“Never underestimate the heart of a champion” goes the old adage. A difficult season did not affect the innate class of Nino Schurter. The Swiss legend wrote another page in the history of Mountain Bike on Saturday 28 August in Val di Sole, winning his ninth world title in Cross Country. Surely the least expected, but for this very reason, perhaps the most beautiful.
Source: press release
The 35-year-old Swiss pushed compatriot Mathias Flückiger with a braking at the limit at the penultimate corner, after six laps lived side by side. A daring maneuver, worthy of a vintage Valentino Rossi. For Flückiger it is another silver medal, after the Olympic one in Tokyo, the third consecutive one at the World Championships. The 32-year-old from Ochlenberg never as much as this time went within a hair's breadth of the coveted rainbow jersey, but had to bow to the blows of a champion.
The British Evie Richards affirmed in the Elite Women race more clearly: the British shook off her opponents from the second round, putting in line the Dutch Anne Terpstra and the winner of the Short Track, the Swiss Sina Frei. Among the U23 there is glory also for Italy with the silver of Juri Zanotti in the race won by the Chilean Martin Vidaurre. Female test for the dominatrix of the season, the Austrian Mona Mitterwallner.
FLUCKIGER BOWS AT THE BIGGEST
There was no real favourite at the starting line of the men's Cross Country. However, the first pedal strokes made the hierarchies clear with a Nino Schurter immediately brilliant and fellow countryman Flückiger glued to his wheel.
The Swiss duo made the difference in the second round with Schurter's devastating action in the first ascent of the solandro route. Only Flückiger remained behind the Rio Olympic Champion; behind them the Czech Ondrej Cink tried to contain the gap, taking with him the French Koretzky, the Brazilian Avancini, the Romanian Dascalu, the German Brandl and the other Swiss Colombo.
The lead of the duo increased during the third lap, despite the acceleration imposed by Cink in the following group. However, the Czech's action ended in the fourth lap, when the transalpine Koretzky, able to manage himself in the first half of the race, managed to settle in third position, consolidating his virtual bronze medal with convincing action.
In the fifth and penultimate lap the first skirmishes between Schurter and Flückiger began: it was the latter who took the initiative in the last two rounds with several attack attempts that however found the opponent's punctual response.
Flückiger set the last descent in the lead. It seemed made for the leader of the World Cup who had not come to terms with Schurter's final blow, awarded on the podium by the Councilor for Agriculture, Forestry, Hunting and Fishing of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Giulia Zanotelli.
“It's great to be back here. It was the perfect race: I got a good start, then I found myself in the lead with Mathias and we collaborated well. On the last lap I was tired, and above all I tried to stay attached to Mathias. At the beginning of the descent I tried to pass, but he had already understood my plan: I only had one corner left to try to overtake, and I succeeded, "he said. Nino Schurter.
“I had doubts about myself, I'm honest,” continued Schurter, “after a year in which I was unable to perform as I expected. Now I still don't know what awaits me: I was convinced that I could return to success, and being able to do it at the World Cup gives me greater peace of mind for any choice I decide to make for my future. "
To France the bronze medal: Victor Koretzky confirmed to be the most fit transalpine, collecting the most important result of his career. Fourth is Vlad Dascalu, the very young Romanian who, after a brilliant interlude among the U23s, is increasingly appearing in the positions that also count among the Elite. Fifth was the surprising German Maximilian Brandl.
The Italians are far from the top positions: seventeenth Gerhard Kerschbaumer, twentieth Gioele Bertolini, twenty-third Nadir Colledani.
STANDINGS
| EL-M | ||
 |  Nino SCHURTER | 1h22'31 " |
| 2 | Mathias FLUCKIGER | 2" |
| 3 |  Victor KORETZKY | 1'08" |
| 4 |  Vlad DASCALU | 1'36" |
| 5 |  Maximilian BRANDL | 1'43" |
| 6 |  Samuel GAZE | 2'30" |
| 7 |  Henrique AVANCINI | 2'30" |
| 8 |  Alan HATHERLY | 2'31" |
| 9 | Philip COLOMBO | 2'31" |
| 10 |  Milan VADER | 2'35" |
| 11 |  David VALERO SERRANO | 2'44" |
| 12 | Titouan CAROD | 2'50" |
| 13 | Marcel GUERRINI | 3'12" |
| 14 | Lars FORSTER | 3'26" |
| 15 |  Jonas LINDBERG | 3'29" |
| 16 |  Ondrej CINK | 3'40" |
| 17 |  Gerhard KERSCHBAUMER | 3'41" |
| 18 |  Christopher BLEVINS | 3'53" |
| 19 | Antoine PHILIPP | 3'57" |
| 20 | Gioele BERTOLINI | 4'00" |
