As soon as the 150 men set off, it starts to rain in Albstadt. Nino Schurter and Lars Forster manage to pull out a gap and complete the 2.8-kilometre starting lap with a lead of 18 seconds. But on the first complete lap, the rain gets heavier and the picture changes.

Mathias Flückiger has a bad start. But when he reviews the race at the end of the day, he even sees this as an advantage. "On that climb on the start lap, you can break yourself like that and because I was further back, I was prevented from doing that," reasoned Flückiger.

In 17th place, he tackled the second lap and was able to catch up with the chasing group before the next climb and pass them straight away. "On the climb, I realized that I could get closer to Lars and Nino without pushing myself to the limit. That gave me confidence. I didn't let myself be impressed by the others, I just rode my rhythm."

After catching up and taking the lead, this rhythm is also too fast for Nino Schurter. Only Frenchman Jordan Sarrou follows the Bernese rider. Two laps before the end, however, he was no longer able to keep up and was sprinted over by Mathieu van der Poel on the final lap. The Dutch star was unable to keep up with the pace at the start and held back.

The more significant victory

"I didn't think about winning during the race. At some point, the goal was there," says Flückiger and adds with a smile: "When I think about it, the victory means more to me than the first one in Mont Sainte Anne last year. Back then, some people said that Nino had a broken chain. I've made progress over the winter and today I beat everyone."

Florian Vogel is battling with Nino Schurter and Titouan Carod for fourth place. "I actually wanted to start carefully from the fourth row, but surprisingly I was right at the front," explained Vogel. He had diarrhea after the short track and wasn't at all sure before the race what the race would bring him.
"I didn't know how long the fuel would last, so I acted cautiously. I didn't think I would be able to ride onto the podium here. On the last lap, I attacked on the climb because I knew that I would be the worse sprinter against Carod. But I couldn't get rid of him."

Nino Schurter was somewhat perplexed after his sixth place. "It didn't go well today," said the world champion. "Maybe I over-revved at the start, the conditions weren't good for me either. I just couldn't find my footing. The tire choice was certainly not optimal either. But sometimes there are days like that," explains Schurter.

Filippo Colombo celebrates first World Cup victory

Filippo Colombo from Ticino celebrates his first victory in the U23 World Cup race in Albstadts. After 1:17:42 hours, he beat Romanian Vlad Dascalu and Frenchman Antoine Philipp by two seconds. Joel Roth and Ursin Spescha finished eleventh and twelfth respectively.

Two shortened laps of 2.8 kilometers are ridden first and when they are finished, a leading group has formed, including Filippo Colombo. The Frenchman Antoine Philipp then dictates the pace and Colombo mostly stays on his rear wheel to save energy, but is able to react at any time.

Philipp then launched an attack from the leading group of seven riders on the fifth lap. "When Antoine attacked, I was a little scared to go with him, but then I just went for it," said Colombo.

However, the duo was caught again and so five riders rode together into the final lap.
"I had very good legs right from the start. On the downhill before the last climb, I was able to open up a gap and catch my breath before the final climb," said Colombo, explaining how he was able to pin his first U23 World Cup victory on his lapel. He pulled through the race from the front and defended his first position.

Joel Roth and Ursin Spescha are in the chasing group and only just miss out on the top ten. Roth is only six seconds behind with a difference of 1:34 minutes and Spescha is three more seconds back in twelfth place.

World Cup rankings