Image 1 of 20

Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) wins (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 2 of 20

World Cup leader Nino Schurter on the podium (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 3 of 20

Anton Cooper (Trek Factory Racing XC) finishing 3rd (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 4 of 20

Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Primaflor Mondraker) leading at the start (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 5 of 20

Jaroslav Kulhavy, Julien Absalon, Marco Fontana, Manuel Fumic (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 6 of 20

Matthias Fluckiger was at the front of the race until a bad crash knocked him out of the race (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 7 of 20

Julien Absalon (BMC Mountainbike Racing Team) never seemed to get going (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 8 of 20

David Valero (MMR Factory Racing Team) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 9 of 20

Stephane Tempier (Bianchi Countervail) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 10 of 20

Didier Bats (CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 11 of 20

Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory Racing XC) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 12 of 20

Hans Becking (CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 13 of 20

Marco Aurelio Fontana (Bianchi Countervail) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 14 of 20

Florian Vogel (Focus XC Team) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 15 of 20

Leandre Bouchard (BH-SRSuntour-KMC) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 16 of 20

Mathieu van der Poel bombing on (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 17 of 20

Anton Cooper (Trek Factory Racing XC) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 18 of 20

BMC Mountainbike Racing top team (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 19 of 20

Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Image 20 of 20

David Valero, Mathieu Van Der Poel, Nino Schurter, Anton Cooper, Maxime Marotte (Image credit: Robert Jones)

Pre-race, there was considerable speculation as to how multi-time cyclo-cross world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) would fare, after finishing eighth a week earlier in the first round. The race quickly became a battle between Round 1 winner and world champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) and van der Poel. In the early laps the pair were joined at the front by Matthias Fluckiger (Radon Factory) until he crashed and had to abandon the race. van der Poel also crashed but was able to catch up to Schurter temporarily, until the Swiss rider attacked on the fourth lap and steadily pulled away to record his 22nd World Cup win. Anton Cooper (Trek Factory) finished third.

Schurter takes first World Cup in Nove Mesto

Van der Poel best on stage 2 in Baloise Belgium Tour

"I made a stupid mistake," admitted van der Poel, "and crashed pretty hard [on Lap 3]. I lost contact with the [front] group and hurt my knee a little bit. It was hard to get my pace back on. I'm very happy with the race, only a bit disappointed with the stupid mistake; otherwise it was a nice battle with Nino. I'm really starting to like it mountain biking, especially when you can start from the first row; I enjoyed it a lot today."

Schurter leads the men's standings with a perfect 500 points, followed by David Valero (MMR Factory) at 350 and van der Poel at 310 points.

"It is a tough course and the conditions today were brutally hot," said Schurter. "It was a hard fight with van der Poel. I got a bit nervous when he [van der Poel] was at the front. I have never raced with him really and this was the first time I saw him race. It is always a bit strange when you have someone with you that you don't know; where his strengths or weaknesses are. I was glad when I was finally able to drop him."

