The city of Lugano provided the perfect backdrop and a spectacular course for the battle for the first championship titles in the still young mountain bike discipline of short track as part of the Proffix Swiss Bike Cup. Both the women's and men's races remained hard-fought and exciting right up to the last meter.

Neff with an attack in the final lap

Before the halfway point of the race, a quartet of women broke away and fought for the medals. Jolanda Neff, Sina Frei, Linda Indergand and Alessandra Keller gave each other no quarter in the tight and fast bends, the steep climb and the spectacular stair descent. Jolanda Neff rode cautiously for a long time and was usually at the back of the group. Until she took the lead at the start of the last lap and did not relinquish this position until the finish. In a long sprint, Neff gave Olympic bronze medallist Linda Indergand and reigning world champion Sina Frei no chance.

The 29-year-old Olympic champion was delighted to have written a piece of cycling history: I am very happy to have won this first title in short track. Now I hope that the Swiss Short Track Championships can establish itself, because it's a great discipline and we had a great event here in Lugano."

Colombo takes a much-acclaimed home victory

In the men's race, a group of eight riders battled for victory until the final lap. Filippo Colombo from Ticino was extremely present at all times and demonstrated his strength time and again. Colombo never left any doubt that he wanted to win in front of his home crowd. On the penultimate lap, the rider from Bironico vehemently stepped up the pace and launched a very long final sprint over one and a half laps.

Only Vital Albin from Bünder, who got off to a bad start, challenged Colombo until the last meter. Albin came very close to Colombo again in the final sprint, but ultimately had to settle for the silver medal. Bronze went to Andri Frischknecht, who was thus able to extend his lead in the overall classification of the Proffix Swiss Bike Cup.

"I really wanted to win in front of friends and family"

Filippo Colombo was also delighted with the victory in his home town of Lugano after the race: "The win means a lot to me. I really wanted to show a perfect race and win in front of my friends and family. The fact that I am now the first ever Swiss short track champion makes it even more special."