Schurter tops Absalon in Val di Sole
By Cycling News
Vogel third in tight race as Scott-Odlo rider seals overall World Cup title
Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo), after finishing second in the first three rounds of the Mountain Bike World Cup, balanced that by winning the last three, including the World Cup Final on Sunday, in Val di Sole, Italy. His win cemented his hold on the overall title for the year.
Rain overnight had turned much of the course into sticky mud - referred to by one team manager as 'velcro'. The mud was transferred to many of the rocky sections, making them slippery and treacherous, and causing numerous crashes.
Schurter's former team mate, Florian Vogel (Stoeckli Pro Team), started the action with a surge in the opening half lap start loop. Only Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) were able to respond initially, but world champion Julien Absalon (BMC) made his way across within a lap and a half.
The group stayed together until halfway through the fourth lap, when Kulhavy dropped off by 20 seconds - still in sight on the finishing straight, but unable to close the gap, and finishing alone in fourth.
At the front, the trio stayed together until the final lap, with Absalon setting the pace and Schurter content to follow. When Absalon began attacking on the last lap Vogel was dropped, but held on for third.
In front, Absalon continued to attack and to try and get into the descents first, to defend against the superior descending skills of Schurter. The world champion was also riding on a soft front tire, so when Schurter did finally get to the front for the final descent, Absalon could not respond, and the Swiss rider carved out a slim five second lead, which he held to the line.
"Honestly, I didn't feel that good at the beginning," revealed Schurter, "I was struggling a bit. I was just hanging in there and tried to stay up with Julien and Vogel. Towards the end I felt better and better. I tried to stay on Julien's wheel. I knew if I could get first into the descent I could win again. It was actually a lot of drafting from my side but, yah, I feel really happy about this win here. Happy about the World [Cup overall] win also."
"It [World Cup overall] was a big goal for me this year. It started with a bit of bad luck, I always managed to get second, but now three wins in a row is amazing and a big achievement for me."
Schurter, with three seconds and three wins, had a 250 point margin on Absalon for the title. Kulhavy, with two wins, finished third and Vogel jumped from fifth to third with his placing in the final round. Mathias Fluckiger (Stoeckli Pro Team) was bumped down to fifth by Vogel.
"My tire lost some air on the first lap," said Absalon. "Maybe on the jump [in the 4-Cross section]? But it was too difficult to stop [in the pits]. I was losing time in the downhill because I was sliding with the front tire. But I didn't stop and I did all the race like this. It was not possible to do a gap even though I was pushing on the climb and I was losing time on the downhill. Nino was always catching my wheel. On the two last laps I was pushing hard. I was not thinking about the sprint. I was worried about my front tire, afraid to lose all the air. I was pushing to finish a soon as possible with air in the tire."
"Now we are all focused on the Worlds in two weeks. I think next week we will all train hard to be ready for Andorra."
Full results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | 1:27:38 |
2 | Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:00:05 |
3 | Florian Vogel (Swi) Focus XC Team | 0:00:22 |
4 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Specialized Racing | 0:00:54 |
5 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 0:01:08 |
6 | Fabian Giger (Swi) Team Colnago Sudtirol | 0:01:31 |
7 | Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:01:38 |
8 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:02:10 |
9 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:02:18 |
10 | Lukas Fluckiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:02:19 |
11 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Frm Factory Racing Team | 0:02:21 |
12 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:02:38 |
13 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) Calvisson VTT | 0:02:44 |
14 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | 0:02:46 |
15 | Rourke Croeser (RSA) | 0:02:57 |
16 | Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Stoeckli Pro Team | 0:03:16 |
17 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:03:17 |
18 | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:03:19 |
19 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) Koch Engineering / Muesing Racing Team | 0:03:28 |
20 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Trek Factory Racing | 0:03:29 |
21 | Hans Becking (Ned) Betch.Nl Superior Brentjens MTB Racing Team | 0:03:39 |
22 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:03:48 |
23 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 0:03:53 |
24 | David Valero (Spa) | 0:04:01 |
25 | Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) Versluys Team | 0:04:02 |
26 | Derek Zandstra (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing | 0:04:03 |
27 | Alexander Gehbauer (Aut) Bianchi I.Idro Drain | 0:04:04 |
28 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Col) | 0:04:09 |
29 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 0:04:14 |
30 | Timofei Ivanov (Rus) Format-Udmurtia | 0:04:16 |
31 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 0:04:22 |
