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Nino Schurter kicks off 2017 Season with his 21st World Cup win

  • Ron 

After winning the toughest Marathon stage race of the World, the Absa Cape Epic back in March, Nino Schurter today also showed who`s the boss in the Olympic discipline. Nino secured his 21st Cross-Country World Cup win at the season`s kick-off in the Czech Republic. “The track in Nove Mesto is the perfect course for me: A lot of small technical climbs, and demanding downhills- just as Cross-Country racing needs to be”, the Olympic and World Champion said after his win, which was witnessed by 20.000 spectators. It was Nino Schurter`s 5th win on Nove Mesto`s XC course.

Racing in Nove Mesto seems to become a “home run” for SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing: After last year`s double victory at the World Championchips with Nino and Jenny Rissveds taking both the elite and U23 title, Nino made it look so easy to win this time again. It obviously was not. But Nino looked as confident as ever riding to his 21st World Cup victory. The first round showed he is still motivated as he has always been.

“I had an excellent start and managed to be in a leading position after the start loop. Together with David Valero Serrano, I could get away already at the beginning of the race. He gave me a hard time in the third lap and tested me. In the 4th lap, I attacked on the longest climb and consistently widened my gap until the end of the race”, Nino said. Getting away in a early state of a XC race again proofed to be key in order to win. Nino did not attack but instead kept Serrano`s back wheel and controlled the surprisingly strong Spanish rider at any time of the race, just waiting for the perfect moment to launch the attack.

“I had an excellent start which I tried to get the most out of by setting a high pace the first few laps,” said Schurter. “Valero Serrano was basically the only threat troughout the race. But on my favorite race track riding with the ideal bike I was confident at all time I could win again. It’s my 5th victory in front of this amazing Czech crowd and still something very special to cross the line as the winner in Nove Mesto.”

Nino’s biggest competitors over the last years had some troubles to get going. With a fast last lap Julien Absalon managed to move up to 3rd. Jaroslav Kulhavy was riding along with Andri Frischknecht for most of the race until he crashed and flatted towards the end finishing in 55th.

In his very first Elite World Cup race Andri Frischknecht showed a strong performance. After he was hold back at the start crash he made his way through the field up to 17th spot, eventually faded a bit the last two laps to finish in 22nd. “I’m pleased with the outcome. It’s tight racing in my positions as the gaps are small. A “Top 15” is possible at a good day”, Frischi junior stated.

Michiel van der Heijden was kind of stuck coming out of the start loop just about in the same position as his starting position was. His 40th place finish can be improved with a faster start.

The first World Cup race in the SCOTT-SRAM kit was a huge disappointment for Matthias Stirnemann: 100m after the start the World`s No. 6 of the UCI ranking broke his chain which made him crash in first row creating a huge mass crash almost never seen before. His bike was damaged quite a bit. However, he surprisingly got out of it without getting hurt. As very last he continued and finished in respectable 65th out of 129 starters from 32 nations.

Due to family reasons, Olympic Champion Jenny Rissveds misses the first World Cups.

Tags: Andri Frischknecht, Cape Epic, Czech Republic, Jaroslav Kulhavý, Jenny Rissveds, Julien Absalon, Nino Schurter, Olympic champion, Olympic Games, Olympic medalists, schurter, Scott, SRAM, Summer Olympic Games, World Cup
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