Nino Schurter is at the front right from the start and after half a lap he begins to control the race. Kerschbaumer did not get the best start and only reached the front after three laps. At this point, Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) and Nino Schurter are battling it out. Kerschbaumer emerges as the world champion's strongest rival, as he did in Val di Sole and Andorra, where he was able to beat Schurter. But the South Tyrolean drops the chain twice, allowing Nino Schurter to open up the decisive gap two laps before the end.

Even though Kerschbaumer was able to reduce the gap of 35 seconds by 23 seconds in the final lap, Schurter ultimately defended his lead and was celebrated as the winner by the many thousands of spectators. "It was my tactic to attack right at the start, because Mathieu van der Poel always has his problems then, as does Gerhard Kerschbaumer. And I could see how the others would react," explained Schurter about his strategy.

"I try to win every World Cup. And it's still not that easy, even if people think I always win. You can also suddenly fall ill or have a technical problem," Schurter continues. "To finish the World Cup season with a win is of course something special. Now I'm looking forward to the World Championships in Lenzerheide. My big goal is to defend the title."

Mathias Flückiger loses his fifth place in the final lap to the Frenchman Viktor Koretzky and finishes sixth (+2.49). "I didn't feel quite so good today and I didn't have a good start, but I'm happy with my sixth place," says the Mont-Sainte-Anne winner. "I thought I could beat Koretzky if I was in pole position after the long climb, but then he got past me in the cross passage."

Florian Vogel finished eighth (+3:09). "I got through without a crash or a defect, that was my goal. I gambled a bit with dry tires, but it wasn't a disadvantage," said Vogel. At one point, he was in fourth place, but was unable to maintain this position.
"Between five and eight, that's my level this year. I need an exploit to get further ahead, but maybe I'll manage that this year."

Andri Frischknecht is another Swiss skier to finish the World Cup season in the top ten.

Norwegian Fagerhaug wins final and takes overall victory

With his third win of the season, Norwegian Petter Fagerhaug also rides to overall victory in the U23 World Cup final in La Bresse, France. Fagerhaug won the U23 race in 1:23:22 hours, 14 seconds ahead of the Spaniard Jofre Culell Estape and 33 seconds ahead of the Dane Simon Andreassen, who beat the previous holder of the white jersey, Joshua Dubau from France, in the sprint. The best Swiss rider is Joel Roth in eleventh place (+2:09).

The Swiss U23 champion Filippo Colombo did not have a good day and only finished the race in 20th place (+3:41). On the one hand, he already had problems with the chain at the start, and on the other hand, he also had a tire defect towards the end of the race. "But my legs were also bad today," admits Colombo. "I've trained a lot for the World Championships and this certainly wasn't my first goal. But it's a World Cup and I certainly wanted a better result."

So Joel Roth is the best Swiss. He was able to hold his own in a group of five between sixth and tenth place for half the race, then lost touch a little, but didn't collapse.
"My start wasn't so good, but then I rode to the front. I may have paid a bit for that in the end, but it was certainly a good race," commented Roth after his best World Cup result. He also secured his ticket to the World Championships, as did Vital Albin (+4:51) in 24th place. However, the second-best Swiss rider was Joris Ryf in 13th place (+2:24).

In the battle for the day and overall victory, Frenchman Joshua Dubau falls behind right at the start. He first had to work his way forward, but by the time he had reached third position, Petter Fagerhaug, who had skipped Mont Sainte Anne, was already riding his solo to victory and Culell Estape had built up a lead over the chasers in second place.
Fagerhaug wins the overall World Cup 30 points ahead of Dubau and 110 ahead of Filippo Colombo.