32 | Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) Trek Factory Racing | 0:04:27 |
33 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:04:40 |
34 | Karl Markt (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 0:04:43 |
35 | Frank Beemer (Ned) | 0:04:58 |
36 | Stephen Ettinger (USA) Teamshoair/Cannondale | 0:05:26 |
37 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Bianchi I.Idro Drain | 0:05:45 |
38 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 0:06:08 |
39 | Martin Gujan (Swi) Novus Omx Pro Team | 0:06:21 |
40 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) Habitat Mountainbiketeam | 0:06:23 |
41 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing | 0:06:36 |
42 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) Novus Omx Pro Team | 0:06:43 |
43 | Reto Indergand (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:06:48 |
44 | Jeff Luyten (Bel) | 0:06:57 |
45 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:07:05 |
46 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 0:07:08 |
47 | Anton Gogolev (Rus) | |
48 | Emil Lindgren (Swe) Kargo Pro MTB Team | 0:07:26 |
49 | Emilien Barben (Swi) | 0:07:36 |
50 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:07:42 |
51 | Ralph Naef (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:07:54 |
52 | Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Nilfisk Alto Pro Cycling | 0:08:07 |
53 | Catriel Andres Soto (Arg) | 0:08:19 |
54 | Ismael Ventura Sanchez (Spa) | 0:08:22 |
55 | Fabio Hernando Castaneda Monsalve (Col) | 0:08:23 |
56 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 0:08:28 |
57 | Michal Lami (Svk) | |
58 | Sergji Rysenko (Ukr) | 0:08:36 |
59 | Michael Stunzi (Swi) | 0:08:52 |
60 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) Merida-Wallonie Mountain Bike Team | 0:08:54 |
61 | Marek Konwa (Pol) | 0:08:58 |
62 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hun) Waberer's Areus MTB Team | 0:08:59 |
63 | Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Koch Engineering / Muesing Racing Team | 0:09:02 |
64 | Bart De Vocht (Bel) Goeman Scott Cycling Team VZW | 0:09:08 |
65 | Martin Gluth (Ger) Novus Omx Pro Team | 0:09:12 |
66 | Matthys Beukes (RSA) Scott Factory Racing Powered By LCB | 0:09:29 |
67 | Matiss Preimanis (Lat) Dpa | 0:09:41 |
68 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | |
69 | Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Remerx-Merida Team Kolin | 0:10:05 |
70 | Andras Parti (Hun) Waberer's Areus MTB Team | 0:10:25 |
71 | Cameron Jette (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing | 0:11:08 |
72 | Sherman Trezza De Paiva (Bra) Caloi Team | 0:11:17 |
73 | Daniel Eymann (Swi) Wheeler - IXS Team | 0:11:39 |
74 | Frederico Mariano (Bra) Caloi Team | |
75 | Andrea Dei Tos (Ita) | |
76 | Pierre-Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Btwin MTB Racing Team | |
77 | Benjamin Sonntag (Ger) | |
78 | Miguel Martinez (Fra) | |
79 | Steffen Thum (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | |
80 | Martino Fruet (Ita) | |
81 | Kirill Kazantsev (Kaz) | |
82 | Phillip Pearce (GBr) | |
83 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | |
84 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Por) | |
85 | Marc Stutzmann (Swi) Giant Swiss Team | |
86 | Maximilian Maier (Ger) | |
87 | Dmytro Titarenko (Ukr) Isd MTB Team | |
88 | Maximilian Vieider (Ita) | |
89 | Brendan Johnston (Aus) | |
90 | Nicolo Ferrazzo (Ita) | |
91 | Jorgen Flion (Bel) | |
92 | Abdulkadir Kelleci (Tur) | |
93 | Oleksandr Gerashchenko (Ukr) Isd MTB Team | |
94 | Tobias Rotermund (Ger) | |
95 | Maximilian Holz (Ger) | |
96 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | |
97 | Michael Broderick (USA) | |
98 | Guy Diaz Grollier (And) | |
99 | Jan Schaer (Swi) | |
100 | Artyom Golovaschenko (Kaz) | |
101 | Benjamin Schmidt (Isr) | |
102 | Besik Gavasheli (Geo) | |
103 | George-Vlad Sabau (Rom) | |
104 | Ahmed Zeidan (Isr) | |
DNF | Ondrej Cink (Cze) Multivan Merida Biking Team | |
DNF | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | |
DNF | Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Sram Mitas Trek | |
DNF | Ramon Sagues Portabella (Spa) | |
DNF | Jason Bouttell (GBr) | |
DNF | Zdenek Vobecky (Cze) |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | 1350 | pts |
2 | Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 1110 | |
3 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Specialized Racing | 932 | |
4 | Florian Vogel (Swi) Focus XC Team | 784 | |
5 | Mathias Fluckiger (Swi) Stoeckli Pro Team | 724 | |
6 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 695 | |
7 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 584 | |
8 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Trek Factory Racing | 553 | |
9 | Lukas Fluckiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 540 | |
10 | Ralph Naef (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 517 | |
11 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 509 | |
12 | Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 503 | |
13 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 487 | |
14 | Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) Trek Factory Racing | 486 | |
15 | Fabian Giger (Swi) Team Colnago Sudtirol | 482 | |
16 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Frm Factory Racing Team | 445 | |
17 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | 402 | |
18 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 393 | |
19 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) Moebel Maerki MTB Pro Team | 387 | |
