World and Olympic champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) continued his domination of the Nove Mesto course at the opening round of the Cross-country World Cup on Sunday, taking his fifth win in the seven years of racing at this Czech Republic venue (six World Cups and one world championship, last year).
Last year, Schurter won the world title here and, on a course little changed, the Swiss rider once again showed that he is the top rider in the world at this time. The start was marred by a crash in the first few metres, when Matthias Stirnemann (Scott-SRAM) went over the bars after his chain broke, causing a pileup behind him.
Thomas Litscher (JB Brunex Felt) jumped into the lead on the start loop, but he was quickly overtaken by Schurter and David Valero (MMR Factory) once the riders began their six laps of the course. Valero hung on with Schurter for the first half of the race as the pair opened a gap on a chase group containing Julien Absalon (BMC), Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory) and Jordan Sarrou (BH-SR Suntour-KMC), but when Schurter put the hammer down on a climb the Spaniard was quickly dropped.
Schurter cruised to his 21st World Cup victory, with Valero holding on for second. Absalon dropped the rest of the chase group to take third.
"I had a really good start and I felt pretty good," said Schurter. "This course really suits me well, it's a perfect course, one of my favourites. David showed a great performance. The first lap or so he attacked quite hard and made me suffer. I'm really happy to win here again. For me it is totally different this year. I have much less pressure, I had a great winter, did some good training but everything comes with less pressure, less expectations. It is going well so far and I'm really stoked."
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team | 1:27:35 |
| 2 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:00:26 |
| 3 | Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:01:46 |
| 4 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:01:51 |
| 5 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) BH-Srsuntour-KMC | 0:01:59 |
| 6 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) Bianchi Countervail | 0:02:09 |
| 7 | Titouan Carod (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:02:41 |
| 8 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) | 0:02:51 |
| 9 | Anton Cooper (NZl) Trek Factory Racing XC | |
| 10 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Bianchi Countervail | |
| 11 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team | 0:02:59 |
| 12 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:03:04 |
| 13 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) Primaflor Mondraker | 0:03:18 |
| 14 | Reto Indergand (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:03:27 |
| 15 | Hans Becking (Ned) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team | 0:03:44 |
| 16 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Torpado Gabogas | 0:04:01 |
| 17 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 0:04:05 |
| 18 | Lukas Fluckiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:04:06 |
| 19 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Team Nob Selle Italia | 0:04:08 |
| 20 | Arnis Petersons (Lat) ZZK | 0:04:12 |
| 21 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) Jb Brunex Felt Team | 0:04:27 |
| 22 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team | 0:04:33 |
| 23 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) Massi | 0:04:41 |
| 24 | Marcel Guerrini (Swi) Focus XC Team | 0:04:49 |
| 25 | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) Kross Racing Team | 0:04:56 |
| 26 | Florian Chenaux (Swi) | 0:05:07 |
| 27 | Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) SRAM Mitas Trek | 0:05:36 |
| 28 | Derek Zandstra (Can) Cannondale-3Rox Racing | 0:05:42 |
| 29 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) Habitat Mountainbike Team | |
| 30 | Mario Costa (Por) Primaflor Mondraker | 0:05:50 |
| 31 | Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Radon Factory XC Team | 0:05:53 |
| 32 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:06:00 |
| 33 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:06:09 |
| 34 | Martin Fanger (Swi) | |
| 35 | Karl Markt (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | |
| 36 | Jose Dias (Por) | 0:06:15 |
| 37 | Bart De Vocht (Bel) KTM Bike Vision | 0:06:18 |
| 38 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:06:23 |
| 39 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) BH-Srsuntour-KMC | 0:06:25 |
| 40 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team | 0:06:26 |
| 41 | Christian Pfaffle (Ger) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 0:06:27 |
