Mathias Flueckiger wins Leogang World Cup

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Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus RN Swiss Bike) won a battle of climbers over Ondrej Cink (Kross Orlen) to take the third round of the XCO World Cup in Leogang, Austria, on Sunday. With his win, Flueckiger moves into the overall World Cup lead, taking the leader's jersey from the absent Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). Anton Cooper (Trek Factory) finished third on the day.

Leogang has been a stop on the Downhill circuit for many years, but this is the first time the XCO World Cup has come place here. Last Fall, it hosted the World Championships, so riders weren't completely unprepared, but the long, steep climbs in the Austrian Alps quickly tore apart the fields.

The six lap (plus start loop) race was wide open, given the absence of the top two riders in the World Cup standings - van der Poel, who is focussing on the road, and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who is recovering from injury. The race quickly came down to three contenders - Flueckiger, Cink and Anton Cooper (Trek Factory). 

Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM), looking to tie Julien Absalon's World Cup record of 33 wins, was never a factor after a poor showing in the Short Track relegated him to a fourth row start position; he would eventually manage to work his way up to tenth by the finish.

By the end of the start loop, Cink, Flueckiger and Cooper had a gap, with Cink powering the move on the long climbs. On Lap 2, Cooper had to back off, unable to match the pace Cink was setting, but Flueckiger was sitting comfortably on his rival's wheel. Cooper rode alone for the rest of the race to finish third.

Cink continue to set the tempo until the fifth lap, when Flueckiger, the winner of the Short Track on Friday, finally surged. After opening a small gap on the climb, the Swiss champion extended it on the descent, setting the fastest lap of the day and starting the final lap with a 14 second lead. He held the lead to the finish line for the fourth World Cup win of his career. His wins in both the XCC and XCO puts him 140 points ahead of Cink in the overall standings, with Round 1 winner Victor Koretzky (KMC-Orbea) holding onto third and former leader van der Poel dropping to fourth.

"I was still a bit tired [from the Short Track] in the early laps," admitted Flueckiger, "but more and more as the race went on my legs got better, and in the second last lap I was able to make a gap. On the long climbs he was maybe a bit stronger and I knew that I had to make an attack; in the early laps I was struggling to just stay on the wheel of Ondrej. But when I had the gap I was pretty confident I could go to the finish in the lead. I'm really happy with this win."

Cink agreed, saying, "It was a very hard race. I knew that this was a good course for me and I could do a good result here. I did my best, but in the end Mathias was a little bit stronger. He is faster in the downhill than me, so when he made a gap and pushed [on the descent] I couldn't catch him. He was better today and congrats to him."