The addition of a fifth rider (U19 or U23 women) to the relay teams makes the course even more confusing than it has always been. However, Switzerland is at the front right from the start.

Filippo Colombo loses only 18 seconds to elite rider Gerhard Kerschbaumer and five seconds to Denmark. Joel Roth moves into second place before Linda Indergand and Alessandra Keller take on the technically demanding course one after the other. Indergand is the first to switch to Keller, but she has no chance against the Dane Simon Andreassen. However, she shakes off the Germans as her rivals.

With a gap of almost two minutes, Switzerland takes second place behind Denmark, for whom U23 rider Malene Degn then starts the race. However, she is in poor health and is perhaps also overtaken by Andri Frischknecht halfway through the lap. "I rode full throttle right from the start. You never know when you'll catch up with her and where you'll have the opportunity to overtake," says Frischknecht. But that was perfect.

Frischknecht catches an ideal spot, passes and rides to his personal first team title. "Of course, it's great that we're starting with the team with a title. The other four did a great job of preparation, I just had to deliver," summarizes Frischknecht.

Linda Indergand is not entirely satisfied with her lap. "I perhaps rode off too fast and struggled briefly, so Adelheid Morath overtook me. She then made a mistake, so I got past again," she explains.Alessandra Keller made a minor mistake, but I guess everyone does on this difficult course. "It was super fast at the start with Andreassen, but overall it went quite well," says Keller.

Joel Roth was also critical of the fact that he probably set off too quickly at the start of his first relay. "Relay is all out, but the Dane probably managed it a bit better. But it was definitely fun and a great experience," said Roth.

Filippo Colombo is completely satisfied with himself. "I was able to keep up with Kerschbaumer for a long time. At some point I had to dose off, otherwise I would have broken," explains Colombo.

European XCO Championships, Darfo Boario Terme, Team Relay results
1.	Switzerland	Filippo Colombo	01:06:13.17
		Joel Roth
		Linda Indergand
		Alessandra Keller
		Andri Frischknecht
2.	Denmark	Sebastian Carstensen Fini	01:06:59.35
		Alexander Andersen Young
		Caroline Bohe
		Simon Andreassen
		Malene Degn
3.	Italy	Gerhard Kerschbaumer	01:07:28.95
		Chiara Teocchi
		Juri Zanotti
		Marika Tovo
		Nadir Colledani
4.	Germany	Ben Zwiehoff	01:08:04.30
		Tim Meier
		Adelheid Morath
		Franziska Koch
		Georg Egger
5.	Austria	Gregor Raggl	01:08:10.54
		Julian Pöchacker
		Anna Spielmann
		Laura Stigger
		Maximilian Foidl