Lukas Flueckiger, World Championships runner-up 2012, raced to victory at the fourth round of the BMC Racing Cup in Gränichen. Flueckiger (Sui) won ahead of two-time Olympic champion Julien Absalon (Fra) and Thomas Litscher (Sui)
Bad luck for Esther Suess (Sui): She missed her fourth straight win in the series due to a technical problem that handicapped her in the last lap. German Adelheid Morath took the win, Suess was second, Jolanda Neff (Sui) was third.
In front of a large crowd of spectators at Gränichens’s gravel plant, Lukas Flueckiger managed to confirm that he is still in great shape after a couple of demanding races in recent weeks. After 36.4 kilometers the man from Leimiswil won the race just a second ahead of his BMC teammate Julien Absalon and thus celebrated his first victory of the season.
On the technically demanding 4.55-kilometer course, Flueckiger took command right from the very first lap onwards. In the second lap he already had a lead of 15 seconds on a chasing group. Apparently, Flueckiger had well „digested“ his intermezzo at the GP Aargau road race on Thursday.
Using clever tactics , Julien Absalon let his teammate pull away from the field. But when Absalon noticed that Fabian Giger was slowing down a bit in the chasing group, he attacked immediately and caught up with Lukas Flueckiger in the third out of eight rounds.
They both agreed on doing teamwork and so they succeeded in increasing the lead to one minute. "Julien had noticed that in some passages I was a little stronger than him. I am familiar with the race course and that, of course, is an advantage. So we agreed to work together until the final lap, also to save some energy. Then, in the final lap, we both fought for the victory,“ explained Lukas Flueckiger happily: "For me this victory affirms that I have been able to keep the form that I had at the World Cup races."
Julien Absalon was raving about a "tactically perfect race" and hopes for a similar cooperation at the World Cup in Val di Sole (ITA) next Saturday. "Then perhaps with a reverse result," laughed the Frenchman.
In the chasing group Matthias Stirnemann (Sui) surprised his home crowd by fighting for a place on the podium. The U23 rider defied Giant pro racer Fabian Giger (Sui) They both benefited from Mathias Flueckiger `s (Sui) misfortune, who was in third position when a mechanical problem made him drop back.
Due to some injuries, Thomas Litscher was not able to keep up with the field in the beginning, but in the fifth lap charged up to the chasing group – and he came out on top. 1:00 minute back, the Multivan-Merida rider was third. "In the final climb I was able to counter attack Fabian", he described the critical situation in his battle for third place
BMC rider Matthias Stirnemann defended fifth place and showed himself deeply moved on the podium. "The audience was a huge motivation for me, I am overwhelmed. During the week I have already noticed that things are getting better and, of course, I know this race track by heart," said Stirnemann.
Women’s Race: Adelheid Morath benefits from chain-suck
In the women's race local hero Esther Suess missed her fourth straight win in the series by sheer bad luck. For the first five out of six laps the race was just perfect for Suess. When she had broken away from U23 World Cahmpion Jolanda Neff in the second lap, Suess was able to enlarge the gap continuously. When she entered the sixth and final lap she was 1:15 minutes ahead.
But then, after a jump, she suffered a chain-suck. All attempts to remedy the mishap failed. Esther Suess had to run to the technical zone. While she had her bike repaired there, German rider Adelheid Morath passed by the zone and claimed her first ever victory in the BMC Racing Cup, 22 seconds ahead of Suess.
"The race was not long enough to come back again. During the first five laps I did a perfect race. This certainty I can take with me to the World Cup and to the European Championships in Bern," said a somewhat disappointed Esther Süss.
Adelheid Morath confessed: "I was really lucky today. In the beginning, I felt a little tired, but in each lap things were getting better. Now I can take on my next tasks with a good basic feeling.“ Morath, ninth at the World Cup opener in Albstadt, had worked her way to the front from sixth place in the first lap.
Jolanda Neff had fallen back to fifth place during the race, but was able to fight her way back to third position, after she had caught up to Corina Gantenbein (Zizers +3:06) and to Kathrin Stirnemann (Gränichen +3:23), who had been in second position for some time.
Neff explained: "It was really hard, because this year we are not yet used to the heat. It took me a while to find my rhythm. Sure, it would have been nice to win, but the other girls were stronger today." Neff had also suffered from some bruises, sustained from a crash during a recent stay in the USA.
Source: press release
Results, MEN:
1 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team 1:43:48
2 Julien Absalon (Fra) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team 0:00:01
3 Thomas Litscher (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:01:00
4 Fabian Giger (Swi) Giant Pro XC Team 0:01:15
5 Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team 0:01:31
6 Rudy Van Houts (Ned) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:01:50
7 Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) goldwurst-power/ Stöckli 0:02:37
8 Martin Gujan (Swi) TX-Active Bianchi Team 0:02:37
9 José Antonio Hermida (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0:02:38
10 Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) Specialized Racing Team 0:02:38
Results, WOMEN:
1 Adelheid Morath (Ger) Sabine Spitz Haibike Pro Team 1:30:46
2 Esther Süss (Swi) Wheeler-IXS Team 0:00:22
3 Jolanda Neff (Swi) Giant Pro XC Team 0:02:15
4 Corina Gantenbein (Swi) Fischer - BMC 0:03:06
5 Kathrin Stirnemann (Swi) Sabine Spitz Haibike Pro Team 0:03:23
6 Jenny Rissveds (Swe) Falu CK 0:03:54
7 Linda Indergand (Swi) Strüby MTB Kader 0:04:11
8 Nina Wrobel (Ger) FujiBikes Rockets 0:07:35
9 Lisa Mitterbauer (Aut) Team BikePark.ch Adrisport 0:08:41
10 Michelle Hediger (Swi) Fischer - BMC 0:09:00
COMPLETE RESULTS
