Mairipora, Brazil. Racing in Brazil is definitely something! The enthusiastic crowd, a great venue and an outstanding atmosphere.
With the qualification for the Olympic Games in full swing, the World Cup opener had another interesting layer to it. It’s the race within the race for many athletes trying to secure a rare spot at the Olympic mountain bike race in July in Paris. Even Nino Schurter has not yet secured his spot. The first two World Cup races in Brazil, plus the one in Nove Mesto, will decide how many athletes each nation can send and who will represent with those elusive spots. This is no different for our SCOTT-SRAM athletes.
One who surely opened up the door to Paris this weekend is Filippo Colombo.
Flashback: after his bad injury at Paris Roubaix last year, he was out for almost the entire season.
As a result of this he dropped back in the world ranking list. Even at the beginning of 2024, he was only ranked 67th. In order to have a fair chance to battle for a ticket to Paris, he absolutely needed to be back in the top 40. With 4 consecutive wins in the spring, Filippo climbed up to 38th, allowing him to race the XCC short track in Mairipora which sets the starting order for Sunday’s XCO race. With a fine 12th place (starting from far behind) he managed to take the next big step starting out of second row.
In the XCO race itself, the next execution of the plan went nearly perfectly. From the first til the last lap, Filippo was the rider most present in the top ranks. Even if the group that fought for the top spots was nearly a dozen, it was obvious Colombo had to be one of the top contenders to step on the podium. Unfortunately he was with Blevins, Koretzky and Vidaurre surrounded by 3 Specialized riders who played together with strong teamwork. While a successful attack on the very last climb by Christopher Blevins earned him a deserved victory, Filippo Colombo was chasing him by only 3 seconds. And just as he thought he had it, Victor Koretzky came from behind to overtake Filippo literally on the finish line.
This 3rd place is a strong message from the 26 year old from Ticino, Switzerland that there will be more to come.
Nino Schurter
Nino’s World Cup season had a far from ideal start. Arriving late in Brazil due to a canceled flight, he was dealing with an eye infection all week long. The positive sign of a good 8th place finish in the XCC on Saturday unfortunately proved to be wrong for Sunday. The power just wasn’t there. And a nasty crash – very rarely seen from Nino – took the rest of the wind out of his sails. Nino just wasn’t himself from the start to finish. Credit goes to the GOAT for continuing to fight through the entire race. Even if the 35th place finish is not worth anything for someone who’s won 35 World Cup races, he showed the youngsters that quitting a race is never an option.
Andri Frischknecht
Andri has the same plan like Filippo. Climbing up the ranks! And the Mairipora World Cup showed its going in the right direction for Andri. Starting out of 56th position, he managed to claim the 6th fastest time in the first lap. After that, he moved up steadily to finish just ahead of Nino in 32nd place. The result itself is not yet where he wants to be, but if he continues riding like this there’s a chance the results will come.
Kate Courtney
Another positive note comes from Kate. She already showed her good form in the XCC and was in the leading group for a long time. With an early attack led by Kate, the field stretched and a leading group pulled away causing problems for her competitors to follow. Only in the last lap did she begin to fade a bit from holding the high pace, but eventually managed to cross the line in a fine 5th place providing her with the well deserved front row start for Sunday’s XCO race.
The heat and high humidity made the race a real challenge. She kept up a fast pace from the start until she lost touch with the leading group, but was able to hold her own against strong rivals over the course of the race and finish in 10th place. With this Top 10 finish, Kate has left a strong impression that she’s making progress in coming back to where she was few years back winning XCC and XCO races. Progress is in the works and the team is keen to see her race again this coming weekend in this condition.
SCOTT Spark RC World Cup
Kate, Nino, Filippo and Andri are racing the Scott Spark RC World Cup in a special SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team Edition featuring the latest parts from ROCKSHOX, SRAM, SYNCROS and MAXXIS making this the ultimate Cross-Country racebike of all racebikes.
