The Swiss champion's jersey changes hands. Mathias Flückiger wins the sprint against Florian Vogel by a wafer-thin margin at the Swiss Cross-Country Championships in Andermatt. Andri Frischknecht also puts in a strong race to take the bronze medal. Nino Schurter takes fourth place after dropping back due to a broken chain. Filippo Colombo defends his U23 title ahead of Joris Ryf and Vital Albin.

"Finally a win." Mathias Flückiger is not able to do more, nor can the man from the Thömus RN Racing Team overcome himself to make a triumphant gesture in Andermatt - not immediately after the finish. After crossing the finish line, last year's runner-up looks somewhat questioningly at his opponent Florian Vogel (Focus XC), as he is not quite sure who crossed the finish line first.

Back to the race: He passes Vogel on the penultimate bend, chases first over a bridge and turns into the final bend. But Vogel is still in the slipstream and attacks. It was almost enough for the man in the European champion's jersey, but only almost. After a highly interesting race, one tire width decides in favour of Mathias Flückiger and it is the first title in the elite category for the former U23 world champion.

The momentum seemed to turn against him at the start of the last of nine laps. He rode into a small lead with an attack on the final lap and went into the last lap with a six-second gap on Vogel. But the 36-year-old closes the gap again on the first climb, the mental advantage was on his side. Flückiger pulls himself together once again, does not allow himself to be overtaken for the time being, but keeps up the fight. Vogel only passes him not far from the finish line, but then Flückiger counters in the penultimate corner mentioned above.

"I won in the end," says Flückiger with a pained smile, "but I didn't feel so great this morning. The race was very tough with the wind and the three climbs." Vogel and Flückiger are always present at the front, leaving Nicola Rohrbach (goldwurstpower.ch/Felt) behind on lap six and then getting company from Lars Forster (BMC Racing) and Andri Frischknecht (Scott-Sram) one lap later. A short time later, however, they were unable to keep up with an increase in pace on the climb.

This exciting race was only made possible by the chain breakage suffered by world champion Nino Schurter on the second lap. He starts the third loop 1:05 minutes behind. Judging by the 18 seconds difference between him and the winner (1:36:15) at the finish, you can guess that the only way to the title would have been through him. Even if, of course, tactical action was also taken at the front and not always ridden at full throttle.

Schurter crossed the finish line one second behind Andri Frischknecht and will probably have begrudged his younger team-mate the bronze medal.

U23: Filippo Colombo lives up to his position as favorite

In the U23 category, the race also remained open for a long time. Six riders went into the penultimate lap within two seconds of each other. There, it was the favorite and defending champion Filippo Colombo (BMC Racing) who immediately opened up a 19-second lead with an attack and then only had to manage it in the final lap.

In the duel for silver against Vital Albin (Biketeam Solothurn), Joris Ryf (Wheeler Pro Team) rode the fastest final lap and crossed the finish line in second place after eight laps, six seconds behind Colombo (1:28:48). Albin takes bronze (+0:35), although Noah Blöchlinger (Fischer-BMC) comes very close again (+0:38).

Full results at www.swissbikecup.ch