Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) got his season off to a good start at the test event in South Africa one week before the World Cup opener. In a tight battle with Burry Stander (Specialized), Schurter got a few seconds advantage in the last half lap and rode on to win. Schurter's teammate Florian Vogel had been in the lead group until about the halfway point of the race, but he although he dropped off the two other leaders, he still finished in third.
"It's been a long time since I last raced," said Schurter. "Even though I know I trained well over the whole winter, it's always nice to get the proof."
"To be on the podium in the first race of the season feels good and gives me confidence for next week's start of the World Cup," said Vogel. "This is what really counts on the way to the Olympics in London this year."
In the women's race, Frenchwoman Cécile Ravanel won by 15 seconds ahead of Brit Annie Last. Nathalie Schneitter if Switzerland was third at 1:52.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 1:44:14 |
| 2 | Burry Stander (RSA) | 0:00:06 |
| 3 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:00:45 |
| 4 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) | 0:01:36 |
| 5 | Patrik Gallati (Swi) | 0:01:52 |
| 6 | Lukas Flückiger (Swi) | 0:02:07 |
| 7 | Ralph Naef (Swi) | 0:04:53 |
| 8 | Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) | 0:05:06 |
| 9 | Mathias Flückiger (Swi) | 0:05:11 |
| 10 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:05:42 |
| 11 | Cédric Ravanel (Fra) | 0:06:05 |
| 12 | Liam Killeen (GBr) | 0:06:28 |
| 13 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) | 0:06:42 |
| 14 | Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) | 0:07:03 |
| 15 | Philip Buys (RSA) | 0:07:05 |
| 16 | Milan Spesny (Cze) | 0:07:35 |
| 17 | Reto Indergand (Swi) | 0:07:42 |
| 18 | Jochen Kass (Ger) | 0:07:58 |
| 19 | Stephen Ettinger (USA) | 0:07:59 |
| 20 | Rourke Croeser (RSA) | 0:08:30 |
| 21 | Fabien Canal (Fra) | 0:09:19 |
| 22 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) | 0:09:34 |
| 23 | Steffen Thum (Ger) | 0:09:49 |
| 24 | Martin Gujan (Swi) | 0:09:51 |
| 25 | Marc Bassingthwaighte (Nam) | |
| 26 | Matous Ulman (Cze) | 0:10:15 |
| 27 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | 0:10:48 |
| 28 | Julien Trarieux (Fra) | 0:11:29 |
| 29 | Jeff Luyten (Bel) | 0:11:43 |
| 30 | Robert Mennen (Ger) | 0:12:11 |
| 31 | Andras Parti (Hun) | 0:12:13 |
| 32 | Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) | 0:12:19 |
| 33 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) | 0:12:32 |
| 34 | Matthys Beukes (RSA) | 0:12:34 |
| 35 | James Reid (RSA) | 0:12:38 |
| 36 | Kenta Gallagher (GBr) | 0:13:20 |
| 37 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) | 0:14:09 |
| 38 | Christian Pfäffle (Ger) | 0:14:54 |
| 39 | Renay Groustra (RSA) | 0:15:13 |
| 40 | Luke Roberts (RSA) | 0:16:19 |
| 41 | Louis-Bresler Knipe (RSA) | 0:17:52 |
| 42 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) | 0:19:49 |
| 43 | Travis Walker (RSA) | |
| 44 | Sebastian Batchelor (GBr) | |
| 45 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | |
| 46 | Robert Gehbauer (Aut) | |
| 47 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hun) | |
| 48 | Andrew Warr (RSA) | |
| 49 | Roger Walder (Swi) | |
| 50 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) | |
| 51 | Gert Heyns (RSA) | |
| 52 | Szilard Buruczki (Hun) | |
| 53 | David Fletcher (GBr) | |
| 54 | Marek Rauchfuss (Cze) | |
| 55 | Kazuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) | |
| 56 | Christopher Wolhuter (RSA) | |
| 57 | Shaun Craig Silver (RSA) | |
| 58 | Stuart Marais (RSA) | |
| 59 | Jedson Tooms (RSA) | |
| 60 | Callan Deacon (RSA) | |
| 61 | Connor Young (RSA) |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cécile Ravanel (Fra) | 1:49:58 |
| 2 | Annie Last (GBr) | 0:00:15 |
| 3 | Nathalie Schneitter (Swi) | 0:01:52 |
| 4 | Lea Davison (USA) | 0:02:51 |
| 5 | Rie Katayama (Jpn) | 0:04:35 |
| 6 | Julie Krasniak (Fra) | 0:05:33 |
| 7 | Tanja Zakelj (Slo) | 0:06:00 |
| 8 | Lene Byberg (Nor) | 0:08:07 |
| 9 | Judy Freeman (USA) | 0:09:27 |
| 10 | Samantha Sanders (RSA) | 0:09:51 |
| 11 | Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) | 0:10:24 |
| 12 | Laura Turpijn (Ned) | 0:10:44 |
| 13 | Vivienne Meyer (Swi) | 0:10:57 |
| 14 | Barbara Benko (Hun) | 0:11:58 |
| 15 | Lee Craigie (GBr) | 0:12:14 |
| 16 | Candice Neethling (RSA) | 0:13:43 |
| 17 | Willow Rockwell (USA) | 0:18:22 |
| 18 | Krista Park (USA) | 0:20:02 |
| 19 | Fanny Bourdon (Fra) | |
| 20 | Julie Berteaux (Fra) | |
| 21 | Julia Colvin (RSA) | |
| 22 | Melanie Palframan (RSA) | |
| 23 | Simone Vosloo (RSA) | |
| 23 | Angela Egeland (RSA) | |
| 25 | Ashleigh Parker-Moffatt (RSA) | |
| 26 | Chloe Woodruff (USA) | |
| 27 | Lauren Hoyer (RSA) |
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