Schurter wins Val di Sole mountain bike World Cup

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Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) took his third consecutive win of the 2018 of the UCI Mountain Bike XCO World Cup at Round 4 in Val di Sole, Italy, on Sunday, extending his lead in the overall standings.

Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory) led through the start loop before the first of seven laps, but after that it was all Schurter, as he attacked on the first climb. Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus), second in the overall standings, was the only one to stay with Schurter on the initial attack, although Luca Braidot (Centro Sportivo Carabinieri - Cicli Olympia) did join them for a short time at the end of the lap.

Schurter then dropped both Van der Poel and Braidot on a descent on the second lap and powered away to a 30-second lead over the chase group that formed behind, containing Van der Poel, Braidot, Florian Vogel (Focus XC), Italian champion Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Gabogas), Avancini, Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus - RN Racing) and Stephane Tempier (Bianchi Countervail).

Over the next two laps the chase dropped down to just Kerschbaumer and Van der Poel, with the Italian rider doing much of the work and finally dropping Van der Poel late in the fourth lap. By Lap six, Kerschbaumer had caught Schurter.

The pair rode together for the last lap and a half, with Kerschbaumer trying one attack on a climb that Schurter easily foiled, before countering as they entered the final descent to pull away for the win. Van der Poel hung on for third ahead of Avancini, who became the first Brazilian to finish on the World Cup podium.

"I was mainly worried about Mathieu but it was Gerhard who joined me," said Schurter. "I was able to recover a little bit on the last lap and then do one last attack. The finish straight here is super short and bumpy, so my goal was to be at the front at the top of the downhill, get a little gap on the downhill and then go all out to the finish."

Schurter now leads the overall standings with 1130 points, 310 more than second place van der Poel, who replaces Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory), with the French rider slipping to third at 711 points.

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