20 | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 358 | |
21 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) Calvisson VTT | 339 | |
22 | Reto Indergand (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 331 | |
23 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 282 | |
24 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 267 | |
25 | Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Sram Mitas Trek | 266 | |
26 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 260 | |
27 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) Bianchi I.Idro Drain | 259 | |
28 | Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) Versluys Team | 248 | |
29 | Catriel Andres Soto (Arg) | 243 | |
30 | Derek Zandstra (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing | 237 | |
31 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 232 | |
32 | Karl Markt (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 232 | |
33 | Martin Gujan (Swi) Novus Omx Pro Team | 229 | |
34 | David Valero (Spa) | 224 | |
35 | Alexander Gehbauer (Aut) Bianchi I.Idro Drain | 217 | |
36 | Stephen Ettinger (USA) Teamshoair/Cannondale | 209 | |
37 | Bart De Vocht (Bel) Goeman Scott Cycling Team VZW | 202 | |
38 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) BH-SR Suntour-KMC | 200 | |
39 | David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Por) | 191 | |
40 | Martin Loo (Est) | 180 | |
41 | Rourke Croeser (RSA) | 160 | |
42 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | 158 | |
43 | Michal Lami (Svk) | 158 | |
44 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) Koch Engineering / Muesing Racing Team | 148 | |
45 | Jeff Luyten (Bel) | 148 | |
46 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 145 | |
47 | Frank Beemer (Ned) | 143 | |
48 | Jan Nesvadba (Cze) Nilfisk Alto Pro Cycling | 116 | |
49 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | 107 | |
50 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) Habitat Mountainbiketeam | 107 | |
51 | Martin Gluth (Ger) Novus Omx Pro Team | 98 | |
52 | Timofei Ivanov (Rus) Format-Udmurtia | 96 | |
53 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) Haibike Oetztal Pro Team | 95 | |
54 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hun) Waberer's Areus MTB Team | 94 | |
55 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 87 | |
56 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) Merida-Wallonie Mountain Bike Team | 86 | |
57 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing | 85 | |
58 | Andrea Righettini (Ita) | 85 | |
59 | Nicholas Pettina (Ita) | 78 | |
60 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Col) | 76 | |
61 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) Cannondale Factory Racing XC | 68 | |
62 | Hans Becking (Ned) Betch.Nl Superior Brentjens MTB Racing Team | 64 | |
63 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) Titici Factory Team Lgl | 64 | |
64 | Andras Parti (Hun) Waberer's Areus MTB Team | 56 | |
65 | Geoff Kabush (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing | 53 | |
66 | Martin Fanger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 52 | |
67 | Cameron Jette (Can) Scott-3Rox Racing | 52 | |
68 | Marc Stutzmann (Swi) Giant Swiss Team | 51 | |
69 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Por) | 50 | |
70 | Markus Bauer (Ger) | 49 | |
71 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) Novus Omx Pro Team | 46 | |
72 | Alex Grant (USA) | 43 | |
73 | Lukas Kaufmann (Swi) | 40 | |
74 | Simon Stiebjahn (Ger) Team Bulls | 40 | |
75 | Miguel Martinez (Fra) | 40 | |
76 | Sepp Freiburghaus (Swi) | 38 | |
77 | Tom Meeusen (Bel) | 37 | |
78 | Spencer Paxson (USA) Kona Factory Team | 36 | |
79 | Evan Guthrie (Can) | 34 | |
80 | James Reid (RSA) | 29 | |
81 | Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Koch Engineering / Muesing Racing Team | 27 | |
82 | Simon Gegenheimer (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | 25 | |
83 | Michael Stunzi (Swi) | 24 | |
84 | Jeremy Martin (Can) | 23 | |
85 | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Odlo MTB Racing Team | 23 | |
86 | Anton Gogolev (Rus) | 21 | |
87 | Emil Lindgren (Swe) Kargo Pro MTB Team | 20 | |
88 | Julian Schelb (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team | 20 | |
89 | Emilien Barben (Swi) | 19 | |
90 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) Focus XC Team | 19 | |
91 | Ricardo Pscheidt (Bra) | 18 | |
92 | Steffen Thum (Ger) Rose Vaujany Fueled By Ultrasports | 18 | |
93 | Jiri Novak (Cze) Betch.Nl Superior Brentjens MTB Racing Team | 17 | |
94 | Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Bra) | 16 | |
95 | Sherman Trezza De Paiva (Bra) Caloi Team | 16 | |
96 | Pierre-Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Btwin MTB Racing Team | 16 | |
97 | Marek Konwa (Pol) | 15 | |
98 | Rotem Ishay (Isr) | 15 | |
99 | Ismael Ventura Sanchez (Spa) | 14 | |
100 | Fabio Hernando Castaneda Monsalve (Col) | 13 | |
101 | Hector Riveros (Col) | 13 | |
102 | Christian Helmig (Lux) | 13 | |
103 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | 12 | |
104 | Martino Fruet (Ita) | 12 | |
105 | Kerry Werner (USA) | 11 | |
106 | Sergji Rysenko (Ukr) | 10 | |
107 | Benjamin Sonntag (Ger) | 10 | |
108 | Maximilian Vieider (Ita) | 9 | |
109 | Tomas Paprstka (Cze) Remerx-Merida Team Kolin | 8 | |
110 | Evan Mcneely (Can) | 8 | |
111 | Andrew Watson (Can) | 8 | |
112 | Philip Buys (RSA) Scott Factory Racing Powered By LCB | 8 |
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