absalon. In the struggle for positions at the entrance to the first singletrack, the Frenchman missed the boat and then rode a steady pace in pursuit. He was fifth, 53 seconds behind.

His BMC teammate Flueckiger was "not one hundred percent" happy. "I would have liked to win this race. Of course, I am glad for Ralph's sake, this is really important for him." Flueckiger, third overall in the Cup ranking, is happy about his fitness, and also said, "I felt very good on the climbs, that was great."

Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida), who was suffering from a sore throat, pulled out of the race on lap five.

The five-lap women's race was dominated by a three-member leading group that had established itself after Esther Suess and Sabine Spitz had managed to catch up to Kathrin Stirnemann on the third lap.

Somewhat involuntarily, eliminator World Cup winner Stirnemann found herself alone at the front in the first lap. "I was first in the downhill, and I had a gap at the bottom. Then I decided to keep a steady rhythm," said Stirnemann. She had a lead of almost 40 seconds, but they melted away quickly on the third lap. Since the course began to dry up, Stirnemann's rear tire no longer suited the conditions.

"I had no chance," said Stirnemann. Due to her superior skills in the descents, she was able to keep up with Spitz and Suess to the final lap. But then a flat tire took away all her chances to win.

Chain suck on one of the climbs decided the duel between Süss and Spitz. Spitz had to dismount and lost some seconds. Although she tried to claw her way back, the German could not catch-up again. In the end, the European marathon champion and the World Cup winner of Andorra were seven seconds apart.

"No doubt, Kathrin was the fastest on the downhills, but I wasn't really slow either," said Suess, grinning. She had not even noticed that behind her, Spitz had suffered chain suck. "Competing against these two Haibike girls I had to lead for much of the race. Of course. I had a gap before we reached the descent, and I said to myself: Now ride down safely but not too slowly. I had to fight to the finish, because Sabine was catching up again. Given today's conditions, it was also a question of motivation, but I've tried to think positively, and it worked. Now I'm ready to fly to the Worlds with good self-confidence," said Süss, who also won the overall ranking.

Spitz said that it was "unfortunate that the chain suck happened at this bad point in time." However, the 41-year-old was very happy about her form after having suffered from two infections. "Due to its special characteristics, you cannot compare this race course with the course at the Worlds. But it was good for me to do a race in the mud because that could happen in South Africa, too."

U23 rider Linda Indergand managed to keep up with Spitz and Suess up to the third lap and finished the competition on fourth place, ahead of local hero Katrin Leumann who was struggling with a neck issue. Leumann had been second until lap two. "I'm sure it will get better till next week," said Leumann.

Olympic and world champion Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour-KMC) had to throw in the towel quite early in the race. "I simply did not have the right kind of tires," said Bresset. She quit the race on lap three.

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