Cycling: Nino Schurter also won the second overseas World Cup in Windham. A week after winning at Mont Saint Anne, he held off Julien Absalon with strong downhills and secured his 13th World Cup victory. Canada's Cathrine Pendrel won the women's event.
Consecutive races are a big challenge. Last week, the XC-ELite started in Mont Saint Anne, Canada, before heading to Windham a few days later for the sixth stop of the World Cup. Such a short break doesn't leave much time for regeneration, but Nino Schurter didn't seem to have been impressed. In humid, summery conditions, the Swiss clinched his thirteenth World Cup victory. Schurter was already at the front of the field right after the start. Together with Julien Absalon and the two Flückiger brothers, Mathias and Lukas, he set the pace.
As so often, Schurter was out and about on his fully and was always able to find a gap on the descents. However, Absalon was undeterred and closed the gap on the following climbs. Schurter was able to push Absalon to the limit and as soon as he attacked on the penultimate lap, the all-important gap opened up.
Schurter took the comfortable win ahead of Absalon, who crossed the finish line six seconds behind him. Lukas Flückiger had to defend himself against a strong Daniel McConnel at the end of the race and took third place.
Meanwhile, Manuel Fumic drove a solid race. For a long time he had his sights set on the podium in fifth place, but had to admit defeat to McConnel, who made a strong comeback.
Sabine Spitz started the women's race surprisingly quickly. The multiple German champion took the lead right from the start and was the first to hit the single trails. However, she did not hold this position for long and Jolanda Neff passed with Cathrine Pendrel. Neff was in fine form all season and seemed to be able to build on their successes, but did not seem to have coped well with the short break between Mont Saint Anne and Windham and lost ground. Pendrel rode solo from then on and clinched her eleventh World Cup win of her career.
Behind it it got exciting again. Neff knew that if she finished fourth in Windham she would secure the overall World Cup early. So increasingly stumbled, but was able to benefit from the attack by her teammate Wloszczowska and was happy about the title at the finish. At 21, she is the youngest World Cup winner.
Tanja Zakelj intercepted Annika Langvad shortly before the finish and thus secured second place.