Schurter solos to victory in Les Gets

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.   

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