N1NO Wraps Up his 6th World Cup Overall Title

Despite things didn’t go according to plan, SCOTT-SRAM looks back to a successful weekend of World Cup Racing in Mont Sainte Anne, Canada.

Mont Sainte Anne, Canada. Olympic Champion N1NO Schurter was on the verge of a 30th World Cup win. However, luck was not on his side in the 28th edition of the World Cup classic in Canada. A broken chain pushed him off the podium. But in the style of a Champion N1NO finished in respectful 7th place to secure the 2018 World Cup Overall Title before the final race in La Bresse, France. Strong performances were also shown by Andri Frischknecht who finished in 11th and Matthias Stirnemann in 18th.

N1NO Schurter getting his head in the game.
Photography: Sven Martin

Because of a difficult schedule, this year’s Mont Sainte Anne (MSA) World Cup race was somewhat a tactical event regarding preparation for the World Championships. With the European Championship held in Glasgow, Scotland only on Tuesday, there was barely enough time to make it to the start of the Short Track race on Friday in MSA. Most of the favourites like N1NO Schurter chose to skip the European Championship and focused on the Word Cup only. Others didn’t travel to MSA and tried their luck in Glasgow. Few like Andri Frischknecht and Michiel van der Heijden pulled off a big week of racing who travelled to race on both continents in between just a few days.

Friday’s Short Track race was not in the team’s favour. N1NO was just recovering from a sinus infection and this was not yet at 100%. Andri Frischknecht felt empty after the race at the European Championship where he finished in a respectful 14th place. A 22nd place for N1NO and a 36th for Andri was not a good build-up for Sunday’s XCO.

European Championship in Glasgow on Tuesday and then racing in Canada on Friday and Sunday – a big week for Andri Frischknecht.

Despite the signs did not looking too promising going into Sunday’s XCO, the beginning of the race told a different story. It was again the World Champion who dictated the competition. Only challenged by Kiwi, Anton Cooper who like in Nove Mesto was able to keep up with the leader. Interesting to see was how N1NO was making a lot of time on Cooper on the descents. This is because Cooper choose a hardtail and N1NO was on his SCOTT Spark 900 RC World Cup with a new suspension setup. But the Kiwi proved to be in terrific shape, closing the gaps rapidly on the climbs.

N1NO felt comfortable on this technical demanding course with his SCOTT Spark 900 RC World Cup.

It wasn’t one of his competitors who took the chance of winning his 30th World Cup race away. It was a broken chain, one third into the race that caused him trouble. Thanks to a quick fix by the mechanics team consisting of Yanick Gyger and Kurt Gross, Nino was able to stay in the top ten and continued to at least save his overall World Cup title bid, which he eventually did in 7th place.

N1NO crossing the finish line. A 7th place was just enough to call himself World Cup Champion 2018.

N1NO crossed the finish line with one eye crying and the other smiling. Soon after, he was already over the bad luck who hit him in today’s race stating: “It sure is a pity if you lead the race and have to let go a possible victory due to a mechanical. But hey, that’s racing. Now I’m just happy, I can call myself the World Cup Champion again. Even it’s already for the 6th time I don’t take this for granted. It is something I’m very proud of.”

“It sure is a pity if you lead the race and have to let go a possible victory due to a mechanical. But hey, that’s racing. Now I’m just happy, I can call myself the World Cup Champion again. Even it’s already for the 6th time I don’t take this for granted. It is something I’m very proud of.”

N1NO Schurter, 2018 World Cup Champion, SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing

Flying Dutchman, Matthieu van der Poel who did not race in MSA but on the same day won the silver medal at the Road European Championship in Glasgow instead, is still in second place overall. With only one race left – La Bresse, France in two weeks – there is no chance to pass the leader anymore.

This year’s MSA victory went to Swiss Champion, Mathias Flückiger who won his first ever World Cup race. By the way, another Swiss won the European Championship this week, Young gun, Lars Forster. That said, it does not only take N1NO to hear the Swiss national anthem at international award ceremonies. It also shows how deep the field of top level competitors is in the land with the best chocolate.

Frischi jr. on the verge of entering the Top Ten.

Amongst those talented Swiss riders is Andri Frischknecht, 24 years of age, the youngest of this year’s Swiss World Championship squad. With a superb 11th place finish in MSA, he finished 5 out of 6 times in the top 15 and is just now on the door step of entering the Top Ten.

A strong positive sign came from Matthias Stirnemann who made his way through the field starting in 46th position and finishing in 18th. Well done! Also Michiel van der Heijden showed improvement taking 42nd.

Both in Top 20. Training buddies, fishing buddies, MX buddies, racing buddies. Matthias Stirnemann (left) and Andri Frischknecht (right) sharing the moment at the finish together – #teamisteam.