In the opening lap of the first cross-country World Cup of the season, a group of ten riders quickly developed, with changes soon to follow. Behind them, Nino Schurter has already freed himself from his awkward starting position and is in the top 20. After that, however, it doesn't look like the world champion will be able to improve any further.

Mathias Flückiger, on the other hand, is among the front runners and is making a strong impression. On the third of seven laps, he and Simon Andreassen were able to pull away a little, but not for long. The chasers catch up again and a six-man lead group develops with the first two, Henrique Avancini, Stephane Tempier, Milan Vader and Maxime Marotte. Behind them, a chasing group formed, including Filippo Colombo, Lukas Flückiger and Nino Schurter.

Soon afterwards, Mathias Flückiger was no longer able to keep up and fell back on the fourth lap and later even gave up - the reason was stomach problems that had already occurred after the short track and did not improve on race day. Thomas Litscher inherits the position of the leading Swiss rider. In the meantime, Dutchman Vader moves to the front, increasingly tearing the group apart. Only Andreassen was able to catch up again.

The two pull the field further apart, which also allows Litscher and Schurter to catch up with the top 10. However, the direct pursuers do not let up and it is the Frenchman Maxime Marotte who starts to catch up on his own and soon manages to do so. In the meantime, Schurter has fought his way up to fourth position and is now riding together with Avancini.

Tension even without a sprint final

The leading group enters the final kilometers and the three-way battle increasingly develops into a duel - Vader has to let go. However, the Dutch champion was able to keep a reasonable gap and secure third place - a small surprise. Andreassen didn't let it come down to a sprint, outsprinted Marotte and carried his short lead to the finish line for his first elite victory - one day after his 23rd birthday.
"I couldn't imagine a better birthday present - it's just incredible," said an overwhelmed Andreassen. He had won the Danish championship title just five days earlier and had shown his best race to date. "I took this self-confidence with me here and I needed it. I've never been able to ride against the seasoned pros before and then I started from row six - I still can't believe it!"

In the sprint for fourth place, Nino Schurter beats the Brazilian Avancini by a hair's breadth, bringing the first Cross-Country World Cup to a conciliatory close. But Thomas Litscher also has reason to be happy - he takes tenth place and says: "After a defect in the short track, my starting position wasn't ideal. However, I was soon in the top 10, but then had to work hard to maintain this position. After that, I tried not to overdo it so that I'd have some energy left for the next two races. So I am very satisfied."

Only two places behind him was Lukas Flückiger, who is back among the world's best after a long absence. "The race actually went according to plan. I wasn't allowed to ride the short track race due to a lack of UCI points, so I had to start from row six. I might have been able to do even better in the end, but I decided I'd rather finish twelfth than risk anything unnecessarily. On the last two laps, I started to make more and more riding mistakes," summarized Flückiger.

Balmer and Albin finish on the U23 podium

In the U23 men's World Cup race in Nove Mesto, Switzerland's Alexandre Balmer rides to second place behind Great Britain's Thomas Pidcock. Just behind him, Vital Albin beat Chile's Martin Vidaurre Kossmann in the sprint. Fabio Püntener brings the Swiss another top 10 finish in eighth place. In the U23 women's race, Ronja Blöchlinger finished her strong performance in sixth place.

Results XC World Cup men
1st Simon Andreassen (DEN)
2nd Maxime Marotte (FRA)
3. Milan Vader (NED)
4th Nino Schurter (SUI)
5th Henrique Avancini (BRA)
6th Alan Hatherly (RSA)
7th Anton Cooper (NZL)
8. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA)
9th Ondrej Cink (CZE)
10th Thomas Litscher (SUI)
12th Lukas Flückiger (SUI)
14th Filippo Colombo (SUI)
19th Matthias Stirnemann (SUI)
20th Andri Frischknecht (SUI)
23rd Marcel Guerrini (SUI)
37th Lars Forster (SUI)
41st Andrin Beeli (SUI)
42nd Reto Indergand (SUI)
46th Fabian Giger (SUI)
49th Florian Chenaux (SUI)
51st Joris Ryf (SUI)
58th Noah Blöchlinger (SUI)
66th Simon Vitzthum (SUI)
85th Nicola Rohrbach (SUI)
95th Kevin Krieg (SUI)

Results XC World Cup U23 men
1st Thomas Pidcock (GBR)
2nd Alexandre Balmer (SUI)
3rd Vital Albin (SUI)
4th Martin Kossmann Vidaurre (CHI)
5th Sean Fincham (CAN)
6th Christopher Blevins (USA)
7th Mathis Azzaro (FRA)
8. Fabio Püntener (SUI)
9th Carter Woods (CAN)
10th Juri Zanotti (ITA)
14th Luca Schätti (SUI)
16th Joel Roth (SUI)
18th Loris Rouiller (SUI)
24th Fabio Spena (SUI)
26th Nick Burki (SUI)
39th Jan Sommer (SUI)
43rd Gian Andri Schmid (SUI)
49th Simon Walter (SUI)
57th Nils Brun (SUI)
68th Ursin Spescha (SUI)

Results XC World Cup U23 Women
1st Giorgia Marchet (ITA)
2. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (NED)
3. Haley Batten (USA)
4th Harriet Harnden (GBR)
5th Kata Blanka Vas (HUN)
6th Ronja Blöchlinger (SUI)
7th Marianne Theberge (CAN)
8. Raquel Queiros (POR)
9. Helene Clauzel (FRA)
10th Tereza Tvarutzkova (CZE)
15th Noelle Burri (SUI)
20th Tina Züger (SUI)
31st Seraina Leugger (SUI)
32nd Rebekka Estermann (SUI)
36th Jacqueline Schneebeli (SUI)
38th Ramona Kupferschmied (SUI)
46th Melanie Tresch (SUI)

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