Glentress Forest, Scotland. N1NO once again raced from the heart, going all in to defend his World Champion title. In the end, it was not quite enough to step on top of the podium, but his Bronze medal shines like Gold to us.
Imagery: Michal Cerveny
The multi-discipline UCI World Championships in Glasgow were a great success throughout and the MTB cross-country race was called to be the greatest of all time due to the fact that Road Racing superstars like World Champion Mathieu van der Poel, Peter Sagan and Tom Pidcock called their ambitions for the MTB rainbow stripes. N1NO had nobody to fear as he was the best prepared and very motivated to add another world title to the 10 he already has. How ambitious N1NO was to defend his rainbow jersey was seen in the first half of the race when he was the one, together with Alan Hatherly of South Africa and Jordan Sarrou of France, to set a wickedly high pace in an effort to keep the roadies behind. World Champion Mathieu van der Poel eliminated himself early in the race with a crash. Peter Sagan was not able to ride at the pace of the top 60, but the favorite of this race, Tom Pidcock, bridged the gap with quite an effort.
Similar to last year’s World Championship in Les Gets, N1NO kept the pace enormously high trying to get Pidcock into the hurt box. The British favorite showed his teeth, not letting N1NO go. Instead at two laps to go Pidcock showed his best form going into the offensive himself. At this point N1NO had nothing left to hold against and saw his title slipping away.
And when in the finale Sam Gaze of New Zealand also caught up to N1NO, he had no response to him either. It was very obvious N1NO tried with everything he had, the tactic was right and he made no mistakes. However, two outstanding athletes were faster on the great track of Glentress Forest. And N1NO has no issues to respect this. No regrets!
Nino Schurter
10 X World Champion
35 World Cup Victories
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing
Three days prior to XCO Worlds, the Swiss Cycling Team with N1NO as their captain and finish rider won the Team Relay World Championships.
This was N1NO’s 19th World Champion title counting all (Junior, U23, Elite, Team Relay). With his Bronze medal in the XCO (his first one in his career), he added the unbelievable 31st World Championship medal to his counts.
Photo: Michal Cerveny
Andri Frischknecht
Even he had to start out of 50th position, Andri’s start went very well. Soon after he got pushed off the track by the eventual winner of the race. In this far from fair incident, Mathias Flückiger was also involved. Unfortunately Andri dropped quite far back and never really found his rhythm in the hectic bunch. He finished 40th.
Kate Courtney
Kate also never found the legs to be at her best. She was pretty disappointed after the race stating: “Hard to put this in words. I put everything into my preparation and didn’t have much to show for when it counted.” She came in 29th position in the race that was won by Pauline Ferrand Prevot.
N1NO’s & Kate’s SCOTT Spark RC
For Nino Schurter and Kate Courtney, both rode Spark RC bikes in unique and special designs! For the 2023 MTB World Champs, N1NO received a Spark RC inspired by the concept edition of the iconic SCOTT Endorphin. Kate Courtney teamed up with World Bicycle Relief for the 2023 MTB World Championships to support women in biking with a unique Spark RC WBR edition.
Some of the finest parts available, well balanced with an eye for detail, and ready for glory, these Spark RC bikes come with a very special setup featuring all-new SRAM XX Eagle AXS Drivetrain, SYNCROS wheels, Fraser iC SL combo, ROCKSHOX suspension and much more.
