In the hunt for World Cup #34

The champ delivers World Cup race after World Cup race. With a stunning duel against Swiss Champion Mathias Flückiger N1NO lost the win, but not the appetite to chase World Cup victory #34.

Leogang, Austria, June 12th 2022. N1NO really put his head into the game on a course that he doesn’t call his favorite. A superb second place and the extension of the World Cup overall lead was the fine payout for this effort. With another good ride, Andri Frischknecht showed great consistency with a 13th place finish. And Kate Courtney also rode to a solid result finishing in 14th.

Imagery: Michal Cerveny & Remy Fabrigue

Until now the SCOTT-SRAM athletes have never performed well in Leogang. For someone like Nino Schurter, who can win on just about any course, this is pretty unusual. The box had to be ticked in 2022. With the help of the sun, the muddy track from the rainy days leading up to the race turned in to a rideable course just in time for the start. And like the sun, the motivation was shining through all of the SCOTT-SRAM athletes, as they tried to prove they can also do well on this old fashion climbers’ course.

Even starting in 30th position, Andri Frischknecht had an excellent start catching N1NO’s wheel on the first loop. Sitting in 6th (Nino) and 7th (Andri), the race looked promising from the beginning.
It didn’t take long before we saw N1NO pulling things apart at the front. Besides Nino’s country mate Flückiger, South African Alan Hatherly and Vlad Dascalu of Romania looked very strong too.

Half way through the race, the Swiss force showed the youngsters a lesson. It eventually came down to a pure Swiss duel, as seen at last year’s World Championship in Val di Sole. 2021 World Cup Champion Flückiger didn’t want to let it come down to another sprint and attacked on the second last climb on the last lap in a way that not even Nino could answer to. Mathias Flückiger flew to the finish line for his well deserved victory. Finishing only 6 seconds behind, N1NO lost this race, but keeps the hunger to get his record for his #34 win later on. Who knows? Perhaps in his home race in Lenzerheide in a month’s time?

Vlad Dascalu (4.), Nino Schurter (2.), Mathias Flückiger (1.), Alan Hatherly (3), Maxime Marotte (5.)

N1NO’s expression at the finish was clearly positive. He was more happy about another superb race than disappointed about not winning. He stated: “I’m happy about the way I was racing today. This sure is a course that suits Mathias better than myself. I tried with all I had but it was quite not enough for the win. I know exactly what to do now: try even harder at my favorite race track in Lenzerheide. I’m really looking forward to this race now.”

Andri Frischknecht

After the good start, Andri was defending a top ten position for the first two laps until he eventually had to pay the price for the high pace at the beginning. He was digging deep, fighting till the very end which resulted in a fine 13th place. He really set another benchmark for himself in this 2022 season showing consistent good results in the World Cup but also many other races he did this year.

Kate Courtney

Kate raced with heart from start to finish. Starting out very well in the top ten she had to let go of some positions in the second half of the race. However, good pacing kept her in sight for a targeted top 10 spot.
She can build on this solid 14th place for the next races to come.

Lars Forster

A week ago at Swiss National Championships, Lars injured his knee bad enough to have to forfeit the World Cup in Leogang. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Hopefully he will back for next weekend’s HC Swiss Cup in Gränichen.