The Olympic Champion has completed the 2017 World Cup season with 6 consecutive wins, something no one else has ever achieved before. The last remaining goal? Defend his World Champion Jersey in Cairns, Australia in two weeks.
Val di Sole, Italy. What is it to be #nextlevel? We leave that to N1NO to answer. After winning every title there is to win, there was still a new goal to achieve. Winning every single World Cup race in one season had yet to be done. Now, Nino has locked that one up as well. The Champ continues to surpass our expectations.
Nino Schurter rode to his 26th World Cup win in style this past weekend in Val di Sole, Italy.
Photography: Sven Martin & Michal Cerveny.
Hunting the 6/6 was not really a target at the beginning of the season. But after the first four consecutive World Cup wins N1NO saw the challenge as achieving something nobody else had done before. The World Cup title was already secured after 5 rounds. The final round in sunny Val di Sole therefore could also have been a walk in the park. However, this would never be the case for the current World Champion. He wanted to prove to himself and to his competitors that he is in best shape ever and is ready to defend his World Champion title in two weeks time.
Great crowds, great track- Val di Sole at its best- plus a rider enjoying what he is best at – RACING!
It didn’t take long for N1NO to place an early attack to spread out the field. Frenchman Stephane Tempier was the only one able to close the gap. They worked together quite well with N1NO having a bit of an advantage on the descents. Behind the leading duo a group of five riders along with Julien Absalon, Jaroslav Kulhavy and Florian Vogel chased the leaders, but never really closed the gap.
Nino was challenged by Stephane Tempier, but chose the same strategy as two years ago against Julien Absalon and attacked in the last lap, at the same spot, to secure his win.
It came down to the same finale as two years ago against Julien Absalon. At the exact same spot only a minute before the finish line, N1NO launched his killer attack to ride to his 26th World Cup victory.
Nino with the World Cup Champion trophy. Nino has won it for 5 times, Yana Belomoina won for the 1st time.
Looking back at the perfect season Nino Schurter stated, “I’m stoked I’ve achieved this 6/6 strike but would like to point out that, apart of my performance, it takes a good portion of luck and a reliable team and equipment to conquer. A special thank goes to my mechanic Yanick Gyger and my SCOTT Spark 900. A whole World Cup season without one mechanical- that’s not a coincidence. It’s an essential prerequisite for success.”
“I’m stoked I’ve achieved this 6/6 strike but would like to point out that, apart of my performance, it takes a good portion of luck and a reliable team and equipment to conquer. A special thank goes to my mechanic Yanick Gyger and my SCOTT Spark 900. A whole World Cup season without one mechanical- that’s not a coincidence. It’s an essential prerequisite for success.”
Jenny Rissveds to Miss World Championships
It’s a shame for the sport of MTB – Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds is in fact not participating at World Championships in Cairns, Australia due to recent issues with her federation in Sweden. In cooperation with SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team and the Swedish Cycling Federation, Jenny Rissveds has decided to stick to her decision not to compete at the MTB World Championships this year. Even though a solution to the issue has been presented, all parties agree that it came too late. Jenny will now focus on next year’s season to come back as strong as she was last year.
Happy to be back on the World Cup circuit: Olympic Champion Jenny Rissveds.
It’s understandable that after all, Jenny can’t turn things around immediately. In only her second World Cup race this year she started out quite strong but payed for her effort throughout the rest of the race to eventually finish in 39th place. Most importantly she is happy to be back racing and looking forward to a better season next year. Step by step she is improving in the right direction.
From top: Andri Frischknecht (50th) did not feel at 100%. Matthias Stirnemann (39th) struggled after a strong start. Michiel van der Heijden (38th) best of the rest.
The young guns of SCOTT-SRAM did not have their best day. Michiel van der Heijden in 38th, Matthias Stirnemann in 39th and Andri Frischknecht in 50th were by far not strong enough to hold on to the lead of the team overall world cup. In the individual World Cup overall Andri finished in 28th, Matthias in 33rd and Michiel in 36th.
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