The 2019 Mountain Bike World Cup concluded on Sunday with the seventh and final round of the cross-country, held at Snowshoe, West Virginia. World champion Nino Schurter (Scott SRAM) had already mathematically won the title, in the absence of second-placed Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus), who is preparing for the Road world championships. He finished second on the day to young teammate and countryman Lars Forster.
The short, 3.8 kilometre circuit resulted in fast and unrelenting racing. A large group of 15 riders, with all the top contenders formed at the front, with Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory) very aggressive and pushing the pace.
Avancini’s pace split the group, with only Schurter able to go with him. On the sixth lap (of nine), Schurter suffered a flat, but was able to get a quick wheel change and was able to join the chase group. The group then chased down Avancini, led by Forster, with eight still in contention. At the start of the final lap, Manuel Fumic (Cannondale Factory) attacked, but crashed in a corner, allowing Schurter and Forster to get a gap, which Forster extended with Schurter on his wheel. In the final rock garden, Forster attacked again, to solo in for his first World Cup victory.
“I don’t what to think, I can’t believe it,” said Forster. “I had the feeling yesterday and this morning that I could do something good. I didn’t expect to win, just the podium. I had a shitty World Cup season, so finishing with this win is amazing. In the last lap, Nino made an attack and I was able to go with him. This is reward overload.”
For Schurter, it was his seventh World Cup overall title, finishing ahead of Van der Poel, with Avancini taking third.
“It was a tough race, but it was so cool to see Lars win,” said Schurter. ” When I got the puncture, I managed to stay cool and get back, but I had to work really hard. When Lars and I [got away], we had to go all out, so he more than deserved the win. I’m just super happy to win the overall; it was an insane season.”
RESULTS
| Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lars Forster (Swi) | 1:26:09 |
| 2 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 0:00:05 |
| 3 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) | 0:00:07 |
| 4 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) | 0:00:08 |
| 5 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) | 0:00:10 |
| 6 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | 0:00:37 |
| 7 | Nadir Colledani (Ita) | 0:00:38 |
| 8 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) | 0:00:41 |
| 9 | Erik Hægstad (Nor) | 0:00:54 |
| 10 | Nicholas Pettina’ (Ita) | 0:00:56 |
| 11 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) | |
| 12 | Lukas Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:01:06 |
| 13 | Titouan Carod (Fra) | 0:01:10 |
| 14 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) | 0:01:14 |
| 15 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) | 0:01:20 |
| 16 | Georg Egger (Ger) | 0:01:24 |
| 17 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 0:01:29 |
| 18 | Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) | 0:01:31 |
| 19 | Luca Schwarzbauer (Ger) | 0:01:34 |
| 20 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) | 0:01:44 |
| 21 | Reto Indergand (Swi) | 0:02:02 |
| 22 | Martins Blums (Lat) | 0:02:08 |
| 23 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | 0:02:15 |
| 24 | Milan Vader (Ned) | 0:02:17 |
| 25 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) | 0:02:21 |
| 26 | Keegan Swenson (USA) | 0:02:22 |
| 27 | Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) | 0:02:24 |
| 28 | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) | 0:02:28 |
| 29 | Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Ger) | 0:02:29 |
| 30 | Karl Markt (Aut) | 0:02:32 |
| 31 | Florian Chenaux (Swi) | 0:02:36 |
| 32 | Jan Vastl (Cze) | 0:02:41 |
| 33 | Anton Cooper (NZl) | 0:03:04 |
| 34 | Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Bra) | 0:03:16 |
| 35 | Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo (Mex) | 0:03:24 |
| 36 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:03:29 |
| 37 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) | 0:03:40 |
| 38 | Maximilian Foidl (Aut) | 0:03:42 |
| 39 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) | 0:03:45 |
| 40 | Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Den) | 0:03:55 |
| 41 | Marcel Guerrini (Swi) | 0:03:58 |
| 42 | Jan Škarnitzl (Cze) | 0:04:08 |
| 43 | András Parti (Hun) | 0:04:12 |
| 44 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | 0:04:15 |
| 45 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:04:26 |
| 46 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) | 0:04:28 |
| 47 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:04:34 |
| 48 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) | 0:04:42 |
| 49 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | 0:04:49 |
| 50 | Thomas Griot (Fra) | 0:05:03 |
| 51 | Peter Disera (Can) | 0:05:23 |
| 52 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:05:41 |
| 53 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) | 0:06:11 |
| 54 | Ondřej Cink (Cze) | |
| 55 | Nicholas Beechan (USA) | 0:06:30 |
| 56 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) | 0:06:40 |
| 57 | Luke Vrouwenvelder (USA) | 0:06:42 |
| 58 | Alan Hatherly (RSA) | 0:06:49 |
| 59 | Gioele Bertolini (Ita) | 0:07:34 |
| 60 | Fabio Hernando Castañeda Monsalve (Col) | 0:08:30 |
| 61 | Russell Finsterwald (USA) | 0:09:01 |
| 62 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | 0:09:28 |
| 63 | Richard Cypress Gorry (USA) | |
| 64 | Ryan Standish (USA) | |
| 65 | Jhonatan Botero Villegas (Col) | |
| 66 | Felix Belhumeur (Can) | |
| 67 | Alexandre Vialle (Can) | |
| 68 | Dario Gasco (Arg) | |
| 69 | Alex Wild (USA) | |
| 70 | Andrew L’Esperance (Can) | |
| 71 | Marc Andre Fortier (Can) | |
| 72 | Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Bra) | |
| DNF | Luca Braidot (Ita) | |
| DNF | Sebastian Alejandro Miranda Maldonado (Chi) | |
| DNF | Márton Dina (Hun) | |
| DNF | Jarno Trey (Est) | |
| DNF | Jaroslav Kulhavý (Cze) | |
| DNS | Zsombor Palumby (Hun) |
Article courtesy of Cycling News
