It doesn’t need to go perfect to be perfect!

N1NO Schurter had to leave the victory to an outstanding Mathieu van der Poel, but performed at the very highest level to finish 2nd. Kate Courtney, Andri Frischknecht and Lars Forster are back on track towards World Championships.

Lenzerheide, Switzerland. N1NO Schurter didn’t keep it a secret that he wanted to not only equalise Julien Absalon’s World Cup record of 33 victories but also repeat his win in Lenzerheide in front of his home crowd. Even riding at his very best, N1NO’s performance was not enough this time to hold against the flying Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who won his 3rd World Cup in a very impressive way. However, the World Champion was riding in style and can be proud of the show he put on at his home concert.

Kate Courtney rode solid to 7th place. Most important, she finished with smile feeling a lot better again after last week. The same can be said for Andri Frischknecht (13th) and Lars Forster (15th) who made an important turnaround in the last race before World Championships.

Back on track in Lenzerheide after the struggle in Val di Sole. Kate Courtney (top)- Andri Frischknecht (left) Lars Forster (right).

After a stunning World Championships last year, Lenzerheide presented itself again in the very best form. Close to 30’000 spectators over the weekend took part of the likely most successful UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race in history. Perfect weather conditions and a highly challenging race track were on the plate, the battle everyone was hoping for, World Champion Nino Schurter against European Champion Mathieu van der Poel, was the salt and pepper to the menu.

Going into final lap it was N1NO who attacked hard up the long climb. Not being able to crack his competitors, Van der Poel counter attacked and dragged Flückiger along while dropping Nino. This was a mentally hard moment the World Champion could not recover from.

“I was giving 100% but somehow could not overcome that limit like I usually can fighting for the win. I tried hard but it just wasn’t enough today. Respect to the outstanding race of the guys ahead of me. It’s not a shame to lose at such a high level.” N1NO Schurter Olympic & 7x World Champion SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing

Left to right: Henrique Avancini (4th) Mathias Flückiger (2nd) Mathieu Van der Pole (1st) Nino Schurter (3rd) Luca Bardot (5th) Photography: Sven Martin

Still trying to find their top shape are Lars Forster and Andri Frischknecht. After a good start both faded on the physically very tough course and finished in 26th (Forster) and 33rd (Frischknecht).

World Champion Kate Courtney Loses World Cup Overall Lead

After a very intense training camp in Massa Vecchia, Tuscany, Kate showed up in Val di Sole not yet 100% recovered. The hard work of the past weeks was primarily an investment towards the World Championship coming up. The World Champion was trying very hard to take over the command of the race on the first lap but soon had to let European Champion, Jolanda Neff and French Champion, Pauline Ferran-Prevot go. At this point it was a pure battle for Kate to make it to the finish. The good thing is she never gave up. Lenzerheide and Snow Shoe are still on the schedule, therefore SCOTT-Sram is looking forward to an exciting end of the season and battle for the world cup overall win.

“It was a disappointing day in Val Di Sole for me. After a really hard training block in Tuscany, I have to be honest that my body didn’t have the time to recover and I had a tough day in the office during Sunday’s challenging XC race. I am proud to have finished and I am grateful for the incredible team around me even more on the hard days.”

Kate Courtney
2018 UCI Elite XC World Champion
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing