Giger and Neff win BMC Cup in Graenichen

Fabian Giger, silver medalist at the European Cross Country Championships, won the fourth round of the BMC Racing Cup 2014 in Graenichen. Giger beated new overall leader Mathias Flueckiger and Mathias' brother, Lukas Flueckiger. Jolanda Neff smashed the women's field, winning the HC-category race by a large margin and in front of a great crowd of spectators. She also regained the lead in the overall standings.

Men

Switzerland's top racers almost had the race to themselves in Graenichen, particularly since two-time Olympic champion Julien Absalon (BMC Racing) from France had crashed and hurt himself during training on the course on Saturday. Absalon then had to undergo a small knee surgery at the hospital.

The men's race saw Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC) fighting in the lead group right from beginning. Mathias Flueckiger (Stoeckli Pro) had also moved up to the front positions immedately. BMC's Lukas Flueckiger, however, had suffered a poor start and had to do some chasing.

After having overtaken Florian Vogel, Lukas Flueckiger finally caught up with the leading duo of Fabian Giger and Mathias Flueckiger, and the race had a new beginning after seven out of nine laps.

Before, Mathias Flueckiger had tried to escape in lap six, but his gap had not been big enough. This offered the chance for Fabian Giger to launch a counter-attack on the long paved climb at the beginning of the last lap.

"I like this climb," said Giger after he had won the race. "I managed to get a small gap, and I have learned in recent weeks that it will be very hard for my competitors to close a gap like that when I go full power." Quite noticably, fourth place at the World Cup in Albstadt and the silver medal at the European Championships in St. Wendel have boosted his self-esteem considerably.

"I am happy. It's always great to win, and winning in Graenichen even more so," said Giger who was able to celebrate his second victory this season after 29.4 kilometers in 1:28:55, 17 seconds ahead of Mathias Flueckiger.

Mathias Flueckiger does not yet feel "one hundred per cent" fit, but he was "delighted" concerning his performance. "I'm very glad that I did really well despite my training deficit. I already had pretty good power and it's a nice feeling to be able to fight for the win again," said the 2012 World Championship bronze medalist, who has taken over the lead in the overall standings from German BMC rider Moritz Milatz who was absent due to illness.

Last year's winner Lukas Flueckiger also delivered a positive summary. "In the first two laps I was not able to hold the pace. Therefore I had to spend much energy to get to the front. I assume that's the reason why I was running out of power in the end," said Lukas Flueckiger. He has had to cope with some disappointing results recently.

Florian Vogel (Scott-Odlo) and Martin Gujan (Orange Monkey) completed the men's podium.

Women

Jolanda Neff was in a league of her own in Graenichen. The under 23 Swiss rider, who leads the overall ranking of the World Cup elite category, outclassed her competitors by clocking fastest lap time every single lap. She celebrated her uncontested victory after 25.2 kilometres in a winning time of 1:26:20, a whopping 3:30 ahead of her Polish Liv-Pro teammate Maja Wloszczowska, who was third in the European championships.

Tongue in cheek, Neff hinted at U23 race in St. Wendel eight days ago, when she said, "Apparently, the U23 European Championship race was the ideal preparation. Today's race was really cool, the spectators were great, and I was feeling great as well." As soon as she was up front she just monitored her own pace and did not pay attention to anything else.

Wloszczowska took the liberty of having - in her own words - "a silly crash" in the first lap. "I did a three-meter-dive into the bushes," she said, laughing about her misadventure after the race. From ninth position, she soon had caught up with Neffs pursuers, and beginning with lap four out of six she rode all alone in second position.

Nevertheless she had to be careful to keep Kathrin Stirnemann, a persistent persuer, at bay. "I'd never have thought that I would have to fight so hard for second place against Kathrin," admitted Wloszczowska.

Stirnemann came in third, 12 seconds behind the former world champion, and was quite happy about her podium position. She had been able to drop her RC Graenichen sports club mate and world bronze medalist Esther Suess in the thrid lap.

Stirnemann said, "In the first lap I had problems due to pollen levels, my lungs didn't work properly. But after some time things were suddenly getting better, and I was beginning to have fun. And I was able to use my home advantage, because I know all the lines. It was great to ride in front of such a crowd. However, Maja was just too strong for me. I couldn't attack her again."

Esther Suess in fourth and Irina Kalentyevafrom Russia in fifth rounded out the top five on the podium.

Results