It is quiet for a long time on the hot seat, which Sam Hill takes on his enduro bike, but is then replaced by his fellow Australian Mick Hannah. Only when the last ten riders start does tension return to the intermediate classification. Loic Bruni, who won his first World Cup race here, is the sixth-last rider to take to the track and displaces Hannah from the top position. The situation doesn't change and Loic Bruni, who became world champion for the first time in Andorra in 2015, spoils the fun for the Australians and Mick Hannah in particular.

In front of a large crowd, he is a blink of an eye faster on the dusty and slippery course and takes over the rainbow jersey from Britain's Danny Hart. Hannah makes up a lot of time, especially on the flat section. He kicks into a mighty big gear and also takes 1.4 seconds off Bruni. Behind Aaron Gwin, three more Australians - Jack Moir, Troy Brosnan and Sam Hill in fourth to sixth place - make the most of their home advantage.

Co-favorite Greg Minnaar from South Africa has a rear wheel defect after a good intermediate time.

Noel Niederberger, who actually likes such courses, still had "a lot of trouble", as he states. "My run was partly, partly. I was trying too hard in the upper corners and I had two standing starts in the pedal phases," explains Niederberger about his 33rd place and shrugs his shoulders. "That's just the way it is now."

Jerome Caroli made no major mistakes and finished in 38th place (+15.283) "It's too much pedaling," he said. That doesn't really suit him. Janis Lehmann had injured his wrist in a crash on Friday, so he skipped the training runs on Sunday morning. "I didn't even notice it in the race with all the spectators. I was amazed, but of course I wasn't so sure," he said about his run, which still put him in 50th place (+18.752).