South African Greg Minnaar is the first big-name rider to get on the hot seat early with the fastest time. Early because Minnaar was out for a large part of the season due to injury and only recently returned to racing. However, it was clear that last year's winner was one of the extended favorites on this track.

But then it was Martin Maes - the surprise winner of the World Cup in La Bresse - who knocked Minnaar off his throne. The Belgian sat there for a while, because the actual enduro specialist started exactly one hour before his conqueror. It is Loic Bruni who is trying to defend his title and is well on the way to doing so with his best time. However, he is just two tenths of a second ahead of the Belgian and there are still four hot contenders for victory at the top.

Danny Hart is on course, but the Briton is just three tenths of a second short of knocking Bruni off the hot seat. Australian Troy Brosnan is unable to get anywhere near the best time and top favorite Amaury Pierron crashes - the Frenchman's dream of becoming world champion is over - the other Frenchman's dream has come true once again: Loic Bruni is world champion again.

Good Swiss performance, albeit below expectations

On this day in Lenzerheide, the Swiss missed out on the placings they were aiming for, but the results are not disappointing in terms of the season. Basil Weber finished 36th, 8.739 seconds behind Loic Bruni.

"I made a big mistake. After the go-pro jump, I completely missed the line and had to avoid a tree. Otherwise it was a good run. It would be a success for me if I was in the top 30," explains Basil Weber.


His Laax WG comrade Lutz Weber came 44th (+10.914): "I'm only semi-satisfied with my run. I made a very stupid mistake, slipped and came off the track. I injured my right thumb in training. It wasn't ideal, but I was able to ride. Top 30 was actually my goal."

Noel Niederberger finished 56th (+14.470) and was disappointed with himself: "My run wasn't good at all. The pressure I put on myself today at my home World Championships unfortunately went in the other direction. I wanted to show the people something, but it turned out the opposite. I definitely didn't want to crash and that's why I tensed up. Nevertheless, it was mega cool with all the spectators."

Jerome Caroli was hampered by a rider who crashed in his first run and therefore contested a second run. However, he then crashes himself and drops out.

Full results