Favorite victories and surprises in Buchs | Ride MTB

Favorite victories and surprises in Buchs

Jolanda Neff and Moritz Milatz defy the nasty conditions in Buchs to win the first round of the BMC Racing Cup. Lars Forster and Andri Frischknecht cause a surprise with second and third place in the elite category.

With the exception of former European champion Moritz Milatz, the favorites are not at the front in the end. Fabian Giger and Thomas Litscher fall victim to the cold temperatures around zero and the muddy conditions. Giger can't show himself at the front and Litscher, who was fourth for a long time, cools down completely at the end and drops back to seventh place. Someone who can cope with the conditions has to bury his hopes due to a defect. Matthias Flückiger was in first place on the second lap when he suffered a defect. The 2012 world championship bronze medallist's strong recovery ends in fifth place.

First Florian Vogel was in the lead, but was then caught by Moritz Milatz. The German champion is known as the "rain god", so Milatz had no problems in the cold temperatures and deep ground. He quickly pulled away from Vogel and rode to an unchallenged victory. "I already knew that it would go better than last week in Ticino, but I didn't expect it to go so well. The victory is great for my self-confidence," explains Milatz.Behind the German, the two U23 riders Lars Forster and Andri Frischknecht impressed. Forster fought his way forward from the back of the grid and then formed a duo with Frischknecht. They overtook Thomas Litscher, benefited from the bad luck of German Markus Bauer, who dropped back with a defect, and from Florian Vogel, who broke into the lead, so that they could decide second and third place between them on the final descent. "This is definitely my biggest success. I never thought I could come second here," said a jubilant Forster. Frischknecht confirmed that he was "the best downhill skier". "It was really cool," grinned Frischknecht. His strategy? "Don't think, just ride".

Neff's chase to the first elite victory in Switzerland
The race starts anything but well for Jolanda Neff. In snowfall, she makes a mistake on the first descent and suffers a puncture. She comes out of the first lap in ninth place and then begins a furious chase to catch up on the remaining laps. On the penultimate lap, she caught up with the leading duo Jenny Rissveds (SWE) and Eva Lechner (ITA). The trio is together at the highest point of the course. By the time she crosses the finish line, Neff has already pulled out a lead of over 30 seconds. "I didn't think about it and just rode. I'm super happy that it was still enough. It's my first victory in the elite in Switzerland, and I'm particularly happy about that," says Jolanda Neff.

Eva Lechner, the world number one from Italy, was in the lead for the first three laps before the cold and wet conditions caused her major problems. Lechner also lost third place in the final downhill and was barely ready to comment at the finish. Jenny Rissveds finishes third and is very happy about it. "I still felt tired on Saturday during training on the track, but when Jolanda had a defect and I was in second place, that motivated me," explained the European sprint champion. "When Jolanda caught up again, she was unstoppable. She was just too strong," admitted Rissveds.

Kathrin Stirnemann delivers an impressive last lap. She caught up with Lechner and Rissveds and had the biggest reserves. "I tried never to ride into the red zone, which probably helped me in the end. I'm really happy about second place," says Stirnemann.German Luca Schwarzbauer wins the junior category with a lead of over two minutes on Filippo Colombo and Ramon Lauener from Ticino.
In the junior category, world champion Alexandra Keller falls victim to the cold. After leading at the start, she falls back to third place. Nicole Koller wins the opening race ahead of Sina Frei and Keller

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Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.