Grand Slam Saturday: Nino Schurter wins XCO World Cup in Pietermaritzburg
19 March 2012
Grand Slam Saturday has now gone down in SCOTT Sports' history. Click HERE to read about Simon Gerrans' win of the Milan-San Remo cycling race. Click HERE to read about Maja Wloszczowska's victory of the women's World Cup in Pietermaritzburg.
SCOTT-Swisspower racer Nino Schurter repeated his success of last year by winning the opening round of the UCI XC Mountain Bike World Cup on his SCOTT Scale. The race held Piertermaritzburg, South Africa offered more difficult technical sections than previous editions, which played to Schurter’s advantage. Nino put his cards on the table early, attacking from the gun and setting a pace that few could match. Only local favorite, South African Burry Stander, and Manuel Fumic could stay with the charging SCOTT rider. A fading Fumic left only Schurter and Stander to duke it out at the front. The two were well matched as they were in last week’s preview race, but Schurter still had an ace up his sleeve. With just over a lap to go, the Swiss racer attacked through the ‘Rock Garden’ to gain a clear advantage over his opponent. Turning the screws as he did at the start, the SCOTT-Swisspower rider soloed to the line with enough margin at the finish to enjoy a winning salute to the crowd.
Nino put his cards on the table early, attacking from the gun and setting a pace that few could match. Only local favorite, South African Burry Stander, and Manuel Fumic could stay with the charging SCOTT rider.
A fading Fumic left only Schurter and Stander to duke it out at the front. The two were well matched as they were in last week’s preview race, but Schurter still had an ace up his sleeve. With just over a lap to go, the Swiss racer attacked through the ‘Rock Garden’ to gain a clear advantage over his opponent. Turning the screws as he did at the start, the SCOTT-Swisspower rider soloed to the line with enough margin at the finish to enjoy a winning salute to the crowd.
After the race Schurter commented that, “It was good to have a battle with Burry; to have a top South African racing for the win in South Africa. I was quicker than him through the rocks and I used that to get an advantage, forcing him to close the gap each time.” Futher he noted, “It’s awesome to start the season like this. It builds confidence towards my main goal of the season, the Olympic Games.”
Photos: SCOTT Sports/ Gary Perkin, Armin Küstenbrück, Marius Maasewerd