Switzerland's Nino Schurter took the fourth Elite men's Cross-country world title of his career on Saturday, in Vallnord, Andorra, closing in on the five titles held by his French rival Julien Absalon, who finished second. Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) took the bronze medal.
After a week of rain, the skies finally cleared for the Elite races, however, the damage had been done, leaving the forested sections heavily soaked, muddy and treacherous. Almost every rider crashed at some point, and the race was shortened at the start line by a lap because of the conditions.
Schurter, the World Cup champion, got his usual fast start, and was joined on the opening lap by Absalon and Cink. the Czech rider was dropped by the other two after the first lap, falling back to a chase group containing Manuel Fumic (Germany) and Mathias Fluckiger (Switzerland). Fluckiger flatted late in the third lap, leaving Cink and Fumic to chase, with the Czech rider gapping his German rival on the fourth lap.
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The gap between the leaders and Cink hovered around 15 seconds until the fifth lap, when the front two began attacking, each trying to drop the other, without success. Cink was solidly in third, but losing ground to the leaders.
At the front, Absalon was stronger on the climbs but Schurter faster in the descents, and the Swiss rider final got a slim seven second gap but the start of the final lap. Absalon couldn't close the gap, but neither could Schurter extend it, and it wasn't until the final 150 metres that Absalon finally conceded victory to Schurter.
"It was a tough race, especially here with altitude," commented Schurter. "I was suffering with [my] breathing. Midway through the race I was struggling and starting to think maybe it's not my day. But then I realized I'm a bit faster on the downhill than Absalon and could get a gap there. I am so happy about this victory, but I'm still so exhausted."
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