Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) has returned to the mountain bike World Cup circuit, soloing to his first MTB win of the year ahead of an on-form Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM).
Canyon-CLLCTV’s Luca Schwarzbauer led off the line as a crash took out several riders in the back third of the group. Specialized’s Victor Koretzky and Scott’s Fillipo Colombo led the field into the first technical singletrack section followed by Schurter, Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing), and Thomas Litscher (Lapierre-Mavic-Unity).
After the start loop, Schurter hit the front as he is so comfortable doing. Cannondale’s Alan Hatherly took up the lead later in the lap, joined by Koretzky, Colombo, and Schurter. Aldridge rode just off the back in fifth and Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) chased in sixth.
Pidcock was in seventh heading into the second lap but made quick headway in catching up to the front group. Meanwhile, last round’s winner Simon Andreassen stopped in the tech zone before ultimately dropping out of the race, which had Olympic qualification implications for Denmark.
Pidcock sat around fourth wheel and then attacked into the doubletrack climb, marked by Schurter and Koretzky. Schurter stuck on Pidcock’s wheel and the duo put 15 seconds into Koretzky and 30 on the chase group. Koretzky would continue to fade back into midfield.
The following lap, Pidcock attacked out of the saddle and went solo, pulling out a 26-second lead on Schurter.
Behind, Schwarzbauer led a large chase group vying for third, with Mathias Flückiger (Thömus maxon) also looking eager to drive the pace. The Swissman attacked the chasers during the penultimate lap with Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon-Ford). Bixs’ Marcel Guerrini also joined them for the final lap.
Schurter pulled a few seconds back on Pidcock during the final lap but then the World Champion extended his lead again, whipping over the flyover jump on his way to victory. Guerrini attacked the chase group to take third in his best result of the year.
Brief Analysis
- Ineos’ two World Champions came to Czechia to play. Pidcock’s win followed a victory by teammate and fellow World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in the elite women’s race. Both riders are known for rising to the moment for big events, and today showed their preparations for Paris are very much on schedule.
- Simon Andreasson’s DNF means that Great Britain should have two spots for the Paris Olympics, with Charlie Aldridge looking to join Pidcock in Paris. The Olympic qualifying rankings close after today’s races.
- After going 1-2 in the short track yesterday, Specialized teammates Victor Koretzky and Christopher Blevins finished a muted 20th and 29th respectively. They would have certainly been wishing for more after standout performances in Brazil and a 2nd and 5th-place for their teammates Haley Batten and Laura Stigger earlier today.
- Guerrini, Aldridge, and Azzaro all impressed with their rides, as did Canadian Gunnar Holmgren.
Results
- Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM)
- Marcel Guerrini (Bixs Performance)
- Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory)
- Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon-Ford)
- Mathias Flückiger (Thömus maxon)
- Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon-CLLCTV)
- Gunnar Holmgren (KMC-Ridley)
- Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory)
- Lars Forster (Thömus maxon)
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