MTB Worlds: Nino Schurter of Switzerland wins 10th elite men's XCO World title
Spain's Valero second and Italy's Braidot third while Pidcock settles for fourth for Great Britain
The incomparable Swiss rider Nino Schurter won his 10th elite men's XCO World crown on Sunday, in the final race of the 2022 Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets, France. His closest rival, Julien Absalon of France, has four.
David Valero (Spain) finished nine seconds back for silver and Luca Braidot of Italy took the bronze, another 20 seconds later. Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) managed to finish fourth.
Schurter's first world title was as a Junior, in Les Gets, in 2004, 18 years earlier. This time his win was no cruise.
Schurter faced an extremely strong field, including Olympic Champion Pidcock, Olympic bronze medalist Valero, recent World Cup winner Braidot and 2020 World Champion Jordan Sarrou, racing before a home crowd.
A lead group of five quickly formed on the first lap, with Schurter, Valero, Braidot, Sarrou and Alan Hatherly (South Africa). Pidcock, who has been racing primarily on the road this season and thus has a low UCI mountain bike ranking, had to work his way up from starting on the fifth row, and didn't join the leaders until the start of the third lap.
Sarrou and Hatherly were the first to be dropped, on lap 4, as Pidcock pushed the pace, even gaining a slight gap on Schurter when the Swiss rider had a small crash. The group was back together for lap 5, but Pidcock was showing signs of fatigue; coming off the back of the group and having to rejoin multiple times.
By the penultimate sixth lap, Pidcock had been dropped for good and, after also having a small crash, would eventually barely manage to hang on for fourth. Schurter and Valero pulled away from Braidot, who remained close at 10-15 seconds, but was unable to close the gap.
At the front, there was no separation between Schurter and Valero. Valero tried to take the lead multiple times, but Schurter always managed to pick up the pace to maintain his spot at the front. It was only in the final kilometre that Schurter was able to get away in one of the technical sections and make it stick, winning by nine seconds over the Spaniard, with Braidot coming in at 29 seconds.
"It's unbelievable," admitted Schurter. "I couldn't believe it when I crossed the finish line that I did it again. I really tried it from the start, to make it a hard race so that Pidcock couldn't get too easy to the front. It was a tough race and at the end it was Valero and I; I took my chance to try and force him to make mistakes, and luckily he did make one, in one of the last technical bits and I was able to get away and I just went full gas.
"This place is magic for me, I won my first title here and now I have won again as one of the oldest riders ever!"
Results powered by FirstCycling
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Itzulia Women 2024 - Analysing the contenders
Marlen Reusser recovered from injury and returns to defend title but faces wide-open battle for the overall victory -
Campbell Stewart conscious, no broken bones after heavy Tour de Hongrie crash
Emil Liepins relegated for sparking crash that takes down multiple riders as stage 1 sprint was unfolding -
Michael Garrison 'fittest I've ever been' as he squares off against McNulty in US Pro ITT
Former U23 ITT national champion takes aim at elite title after Speed Week relegation leads to runner-up finish -
'There'll be a big battle for positions' – Ineos, Geraint Thomas take aim at Giro d'Italia gravel
Local coach Dario Cioni on the secrets of the trek over the strade bianche on stage 6