Schurter solos to victory in Les Gets
By Rob Jones
Kerschbaumer, Avancini round out podium
With a last lap attack, Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) scored the 32nd World Cup victory of his career on Sunday in Les Gets, France. Schurter has moved to within one win of Julien Absalon's all-time record.
The race proved to be tactical, with a select group forming at the front on the first lap. Dry, dusty and hot conditions at 1,200 metres of altitude on a circuit with lots of climbing seemed to make riders cautious from attacking too early.
A group formed containing Schurter, Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Ursus), Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory), Stephane Tempier (Bianchi Countervail), Ondrej Cink (Kross Racing), Jordan Sarrou (Absolite-Absalon), David Valero (MMR Factory) and Peter Disera (Norco Factory). Significantly, World Cup number-two ranked Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) did not make the lead group, and seemed to been struggling from the start, dropping as low as 45th before finally recovering slightly in the last two laps to finish 16th.
Avancini and Kerschbaumer did most of the work on the climbs, with Schurter content to follow. Cink attacked on the fifth lap, splitting the group, with only Schurter, Avancini, Kerschbaumer and Tempier able to stay with him. Kerschbaumer then surged on the next lap, dropping Tempier, and on the seventh, penultimate, lap, Schurter went to the front for the first time, dropping everyone but Kerschbaumer.
He attacked again just before the start of the final lap, but Kerschbaumer clawed his way back, so Schurter backed off until the final climb of the race, and this time Kerschbaumer could not respond to Schurter's attack. Avancini held on for third, just ahead of Tempier, who out-sprinted Cink.
"It was a tough race, a tough course – very physical," said Schurter, who won his first world title in Les Gets as a junior back in 2004. "Gerhard was super strong, and I was a bit surprised when I dropped him on the second-to-last lap. That gave me confidence that I was the strongest today. On a physical track like this, it’s hard to get gaps, so for a long time it was an open race. Today was a big step towards the overall title."
In the overall standings, Schurter now leads by 245 points, with Avancini moving into second ahead of Van der Poel by 16 points. Mathias Fluckiger (Thomus RN) drops to fourth overall from second, after finishing ninth.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 1:22:10 |
2 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 0:00:04 |
3 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) | 0:00:38 |
4 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) | 0:00:48 |
5 | Ondřej Cink (Cze) | |
6 | Peter Disera (Can) | 0:01:08 |
7 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) | 0:01:21 |
8 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) | 0:01:22 |
9 | Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:01:29 |
10 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) | 0:01:46 |
11 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) | 0:02:00 |
12 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) | 0:02:27 |
13 | Milan Vader (Ned) | 0:02:38 |
14 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:02:45 |
15 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:03:03 |
16 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) | 0:03:13 |
17 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | |
18 | Lars Forster (Swi) | 0:03:21 |
19 | Martins Blums (Lat) | 0:03:22 |
20 | Georg Egger (Ger) | 0:03:38 |
21 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) | 0:03:39 |
22 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:03:46 |
23 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) | |
24 | Reto Indergand (Swi) | 0:03:47 |
25 | Luca Schwarzbauer (Ger) | 0:04:04 |
26 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) | 0:04:10 |
27 | Jan Vastl (Cze) | 0:04:16 |
28 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) | 0:04:17 |
29 | Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Den) | 0:04:18 |
30 | Keegan Swenson (USA) | 0:04:32 |
31 | Karl Markt (Aut) | 0:04:50 |
32 | Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) | 0:04:51 |
33 | Thomas Griot (Fra) | 0:04:57 |
34 | Lukas Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:05:07 |
35 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:05:11 |
36 | Anton Cooper (NZl) | 0:05:12 |
37 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | |
38 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) | 0:05:30 |
39 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:05:33 |
40 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) | 0:05:42 |
41 | Jan Škarnitzl (Cze) | |
42 | Gioele Bertolini (Ita) | 0:06:13 |
43 | Alan Hatherly (RSA) | 0:06:16 |
44 | Martin Fanger (Swi) | 0:06:24 |
45 | Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Ger) | 0:06:32 |
46 | Noah Blöchlinger (Swi) | 0:06:55 |
47 | Erik Hægstad (Nor) | 0:06:59 |
48 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:07:02 |
49 | Titouan Carod (Fra) | 0:07:29 |
50 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) | 0:07:33 |
51 | Guy Sessler (Isr) | 0:07:44 |
52 | Nicholas Pettina' (Ita) | 0:07:49 |
53 | Ivan Filatov (Rus) | 0:07:51 |
54 | Maxime Loret (Fra) | 0:07:53 |
55 | Denis Fumarola (Ita) | |
56 | David Menut (Fra) | 0:07:54 |
57 | Severin Disch (Swi) | 0:08:08 |
58 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:08:23 |
59 | Lorenzo Pellegrini (Ita) | 0:08:35 |
60 | Andrew L'Esperance (Can) | 0:08:48 |
61 | Simon Vitzthum (Swi) | 0:09:08 |
62 | Mário Costa (Por) | 0:09:31 |
63 | Nick Vanpol (Bel) | |
64 | Florian Chenaux (Swi) | |
65 | Erno Mccrae (Bel) | |
66 | Christian Pfäffle (Ger) | |
67 | Daniel James Mcconnell (Aus) | |
68 | Andrin Beeli (Swi) | |
69 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | |
70 | Joshua Dubau (Fra) | |
71 | Tom Bell (GBr) | |
72 | Mattia Setti (Ita) | |
73 | Davide Clerici (Ita) | |
74 | Moritz Bscherer (Aut) | |
75 | David Rosa (Por) | |
76 | Zdeněk Vobecký (Cze) | |
77 | Marc Andre Fortier (Can) | |
78 | Bruno Vitali (Swi) | |
79 | Bastien Rolland (Fra) | |
80 | Rob Vanden Haesevelde (Bel) | |
81 | Ben Oliver (NZl) | |
82 | Jordan Meier (Fra) | |
83 | Maximilian Foidl (Aut) | |
84 | Adrien Chenaux (Swi) | |
85 | Léo Lhomme (Swi) | |
86 | Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) | |
87 | Joseph De Poortere Emelien (Fra) | |
88 | Anthony Zaragoza (Fra) | |
89 | Lucas Dubau (Fra) | |
90 | Harold Flandre (Fra) | |
91 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | |
92 | Anthony Ralle (Fra) | |
93 | Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) | |
94 | Samuel Gaze (NZl) | |
95 | Raphael Gay (Fra) | |
96 | Jan Schär (Swi) | |
97 | Thibaud Saint Guilhem (Fra) | |
98 | Sebastian Jayne (Aus) | |
99 | Vincent Sibille (Fra) | |
100 | Pedro Rodriguez Mesa (Spa) | |
101 | Antoine Orchampt (Fra) | |
102 | Fabien Bragagia (Fra) | |
103 | Rodolphe Lestievent (Fra) | |
104 | Ingvar Omarsson (Isl) | |
105 | Cyril Bourdon (Fra) | |
106 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | |
107 | Arthur Tropardy (Fra) | |
108 | Rémi Groslambert (Fra) | |
109 | David Duggan (GBr) | |
110 | Tumelo Makae (Les) | |
111 | Wout Alleman (Bel) | |
112 | Clément Noel (Fra) | |
DNF | Nadir Colledani (Ita) | |
DNF | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) | |
DNF | Jakub Zamrozniak (Pol) | |
DNF | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) | |
DNF | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) | |
DNS | Gregor Raggl (Aut) |
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