After a long break of racing Nino Schurter demonstrated that he hasn’t slowed down at all! Winning both the Swiss Cup in Leukerbad and the Swiss National title is proof that also in 2020 N1NO remains the man to beat.
Gränichen, Switzerland. Being back to racing just feels great! No matter in what function – athlete, staff or spectator. Due to current measurements in place, a total of 1000 spectators were allowed at the Swiss nationals last weekend, all respecting social distancing and excitedly awaiting the racing kicking off again. The racers too longed for mtb racing, the Swiss Cup in Leukerbad had fields of up to 180 riders per category and 5 out of the top 7 mens elite riders in the UCI world ranking list lining up at the starting line.
With Nino Schurter winning both races following strong performances and Lars Forster coming in 3rd at Swiss Nationals, the team impressively shows that they are ready for more.
Imagery: EGO Promotion
The absolute trademark of the Swiss Cup in Leukerbad was the sheer amount of steep climbing riders had to tackle. The demanding track took it’s toll on quite a few riders. The victims included Gerhard Kerschbaumer and Titouan Corod, both of whom were riding strong at the beginning. Halfway through the race it became clear, that it had to be either Nino Schurter, Matthias Flückiger or Jordan Sarrou going for the win. The 3 contenders crossed the finish line in this order after Nino managed to force a gap to his last remaining contender Matthias Flückiger.
SCOTT-SRAM’s Lars Forster showed not only a strong but also a smart race. Riding in the middle field of the race he put the hurt on the last few laps moving up when others faded. A fine 5th place at the end saved the second podium spot for SCOTT-SRAM. Andri Frischknecht suffered a flat tire finishing in 42nd.
One week later the team headed straight to the big show down at Swiss Nationals in Gränichen. A familiar course for the team and most likely the toughest National championship to win. Once more the World and the vice World Champion were the ones to look for in the end. Going into the last half of the final lap it was still not clear who would take the top step. Matthias Flückiger wanted the title badly but an un-stoppable attack by N1NO, close to the finish line, once again made the difference as he took his 9th Swiss National title in the pro category. Most likely the hardest earned one. Matthias Flückiger has shown not only to be one of N1NO’s biggest contenders in Switzerland, but also on the World circuit.
Imagery: EGO Promotion
Till the very end Lars Forster remained part of this leading group displaying a strong performance and completing the podium for SCOTT-SRAM. Again riding very smart with a strong finale, Lars Forster secured a second medal to finish 3rd. In good shape he was threatening to close the gap to the leaders towards the end. 11 seconds to gold and 4 seconds to silver shows how close he got crossing the finish line.
A bad day for SCOTT-SRAM’s Andri Frischknecht finishing at 10th place behind his expectations and capabilities.
“My last race has been the Olympic test event in Tokyo past October. Even though I had a good feel from my training data, it is a huge release now that I have the proof things are going quite well even in a crazy year like this. I’m very pleased with my National Champion title, knowing that if I can win here I can win internationally as well.”
N1NO Schurter
Olympic Champion & 8x World Champion
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing
“After closing the gap to the leaders they intensified the pace once more making it hard to catch up. I managed to recover finding my own speed again. Looking at the gaps they were in reach! Maybe next time.”
Lars Forster
2019 Cape Epic Champion, 2019 World Cup Winner Snowshoe
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing
Cape Epic Champions – Nino Schurter & Lars Forster go for Swiss Epic
Next race on the calendar will be Swiss Epic, where the Cape Epic champions will go for gold on August 18th-22nd. Andri is forced to do the Swiss Cup in Gstaad instead of the Swiss Epic, as he still needs to qualify for Worlds and European Championship.
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