It's a Swiss day in Val di Sole. After Jolanda Neff's victory in the women's race, Nino Schurter can also complete the feat that no one before him has ever achieved: winning all the World Cup races in a season.

His opponent was different in practically every one of these races. This time, Frenchman Stephane Tempier turned out to be the toughest opponent. After Manuel Fumic set the pace on the first lap after the start lap, he and Schurter are a few seconds ahead of the chasers. But Fumic has a chain problem, has to dismount and falls far behind. Schurter does not want to ride away alone at this point and is therefore not unhappy when Tempier takes the lead and ensures that the duo continues to pull away from the rest of the competition.

Tempier does a lot of leading work, which is also due to his goal of second place in the overall standings. Nevertheless, Nino Schurter had a scary moment when he slipped and crashed on the fourth lap. The consequences are minor, as Tempier has to pass him first and Schurter does not injure himself.

"I had to suffer a lot after my crash, it wasn't easy today. I wasn't quite as fresh as I had been and then I thought I'd just try to keep up with Tempier and give it a go on the last lap. I thought he might not be the strongest sprinter. Then I did it like I did with Absalon two years ago and it worked out," Schurter explains how the historic victory came about.
At the end of the final climb, Schurter sprints past Tempier, takes a few seconds off him and wins for the fourth time in Val di Sole. "It's great, I can hardly believe it. I actually wanted to take a more relaxed approach to this season. But I think this is exactly the right strategy. It's going brilliantly."

Not only Nino Schurter has reason to be happy on this day. Lars Forster equaled his best career result from Albstadt 2016 in fifth place. From a poor starting position, he gets off to a good start this time and quickly climbs up to the chasing group. There he cleverly kept himself in a good position. "I rode flat out for the first two laps. When I arrived in the group, I was then able to rest a little. But I always did my job too," explains Forster.

Until the penultimate lap, he would have thought that third place was still possible. But his team-mate Julien Absalon set the pace at the start of the last lap. Forster stays in front at first, but then has to pay the price. "I was really at the limit at the top. I had two or three seconds at the bottom, but I was really over it. I almost didn't make it up the last climb. Then Kulhavy overtook me. I got close again, but it wasn't enough for the finish. Nevertheless: Fifth is good and feels good," explained Forster.

Thomas Litscher continues to play an active role in the chasing group and even rides away from the chasing group at times. He was caught up again, but stayed in the group until the finale. "Then I just had to survive," explains Litscher with a grin. "I am happy. Very close to the podium, that gives me a little more self-confidence."

Florian Vogel remained in the chasing group throughout the race and finished the race in a solid seventh place.

World Cup XCO Men Val di Sole/ ITA
1.	Nino Schurter (SUI - Scott Sram MTB Racing Team)	1:24.30
2.	Stephane Tempier (FRA - Bianchi Countervail)	1:24.34	+0.00.04
3.	Julien Absalon (FRA - BMC Mountainbike Racing Team)	1:25.17	+0.00.47
4.	Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE - Specialized Racing)	1:25.23	+0.00.53
5.	Lars Forster (SUI - BMC Mountainbike Racing Team)	1:25.24	+0.00.54
6.	Thomas Litscher (SUI - JB Brunex Felt Team)	1:25.41	+0.01.11
7.	Florian Vogel (SUI - Focus XC Team)	1:25.57	+0.01.27
8.	Titouan Carod (FRA - BMC Mountainbike Racing Team)	1:26.05	+0.01.35
9.	Luca Braidot (ITA )	1:26.19	+0.01.49
10.	Jordan Sarrou (FRA - BH-SRSuntour-KMC)	1:26.29	+0:01.59
14.	Lukas Flückiger (SUI - BMC Mountainbike Racing Team)	1:26.58	+0.02.28
22.	Reto Indergand (SUI - BMC Mountainbike Racing Team)	1:27.32	+0.03.02
30.	Marcel Guerrini (SUI - Focus XC Team)	1:28.28	+0.03.58
32.	Florian Chenaux (SUI)	1:28.29	+0:03.59
39.	Matthias Stirnemann (SUI - Scott Sram MTB Racing Team)	1:29.26	+0.04.56
46.	Fabian Giger (SUI - Kross Racing Team)	1:30.43	+0.06.13
49.	Martin Fanger (SUI)	1:30.55	+0.06.25
50.	Andri Frischknecht (SUI - Scott Sram MTB Racing Team)	1:31.01	+0.06.31
51.	Nicola Rohrbach (SUI - Goldwurst Power Felt)	1:31.25	+0.06.55
Overall ranking
1.	Nino Schurter 1500 pt.
2.	Stephane Tempier 850 pt.
3.	Maxime Marotte 772 pt.
4.	David Valero Serrano 691 pts.
5.	Jordan Sarrou 685 pt.
6.	Titouan Carod 592 pt.
7.	Anton Cooper 530 Pt.
8.	Julien Absalon 520 pts
9.	Manuel Fumic 507 Pt.
10.	Florian Vogel 496 pts.
15.	Mathias Flückiger 440 pts.
16.	Lukas Flückiger 416 pts.
19.	Thomas Litscher 387 pts.
20.	Reto Indergand 375 pts.
23.	Lars Forster 295 pts
28.	Andri Frischknecht 280 pt.
30.	Marcel Guerrini 254 pts.
33.	Matthias Stirnemann 241 pts.
38.	Martin Fanger 212 pt.
48.	Fabian Giger 159 pts.
49.	Florian Chenaux 158 pts.
69.	Nicola Rohrbach 47 pt.
99.	Michael Stünzi 9 pts.