Three World Cup CHAMPIONS
Val di Sole, Italy. SCOTT Sports celebrates the best overall result in its Cross-Country history. Nino Schurter (SCOTT-Odlo, CH) and U23 stars Jenny Rissveds (SCOTT-Odlo, SWE) and Titouan Carod (SCOTT Creuse Oxygene, FRA) have won the World Cup Overall in 2015.
It's been a record season for Team SCOTT-Odlo. Jenny Rissveds delivered a never seen record winning 6 out of 6 races in the women's U23. Nino Schurter on the other side started the World Cup with 3 second places and finished with 3 wins- his best ever season
World Cup Champion and winner of the final in Val di Sole: Nino Schurter.
Going into World Cup finals it looked promising for Nino Schurter. He knew he only needed a 22nd place to secure his World Cup Champion title should Julien Absalon win. With the additional confidence of being a two times World Cup winner in Val di Sole, only a mechanical or injury could hold him back. Though there would be no holding back, Nino only races for 1st, and that is what he did.
The race action was kind of a copy paste of the past few World Cup races. At first the lead group contained Olympic champion Jaroslav Kulhavy, former team-mate Florian Vogel, current World Champion Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter. Until the tempo forcing by Absalon in the last lap this group stayed together. After that it was again the well known Absalon-Schurter battle. N1NO was holding himself back during the race, riding intelligently and with controll to secure his overall title. But after Julien attacked several times without success and N1NO saw the overall title within grasp we saw one a classic N1NO charge opening up the door for the win.
N1NO managed to get into the last descent in first place. After that Absalon no longer had any chance to get around the World Cup champion
N1NO and his SCOTT Spark 700 RC to celebrate his 17th World Cup victory.
Winning his 17th World Cup race in his career, N1NO once more set himself high up in the record books. Now as a four time World Cup champion only Julien Absalon was more successful with his 30 wins. Small side note- N1NO and his team manager Thomas Frischknecht both have equal World Cup wins now sharing second place behind Absalon. No doubt this will not last much longer.
The champ was delighted at finish stating, "Every race and also the overall World Cup ends at the finish line. Even though I could count on the overall, it's done when it's done. Two weeks away from World Championship this success comes at a perfect time. First of all I already have reached one of my most important goals of the season and secondly I know I'm ready for the World Championships coming up."
U23 Dominance- Jenny Rissveds and Titouan Carod are unstoppable
Throughout the years, SCOTT has been constantly supporting young race talents. With two U23 XC World Cup Champions, we are proud to see two promising talents racing on the highest level on our bikes and in SCOTT colors.
Though it wasn't a massive surprise, it was a noteworthy performance. Unbeaten throughout whole World Cup season is something no one else has done- ever. Even though Swedish champion Jenny Rissveds has another year in U23, she has decided to move up to Women's Elite for 2016. Competing against the very best women will give her a new challenge. Now her whole focus goes into the World Championships. There she will race against some more U23 girls who also competed in elite this year.
In the men's U23 race, Titouan Carod of Team SCOTT Creuse Oxygene managed to become 2nd which secured the young French talent the overall win. Andri Frischknecht of SCOTT-Odlo placed in a solid 11th place. His overall ranking is a good 8th place.