N1NO Schurter Wins his 4th World Championship
Vallnord, Andorra. In one of the most exciting World Championship races in history, Nino Schurter defeated his long time rival Julien Absalon and took back his rainbow stripes. It is the 4th Elite World Championship title in N1NO´s career. His 10th victory this year marks the 29 year old SCOTT athlete's best ever season. Along with Nino's victory, SCOTT celebrates another Gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the XCO Worlds in Andorra. Read more below.
Men's Elite Race
The pressure was tremendous. Coming to World Championships after winning three World Cup races in a row made N1NO the clear favorite for the Worlds title. Though, last year's demons were still ever present. With Julien Absalon winning several World Cups and eventually the Worlds in Hafjell in 2014, N1NO did not want to have this happen again.
The race unfolded perfectly for N1NO. In the first lap he managed to get down the technical section in first place while Julien Absalon was held back by some fast starting riders. After two days of rain the sun was out, but in some sections the track was still very slippery. The technicality of the course played a huge part in deciding the outcome. None of the racers got through without little mistakes or crashes. Even N1NO had to get off the bike few times, less than the rest of the field however. He demonstrated that once again when it comes to tricky sections, nobody can keep up with him.
After the first lap Julien Absalon closed the gap. While Jaroslav Kulhavy was out of contention with a broken rib, his fellow countryman Ondrej Cink put in an awesome showing. He was the only one staying close to the leading duo and eventually won the well deserved bronze medal. At the front N1NO was playing yoyo with his big rival Absalon. Always gaining some seconds on the descents, and letting let him close the gap again after. Midway through the race it started to look a bit different. N1NO made a mistake on a technical uphill and immediately Absalon launched an attack.
But Absalon's luck would run out. N1NO got back on and soon took the lead again. With One and a half laps to go it was this one traverse in the woods, full of slippery rocks and roots that decided the race between Julien and N1NO. Even though N1NO only gained 4-5 seconds there, it added up to be 10 seconds at the end of the descent.
From this moment on it was all out to the finish. Sometimes Julien would get within 5 seconds, then N1NO would once again gain time. One little mistake and the race would be totally open again. N1NO resisted the strong pressure from Julien and brought the 10 second lead all the way to the finish line. The emotions were high, the pressure was gone and N1NO enjoyed the biggest moment of his #huntforglory campaign in 2015.
The new World Champion stated, "This was one big battle all the way to the end. Some moments during the race I was not sure if I could actually win this one. This makes this 4th title a special one to me. It is awesome to win the World Cup but even better to win the Worlds. So stoked to be back in the rainbow jersey."
Women's XCO Races
U23 World Cup Champion Jenny Rissveds won the Broonze medal. The Swedish Shooting star of SCOTT-Odlo MTb Racing did not feel that good on race day, and the pressure was very high after her unbelievable successful season. Jenny said that, "I'm excited to win my first medal at a World Championship. This is what makes me happy now. I had such a great season and now finished it "almost" perfectly. The good thing about this outcome, it leaves me a huge dream for next year's World Championships."
Irina Kalentieva (RUS) won the Silver medal in the Women's Elite XCO race. The World Champion of 2007 and 2009 was only defeated by Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
Men's Eliminator Race
SCOTT athlete Daniel Federspiel (Austria) is the new Eliminator World Champion. The winner of multiple World Cups, the World Cup overall title and the European title, Federspiel had previously missed out on the rainbow stripes. In the XCE final, the Austrian beat Samuel Gaze (New Zealand), Simon Gegenheimer (Germany) and Kevin Miquel (France).