| 42 | Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Kurschat Consulting Racing Team | 0:06:46 |
| 43 | Ivan Seledkov (Rus) | 0:06:48 |
| 44 | Marek Konwa (Pol) Volkswagen Samochody Uzytkowe MTB Team | 0:06:49 |
| 45 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) | 0:06:53 |
| 46 | Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) Habitat Mountainbike Team | 0:07:03 |
| 47 | Martin Gluth (Ger) Omx Pro Team | 0:07:05 |
| 48 | Fabian Giger (Swi) Kross Racing Team | |
| 49 | Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Expres Cz-Scott Team Kolin | 0:07:17 |
| 50 | Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Bra) | |
| 51 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Col) | 0:07:27 |
| 52 | Andrea Righettini (Ita) | |
| 53 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) Scott Creuse Oxygene Gueret | 0:07:33 |
| 54 | Thomas Griot (Fra) Materiel-Velo.Com | 0:07:35 |
| 55 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Specialized Racing | 0:07:38 |
| 56 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:08:00 |
| 57 | Marek Rauchfuss (Cze) | 0:08:03 |
| 58 | Andras Parti (Hun) Nella Trek Team | 0:08:15 |
| 59 | Michael Stunzi (Swi) | 0:08:26 |
| 60 | Florian Trigo (Fra) Massi | 0:08:38 |
| 61 | Catriel Soto (Arg) Primaflor Mondraker | 0:08:48 |
| 62 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) Merida Wallonie MTB Team | 0:08:59 |
| 63 | Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Expres Cz-Scott Team Kolin | 0:09:09 |
| 64 | Raphael Gagne (Can) Cannondale-3Rox Racing | 0:09:14 |
| 65 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team | 0:09:17 |
| 66 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | 0:10:05 |
| 67 | Guilherme Gotardelo Muller (Bra) | 0:10:20 |
| 68 | Martin Frey (Ger) Team Bulls | 0:10:25 |
| 69 | Kirill Kazantsev (Kaz) | 0:10:38 |
| 70 | Jan Withaar (RSA) | 0:10:39 |
| 71 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) | 0:10:48 |
| 72 | Stuart Marais (RSA) | 0:11:15 |
| 73 | Frank Beemer (Ned) Habitat Mountainbike Team | 0:11:26 |
| 74 | Evan McNeely (Can) | 0:11:42 |
| 75 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team | 0:11:58 |
| 76 | Martin Stosek (Cze) | 0:12:31 |
| 77 | David Rosa (Por) | 0:12:50 |
| 78 | Lysander Kiesel (Ger) German Technology Racing | |
| 79 | Maximilian Vieider (Ita) Torpado Gabogas | |
| 80 | Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) Elios-Srsuntour Pro Team | |
| 81 | Zdenek Vobecky (Cze) | |
| 82 | Sakari Lehtinen (Fin) | |
| 83 | Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Bra) | |
| 84 | Maximilian Holz (Ger) German Technology Racing | |
| 85 | Dario Gasco (Arg) | |
| 86 | Steffen Thum (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | |
| 87 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | |
| 88 | Victor Selles Pardo (Spa) | |
| 89 | Louis Wolf (Ger) | |
| 90 | Russell Nankervis (Aus) | |
| 91 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) BH-Srsuntour-KMC | |
| 92 | Tobias Rotermund (Ger) | |
| 93 | Farzad Khodayari (IRI) | |
| 94 | Keegan Swenson (USA) Cannondale-3Rox Racing | |
| 95 | Andrew L'Esperance (Can) | |
| 96 | Manfred Zoger (Aut) | |
| 97 | Maciej Jeziorski (Pol) | |
| 98 | Philipp Wetzelberger (Aut) | |
| 99 | Faraz Shokri (IRI) | |
| 100 | Antoine Le Coq (Fra) Cube Pro Fermetures Sefic | |
| 101 | Ondrej Glajza (Svk) | |
| 102 | Pavel Priadein (Rus) | |
| 103 | Fabian Paumann (Swi) Fischer-BMC | |
| 104 | Murray Spink (Aus) | |
| 105 | Antoine Bouqueret (Fra) Scott Creuse Oxygene Gueret | |
| 106 | Robin Vanden Abeele (Bel) Cube Pro Fermetures Sefic | |
| 107 | Sajad Taheri (IRI) | |
| 108 | Artyom Golovachshenko (Kaz) | |
| 109 | Ingvar Omarsson ISL | |
| 110 | Vadim Zhuravlev (Rus) | |
| 111 | Oriol Domenech Fernandez (Spa) | |
| 112 | Sebastian Jayne (Aus) | |
| 113 | Philipp Hediger (Swi) Fischer-BMC | |
| 114 | Robert Schwenk (Ger) | |
| 115 | Dmitry Zhirnov (Rus) | |
| 116 | George-Vlad Sabau (Rom) | |
| DNF | Victor Koretzky (Fra) BH-Srsuntour-KMC | |
| DNF | Samuel Gaze (NZl) Specialized Racing | |
| DNF | Luca Braidot (Ita) | |
| DNF | Ruslan Boredskiy (Rus) | |
| DNF | Lars Forster (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | |
| DNF | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) Focus XC Team | |
| DNF | Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) | |
| DNF | Anton Sintsov (Rus) Jbg - 2 Professional MTB Team | |
| DNF | Daniel McConnell (Aus) | |
| DNF | Kevin Ingratta (Arg) | |
| DNS | Florian Vogel (Swi) Focus XC Team | |
| DNS | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Trek Factory Racing XC | |
| DNS | Didier Bats (Bel) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team |
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