Photo by Armin M.Kustenbruck
Ralph Naef celebrated a surprise win against world champion Nino Schurter at the finale of the BMC Racing Cup in Muttenz. Schurter took the overall victory ahead of Julien Absalon and Lukas Flueckiger who was third in Muttenz. In the women’s competiton Esther Suess secured the overall victory with a narrow win against Sabine Spitz. Kathrin Stirnemann was third.
A lead group of four had emerged in the Schaenzli bike arena in rainy conditions after the fourth out of eight laps. A bit earlier Marcel Wildhaber had had to say goodbye due to a mechanical, and then BMC rider Reto Indergand had not been able to hold the pace of the group in an uphill section. However, with seventh place overall Indergand finally won the U23 competition.
At one point Lukas Flueckiger had to pull himself back to the leaders, when after a running passage he had some problems getting connected with his clipless pedals. But last year’s World Championships runner-up had enough energy to catch up again.
Ralph Näf also succeeded in doing this. On the penultimate lap he attacked in the singletrack before the descent, but risked too much and crashed. Entering the final lap, he had closed the 15-second-gap again. „At that time I didn’t think that I could win the race. Nino always applied heavy pressure on us in the uphill sections, but he couldn’t shake me off“, reported Naef.
Whereas Florian Vogel faded a bit earlier, Naef still was in third position with 500 metres to go. He passed Flueckiger and Schurter and rode „a long good sprint“ which earned him his first victory of the season.
„Nino was catching up on the finishing straight again, so I had to fight him off again. It’s fantastic to win the finale here in Muttenz, just seven days prior to the World Championships“, rejoiced Naef. He seems to have chosen a better set of tires for the slippery terrain.
Nino Schurter will also travel to the World Championships in South Africa in a positive mood: „Ralph has always managaed to gain time in the slippery passages, where I had to catch up time and again. But I'm quite happy, I think I was the strongest guy on the climbs." The Scott-Swisspower rider also won the BMC Racing Cup overall standings ahead of Julien Absalon. In the struggle for positions at the entrance to the first singletrack the Frenchman had missed the boat and then rode a steady pace in pursuit. He was fifth, 53 seconds behind.
His BMC teammate Lukas Flueckiger was "not one hundred percent" happy. „I would have liked to win this race. Of course, I am glad for Ralph’s sake, this is really important for him.“ Flueckiger, third overall in the Cup ranking, is very happy about his fitness, however: „I felt very good on the climbs, that was great.“
Spitz suffers chain suck
The five-lap women’s race was dominated by a three-member leading group that had established itself after Esther Suess and Sabine Spitz had managed to catch up to Kathrin Stirnemann on the third lap.
Somewhat involuntarily, Sprint World Cup winner Stirnemann had become a soloist in the first lap. "I was first in the downhill and I had a gap at the bottom. Then I decided to keep a steady rhythm," explained Stirnemann. She had a lead of almost 40 seconds, but they melted away quickly on the third lap. Since the course began to dry up, Stirnemann’s rear tire did no longer suit the conditions.
"I had no chance," said Stirnemann. Due to her superior skills in the descents she was able to keep up with Spitz and Suess to the final lap. But then a flat tire took away all her chances to win.
A chain suck on one of the climbs decided the duel between Esther Süss and Sabine Spitz. Spitz had to dismount and lost some seconds. Although she tried to claw her way back, the German could not catch-up again. In the end the European marathon champion and the World Cup winner of Andorra were seven seconds apart.
„No doubt, Kathrin was the fastest on the downhills, but I wasn’t really slow either“, commented Suess, grinning. She had not even noticed that behind her Spitz had suffered a chain suck. „Competing against these two Haibike girls I had to lead for much of the race, of course. I had a gap before we reached the descent, and I said to myself: Now ride down safely but not too slowly. I had to fight to the finish, because Sabine was catching up again. Given today’s conditions, it was also a question of motivation, but I've tried to think positive – and it worked. Now I’m ready to fly to the Worlds with good self-confidence," said Esther Süss (Wheeler iXS) who also won the overall ranking.
Sabine Spitz said that it was "unfortunate that the chain suck happened at this bad point in time." However, the 41-year-old was very happy about her form after having suffered from two infections. "Due to its special characteristics you cannot compare this race course with the course at the Worlds. But it was good for me to do a race in the mud because that could happen in South Africa, too."
U23-rider Linda Indergand managed to keep up with Spitz and Suess up to the third lap and finished the competition on fourth place, ahead of local hero Katrin Leumann who was struggling with a neck blockade. Leumann had been second till lap two. „I’m sure it will get better till next week“, said Leumann.
Olympic and World Champion Julie Bresset had to throw in the towel quite early in the race. „I simply did not have the right kind of tires“, explained Bresset. She quit the race on lap three.
World Champion Julie Bresset had to throw in the towel quite early in the race. „I simply did not have the right kind of tires“, explained Bresset. She quit the race on lap three.
Source: press release
Results, MEN:
1 Ralph NAEF SUI 33 1:45:05 60 60
2 Nino SCHURTER SUI 27 1:45:06 40 40
3 Lukas FLÜCKIGER SUI 29 1:45:11 30 30
4 Florian VOGEL SUI 31 1:45:43 25 25
5 Julien ABSALON FRA 33 1:45:59 20 20
6 Marek KONWA POL 23 1:46:15 18 18
7 Reto INDERGAND SUI 22 1:47:20 16 16
8 Marcel WILDHABER SUI 28 1:47:56 14 14
9 Nicola ROHRBACH SUI 27 1:49:24 12 12
10 Jürg GRAF SUI 30 1:49:41 10 10
Results, WOMEN:
1 Esther SÜSS SUI 39 1:20:41 60 60
2 Sabine SPITZ GER 42 1:20:48 40 40
3 Kathrin STIRNEMANN SUI 24 1:21:28 30 30
4 Linda INDERGAND SUI 20 1:22:50 25 25
5 Katrin LEUMANN SUI 31 1:24:00 20 20
6 Katarzyna SOLUS-MISKOWICZ POL 25 1:24:32 18 18
7 Monika ZUR POL 20 1:25:14 16 16
8 Andrea WALDIS SUI 19 1:26:01 14 14
9 Nathalie SCHNEITTER SUI 27 1:26:41 12 12
10 Elisabeth SVEUM NOR 24 1:27:51 10 10
