Rain in the run-up to the race displaced the heat on Saturday and ensured excellent conditions for the races at the 6th round of the CIC Swiss Bike Cup 2024, which presented mountain biking at its finest.

The lead in the men's race was constantly changing. The ambitious Swiss champion Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing), Fabio Püntener (Bike Team Solothurn) and Marcel Guerrini (BIXS Performance Race Team), the winner of Basel 2022, rode particularly actively.

It all came down to a sprint finish, in which Colombo took the initiative first, but Vital Albin arrived at the right moment and crossed the finish line ahead of Colombo, Püntener and Guerrini (all in the same time) in a heart-stopping final. It was also a close decision behind them: Italians Andreas Emanule Vittone and Simone Avondetto finished fifth and sixth within another second.

Vital Albin: confidence from crash

Vital Albin (26), overall winner of the Swiss Bike Cup 2022 and 2023, who only really got going towards the end of this season, was even able to allow himself a riding error including a crash. He quickly caught up with the leading group again, which gave him additional confidence for the rest of the race. Albin was particularly happy at the finish because he had not been able to win a race in the UCI's Hors Categorie (HC) for two years.

Häberlin with a tactically mature performance

Steffi Häberlin also took her first ever HC victory in Basel in a very dynamic women's race, which not only delighted her, but also relieved her. "Finally!" was her first reaction at the finish. At the same time, she boosted her self-confidence for the World Championships in Andorra with a tactically mature performance.

The 26-year-old medical student from Thurgau made the race as exciting as possible, only winning in the final sprint just ahead of the Italian Giada Specia (WILIER - Vittoria Factory Team XCO). Third place went to Leonie Daubermann from Germany (+0:01 sec.), fourth to Seraina Leugger from Arlesheim from the BIXS Performance Race Team (+0:17 sec.), who would have liked to have won the race at home. Leugger had always been in the leading group of five, but then had to break away on the last lap.

U23: Close decisions

The decision was also very close in the men's U23 category, which went into the last lap in a pack of eight: The first six riders finished within just two seconds of each other. The podium was made up of international riders with the Swede Oscar Lind (Allebike Factory Team), the Frenchman Athys Bedini (Ornans Superior) and the Italian Elian Paccagnella (WILIER - Vittoria Factory Team XCO).

In the U23 women's category, the Italian Sara Cortinovis (Centro Sportivo Esercito) also won in the final sprint ahead of the German Kaya Pfau (Team KS Bikeshop Freiburg) and the Frenchwoman Tatiana Tournut (AS bike racing). The best Swiss rider was Chiara Soler (Thömus Akros -Youngstars) in 6th place.

UCI Junior Series: 12 nations - high power density

The junior field with participants from twelve nations was characterized by a high power density, which resulted in a highly exciting and at times open race: The decision between the Frenchman Janis Rouffiac and Fabrice Walser (KA BOOM Krapf) ahead of Luca Nascarella (Bike Team Solothurn) was also very close. In the junior category, Chiara Mettier (Thömus Akros - Youngstars) won without discussion ahead of Noémie Gret (TEAM VTT Papival Scott Grand Raid BCVS) and Sereina Hosner (Bike Team Solothurn).

Final in Lenzerheide

The next and last race of the CIC Swiss Bike Cup this season will take place on September 21 and 22 in Lenzerheide. The Bike Kingdom is the largest mountain biking region in Graubünden and one of the best MTB spots in Switzerland. 

Rankings

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