Kerschbaumer takes Vallnord World Cup XCO win
By Cycling News
Schurter second, van der Poel third
For only the second time in two years, world champion and World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) has been beaten in World Cup competition. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Garbogas) took the first Elite World Cup victory of his career on Sunday at Round 5 in Vallnord, Andorra.
Andorra is a unique race, with the riders racing at 2000 metres of altitude and facing some of the steepest climbs of the season. More than one rider has gone out too fast in the early laps, only to pay for it later in the race.
As usual, Schurter went out hard on the opening lap of the eight lap race. Kerschbaumer was the only one to bridge up to the Swiss rider, late in the first lap, while a chase group of three formed behind - Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus), Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory) and Jordan Sarrou (KMC-Ekoi-SR Suntour). This set the top-5 for the rest of the race, as the front two steadily pulled away from the chasers.
Kerschbaumer was clearly the stronger on the steep climbs, but Schurter would close the gap with his superior descend skills every time until the sixth lap, when the gap opened to 11 seconds on the first climb, and Kerschbaumer was able to extend it on the second, main climb.
Schurter was clearly struggling with the altitude, and dropping back further at every time split, eventually finishing 1:13 behind the Italian champion. Van der Poel had attacked his chase companions on the fifth lap, and slowly eked out a small lead through the remainder of the race to finish third for the second consecutive weekend, followed by Avancini, fourth also for the second time in back-to-back weekends.
"This win means a lot," admitted Kerschbaumer. "One week ago I was second behind Nino and today ... it was amazing. The altitude I like a lot ... I spent two months at home at altitude and it worked. In the downhills, Nino was stronger than me, but in the long climbs I think I was a little bit better, and I attacked there."
The second place finish has no effect on Schurter's overall lead, and he now has a commanding 1405 points; 325 more than van der Poel. Schurter could wrap up the World Cup title at the next round in Mont-Ste-Anne, Canada, with another strong performance. Avancini, who is having a breakthrough season after winning the XCC short track on Friday, jumps from fifth to third in the standings at 861 points, displacing Cannondale team mate Maxime Marrotte.
Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 1:32:05 |
2 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 0:01:13 |
3 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) | 0:02:06 |
4 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) | 0:02:28 |
5 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) | 0:02:45 |
6 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:03:00 |
7 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:03:14 |
8 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:03:22 |
9 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) | 0:03:32 |
10 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) | 0:03:40 |
11 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) | 0:03:46 |
12 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) | 0:04:06 |
13 | Lars Forster (Swi) | 0:04:36 |
14 | Nicholas Pettina' (Ita) | 0:04:49 |
15 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) | 0:04:57 |
16 | Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:05:08 |
17 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) | 0:05:15 |
18 | Samuel Gaze (NZl) | 0:05:21 |
19 | Howard Grotts (USA) | 0:05:23 |
20 | Jan Škarnitzl (Cze) | 0:05:24 |
21 | Nadir Colledani (Ita) | |
22 | Anton Cooper (NZl) | 0:05:27 |
23 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) | 0:05:41 |
24 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) | 0:05:52 |
25 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) | 0:05:56 |
26 | Lukas Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:05:57 |
27 | Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) | 0:05:58 |
28 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) | 0:06:00 |
29 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | 0:06:03 |
30 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) | 0:06:15 |
31 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) | 0:06:30 |
32 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:06:35 |
33 | Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) | 0:06:50 |
34 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | 0:06:57 |
35 | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) | 0:07:02 |
36 | Gioele Bertolini (Ita) | 0:07:26 |
37 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) | 0:07:30 |
38 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) | 0:07:35 |
39 | Reto Indergand (Swi) | 0:07:38 |
40 | Thomas Griot (Fra) | 0:07:54 |
41 | Keegan Swenson (USA) | 0:08:09 |
42 | Ivan Diaz Buj (Spa) | 0:08:21 |
43 | Peter Disera (Can) | 0:08:25 |
44 | Karl Markt (Aut) | |
45 | Marek Konwa (Pol) | 0:08:33 |
46 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) | 0:08:38 |
47 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:09:04 |
48 | Marcel Guerrini (Swi) | 0:09:07 |
49 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) | 0:09:10 |
50 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) | 0:09:23 |
51 | Titouan Carod (Fra) | 0:09:37 |
52 | Jan Vastl (Cze) | 0:09:45 |
53 | Georg Egger (Ger) | 0:10:23 |
54 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) | 0:11:58 |
55 | Jhonatan Botero Villegas (Col) | |
56 | Ismael Esteban Aguero (Spa) | |
57 | Florian Trigo (Fra) | |
58 | Raphael Gay (Fra) | |
59 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) | |
60 | Christian Pfäffle (Ger) | |
61 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | |
62 | Simon Vitzthum (Swi) | |
63 | Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Den) | |
64 | Martin Loo (Est) | |
65 | András Parti (Hun) | |
66 | Catriel Soto (Arg) | |
67 | Erno Jacob Mccrae (Bel) | |
68 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | |
69 | Andrew L'esperance (Can) | |
70 | Mário Costa (Por) | |
71 | Mario Sinues Mico (Spa) | |
72 | Martin Fanger (Swi) | |
73 | Guy Sessler (Isr) | |
74 | Vincent Sibille (Fra) | |
75 | Sakari Lehtinen (Fin) | |
76 | Guy Diaz Grollier (And) | |
77 | Maxime Loret (Fra) | |
78 | Tom Bell (GBr) | |
79 | Ricardo Marinheiro (Por) | |
80 | Roberto Ferreira (Por) | |
81 | Zdenek Vobecký (Cze) | |
82 | Ever Alejandro Gomez Diaz (Bol) | |
83 | Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) | |
84 | Adelino Moll Mut (Spa) | |
85 | Pierre Billaud (Fra) | |
86 | Arthur Tropardy (Fra) | |
87 | Manuel Sanchez Aldeguer (Spa) | |
88 | Victor Selles Pardo (Spa) | |
89 | Marcel Lehrian (Ger) | |
90 | Alexandre Vialle (Can) | |
91 | Pablo Garrido Satorre (Spa) | |
92 | Robert Schwenk (Ger) | |
93 | Frédéric Ischard (Fra) | |
DNF | Martins Blums (Lat) | |
DNF | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) | |
DNF | Fábio Ribeiro (Por) | |
DNF | Lukas Baum (Ger) | |
DNF | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) | |
DNF | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | |
DNF | Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Ger) |
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