Schurter races to birthday win in Nove Mesto cross country

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As the end of the Olympic qualification period approaches, the intensity of racing keeps increasing at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. In round 3 of the elite men's cross country series, in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) increased his lead in the men's series, after a fierce battle with defending champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized), who was racing before a home crowd.

In the men's field, the competition was expected to be between Schurter, Julien Absalon (Orbea) - the winner of round two - and Kulhavy, who won here last year and was expected to up his game considerably for this race.

Five riders opened a gap after the start loop, but Absalon wasn't one of them; after a crash in the rock garden and struggling to stay in the mid-20s, the rumoured to be sick French champion abandoned on lap four.  The lead group of five included Schurter, Kulhavy, Marco Fontana (Cannondale), Burry Stander (Specialized) and Ralf Naef (Multivan Merida).  Florian Vogel (Scott Swisspower) had been in the top five on the first lap, but faded from the leaders.

At the front, Kulhavy and Fontana opened a small gap after one lap on a chase group containing Schurter, Burry Stander (Specialized), and Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida), but all five riders would regroup repeatedly after many of them took turns attacking at various times.  For the first four laps, they mostly stayed together.

On lap five, first Naef and then Fontana were dropped by the other three.  Stander tried an early attack on the final lap, but couldn't hold the pace and dropped off Kulhavy and Schurter.  Then Schurter attacked the former world champion to record the only sub-13 minute lap of the race. It was only slightly faster than Kulhavy, pushed along by the roar of the crowd, but it was enough to give the Swiss rider a six-second gap on his rival, and his second win of the season; on his birthday, no less. Stander soloed in for third, with Fontana finishing just ahead of Naef for fourth and fifth respectively.

"It was a real hard race," said Schurter. "I had a small mechanical on the first lap; my chain dropped off and then I had to gain connection with the leading group, and that was quite hard for me. It was a really awesome race here in front of the Czech crowd. The crowd here is unbelievable, so great. On the uphill it was so loud - everybody was cheering - it makes it fun to race in front of a crowd like this. And they are really fair, they cheer for a Swiss guy too, not just for Kulhavy."

"The best is when you can win on your birthday," said Schurter. "I had some more energy today, being my birthday, and I wanted to win. It is really a great feeling to win a World Cup on your birthday."

Schurter leads the overall World Cup rankings with 700 points, followed by Burry Stander with 510 and Kulhavy at 425. Absalon dropped from second to fifth, behind Fontana.

Specialized topped the team results for the day and the overall World Cup standings.

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