Snowshoe, West Virginia-USA. As a spectator, the final round of the 2021 World Cup was one of the most exciting races to watch. On the other hand, for the athletes and the team staff, it was the most nerve racking race in history! Never, have we witnessed so many flat tires in a single race. The riders that made it to the finish without a puncture, had a top spot guaranteed. Many of the favorites like Flückiger, Koretzky, Avancini, and unfortunately all of the SCOTT-SRAM team members encountered a flat tire.
Henrique Avancini, another candidate for the win lost his chances with a small crash in the last lap followed by a front flat. Coming into the final lap N1NO had to deal with US home boy Christopher Blevins, Czech Ondrej Cink, Italy’s Luca Braidot and young Romanian Vlad Dascalu. The tempo forcing of N1NO stretched out the lead group but in order to actually get a real gap N1NO had to go all or nothing on the second last descent. With less than 1 km to go, where so many others got a flat, N1No became a victim too.
This was the big moment of Short Track World Champion Christopher Blevins, who looked sharp throughout the race to bring home the first World Cup victory in the men’s category since 1994! And on home soil. An unbelievably great story. Meanwhile, N1NO limped to the finish in 4th place, at least saving a spot on the podium. What was set to be a long awaited World Cup win, the 35 year old champion showed another outstanding performance. Always fighting to the line for the win. Yet another impressive performance this month!
4th Nino Schurter (SUI)- 2nd Victor Koretzky (FRA)-1st Mathias Flückiger (SUI)- 3rd Ondrej Cink (CZE) – 5th Jordan Sarou (FRA)
“What can I say? It was an extremely crazy race with so many flats. Just when I needed to go all in I suffered one too. Happy with my performance. Means I keep trying for the 33rd. Plus with Christopher Blevins winning on home soil, the (US) mountain bike world has a new ring star which is pretty cool!”
Also Andri Frischknecht and Lars Forster were victims of flats
Frischi suffered a front flat in the opening lap (same place as Nino). This put him out of the top 50. With a good portion of determination and good legs he managed to pull some top ten lap times moving him all the way up to finish in 20th position. European Champion Lars Forster didn’t have the best legs and also not the best of luck. With just two laps to go he also suffered a flat and eventually crossed the finish line in 22nd.
Kate Courtney – finish of the season
Not much positive news from Kate’s side neither. A hard crash in the short track on Friday was far from an ideal way to start her World Cup weekend on home soil. She injured her knee but wanted to race for her fans anyway. Physically and mentally things just didn’t fit on race day. She was forced to pull out with great disappointment. It’s clear she needs a break now. As a result of this she will not race Marathon Worlds like the rest of the team in two weeks time.
#noshortcuts
