On the very first lap, the leading duo emerges and remains out of reach for the rest of the competition. Gerhard Kerschbaumer and Nino Schurter increase their lead more and more, but leave each other alone for the time being. Nino Schurter, however, senses that he has an opponent on this day who will make life very difficult for him on the bike. "I quickly realized that he was stronger on the mountain," admits the Grisons rider, "and then tried to stay with him for as long as possible."

On the fifth of eight laps, Kerschbaumer opened up a gap for the first time. Nino Schurter is able to close it again in a technical passage, but the 2013 U23 World Champion rides away again on the next climb. This time for good. Kerschbaumer easily climbs the climbs in the high altitude of Pal and lets the gap grow and grow. This is how he rides to his first World Cup victory, the first by an Italian since Houffalize in 2005, when Marco Bui won. It is the sixth ever Italian victory in the men's race.

"I couldn't go over the limit today. I think that was the height. I haven't done anything at altitude this year, I think that's what I was missing. Gerry was extremely strong today, maybe that was it. The Italians were at altitude for three weeks before Val di Sole, that certainly helped," commented Schurter on his result.

Mathieu Van der Poel is able to secure third place out of a three-man chasing group. He distanced short track winner Henrique Avancini (Bra) and Jordan Sarrou from France.
The second best Swiss rider was Florian Vogel in seventh place (+3:14). He slowly but surely rode his way up from twelfth position after the first lap and only experienced a brief crisis once, when he crashed in the middle of the race.
"That cost me maybe 15 seconds and two places. But I was able to make them up again," says Vogel. "It was okay, apart from the crash. I didn't prepare Andorra with an altitude training camp, so that's very okay. I never overdid it."

Thomas Litscher finishes twelfth (+4:06). When he arrives at the finish line, his whole body is shaking and he needs minutes before he can even speak. Last year's World Championship bronze medallist wanted a top ten result to secure his World Championship ticket. "Just next to the posts," he says when he regains his speech. He struggles with a cramped back, but does so successfully. Even when he loses the group for eighth place, he remains mentally stable. "I'm happy that I got through. I already had stomach pains this morning and didn't know what today would be like. My stomach is still distended now," says Litscher. "It's really tough up here, it's not normal."