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team	1:33:38
2	Mathieu van der Poel (Ned)	0:00:26
3	Anton Cooper (NZl) Trek Factory Racing XC	0:00:49
4	David Valero Serrano (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team	0:01:00
5	Maxime Marotte (Fra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC	0:01:28
6	Stephane Tempier (Fra) Bianchi Countervail	0:01:56
7	Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	0:02:21
8	Florian Vogel (Swi) Focus XC Team	0:02:28
9	Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing XC	0:02:29
10	Jan Škarnitzl (Cze) SRAM Mitas Trek	0:02:30
11	Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) MMR Factory Racing Team	0:02:46
12	Hans Becking (Ned) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team	0:03:02
13	Mirko Tabacchi (Ita)	0:03:24
14	Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) Focus XC Team	0:03:34
15	Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Torpado Gabogas	0:03:39
16	Leandre Bouchard (Can) BH-Srsuntour-KMC	0:03:50
17	Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) Primaflor Mondraker	0:04:03
18	Martin Fanger (Swi)	0:04:06
19	Titouan Carod (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	0:04:22
20	Andri Frischknecht (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team	0:04:33
21	Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team	0:04:35
22	Gregor Raggl (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team	0:04:37
23	Jordan Sarrou (Fra) BH-Srsuntour-KMC	0:04:45
24	Derek Zandstra (Can) Cannondale-3Rox Racing	0:04:46
25	Hugo Drechou (Fra) Massi	0:04:57
26	Ruben Scheire (Bel) Habitat Mountainbike Team	0:05:16
27	Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) Kross Racing Team	0:05:18
28	Victor Koretzky (Fra) BH-Srsuntour-KMC	0:05:23
29	Lukas Flueckiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	0:05:28
30	Karl Markt (Aut) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team	0:05:33
31	Daniel Mcconnell (Aus)	0:05:46
32	Andrea Righettini (Ita)	0:05:47
33	Anton Sintsov (Rus) JBg - 2 Professional MTB Team	0:06:09
34	Marek Konwa (Pol) Volkswagen Samochody Uzytkowe MTB Team	0:06:15
35	Luca Braidot (Ita)	0:06:31
36	Reto Indergand (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	0:06:37
37	Jens Schuermans (Bel) Scott Creuse Oxygene Gueret
38	Fabian Giger (Swi) Kross Racing Team	0:06:45
39	Moritz Milatz (Ger)	0:06:51
40	Christian Pfäffle (Ger) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team	0:07:13
41	Raphael Gagne (Can) Cannondale-3Rox Racing	0:07:17
42	Thomas Litscher (Swi) JB Brunex Felt Team	0:07:19
43	Catriel Andres Soto (Arg) Primaflor Mondraker	0:07:20
44	Didier Bats (Bel) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team	0:07:37
45	Martin Gluth (Ger) Omx Pro Team
46	Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team	0:07:44
47	Arnis Petersons (Lat) ZZK	0:07:47
48	Timofei Ivanov (Rus) Format-Udmurtia	0:07:58
49	Grant Ferguson (GBr) CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team	0:08:12
50	David Rosa (Por)	0:08:20
51	Thomas Griot (Fra) Materiel-Velo.Com	0:08:23
52	Florian Chenaux (Swi)	0:08:26
53	Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) Elios-Srsuntour Pro Team	0:08:45
54	Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Kurschat Consulting Racing Team	0:08:47
55	András Parti (Hun) Nella Trek Team	0:08:52
56	Ivan Seledkov (Rus)	0:08:56
57	Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Team NOB Selle Italia	0:09:13
58	Maximilian Vieider (Ita) Torpado Gabogas	0:09:34
59	Daniele Braidot (Ita)	0:09:46
60	Markus Bauer (Ger)	0:09:58
61	Marcel Guerrini (Swi) Focus XC Team	0:10:06
62	Martin Loo (Est)	0:10:11
63	Sebastien Carabin (Bel) Merida Wallonie MTB Team	0:10:23
64	Frank Beemer (Ned) Habitat Mountainbike Team	0:10:37
65	Bart De Vocht (Bel) KTM Bike Vision	0:10:53
66	Antoine Bouqueret (Fra) Scott Creuse Oxygene Gueret	0:11:22
67	Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Col)
68	Andrew L'esperance (Can)
69	Shlomi Haimy (Isr)
70	Pavel Priadein (Rus)
71	Guilherme Gotardelo Muller (Bra)
72	Maximilian Holz (Ger) German Technology Racing
73	Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) BH-Srsuntour-KMC
74	José Dias (Por)
75	Emelien Joseph De Poortere (Fra)
76	Gerrit Rosenkranz (Ger)
77	Nicholas Pettina' (Ita)
78	Tobias Rotermund (Ger)
79	Octavien Maillard (Fra)
80	Wietse Bosmans (Bel)
81	Dario Alejandro Gasco (Arg)
82	Erik Groen (Ned) Stappenbelt-Specialized MTB Team
83	Ben Zwiehoff (Ger)
84	Philipp Hediger (Swi) Fischer-BMC
85	Keegan Swenson (USA) Cannondale-3Rox Racing
86	Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Bra)
87	Nick De Vries (Bel)
88	Robin Vanden Abeele (Bel) Cube Pro Fermetures Sefic
89	Heiko Hog (Ger)
90	Stuart Marais (RSA)
91	Florian Trigo (Fra) Massi
92	Fabian Paumann (Swi) Fischer-BMC
93	Ruslan Boredskiy (Rus)
94	Sebastian Jayne (Aus)
95	Sajjad Taheri (IRI)
96	Farzad Khodayari (IRI)
97	Jan Withaar (RSA)
98	Zdenek Vobecký (Cze)
99	Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled by Ultrasports
100	Vadim Zhuravlev (Rus)
101	Aaron Beck (Ger)
102	Marcel Lehrian (Ger)
103	Murray Spink (Aus)
104	Antoine Le Coq (Fra) Cube Pro Fermetures Sefic
105	Lysander Kiesel (Ger) German Technology Racing
106	Till Drobisch (Nam)
107	Russell Nankervis (Aus)
108	Kirill Kazantsev (Kaz)
109	Fabian Obrist (Swi)
110	Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Bra)
111	Artyom Golovachshenko (Kaz)
112	Dmitry Zhirnov (Rus)
113	Evan Mcneely (Can)
114	Kevin Ingratta (Arg)
115	Jan Schär (Swi)
116	Christopher Hamlin (USA)
117	Mathias Alig (Swi)
118	Pedri Danilo Aviles Gangas (Chi)
119	Robert Schwenk (Ger)
120	George-Vlad Sabau (Rom)
DNF	Mário Costa (Por) Primaflor Mondraker
DNF	Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Bianchi Countervail
DNF	Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) Radon Factory XC Team
DNF	Benoit Igoulen (Fra) Look - Beaumes De Venise
DNF	Samuel Gaze (NZl) Specialized Racing
DNF	Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Expres CZ-Scott Team Kolin
DNF	Marc Stutzmann (Swi)
DNF	Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) Habitat Mountainbike Team
DNF	Cameron Ivory (Aus)
DNF	Pascal Nay (Swi)
DNF	Jaroslav Kulhavý (Cze) Specialized Racing
DNS	Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Trek Factory Racing XC
DNS	Michael Stünzi (Swi)

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Ruby Roseman-Gannon takes the stage and overall victory at Santos Festival of Cycling

Nicole Frain comes second and Georgia Baker third as BikeExchange-Jayco's Roseman-Gannon continues overall stranglehold through to final road stage
The mother and daughter duo of the Santos Festival of Cycling

Former Australian champion Ruth Corset talked out of retirement and back into the peloton by her racing daughters
Anna Kay out of 'cross Worlds with concussion

Great Britain down one for Cyclo-cross World Championships
Egan Bernal facing surgery for multiple injuries from bus collision

Ineos Grenadiers rider has 'vertebral and thoracic trauma', to undergo surgery today