Mathieu van der Poel has already announced ahead of the second World Cup stage that he will try again this weekend. "I rode my best race here so far (2017), the climbs suit me because they are not so steep and my form has perhaps improved a little thanks to the race in Albstadt," explained van der Poel. "Of course I want to win here." And that's how it turned out.

Van der Poel put the pressure on early on. This breaks up the leading group and after the Brazilian Henrique Avancini is still at the front at the beginning, the race becomes a duel between the two giants from lap three of eight at the latest. Czech rider Ondrej Cink managed to catch up briefly, but was immediately distanced again.
"I already thought that I could wear him down in the long run," Nino Schurter explains the duel at the finish. "That's why I attacked three laps before the end."

But van der Poel always remains in control of the situation. He also repeatedly took over the leading position and set a fast pace.
On the final lap, Schurter tries twice more, but he can't get rid of the World Cup leader. When he starts himself at the end of the last climb, Schurter can no longer hold on.
"There was no chance today, if he goes like that, I have no chance," Schurter shakes his head. "He was simply stronger. Second place is certainly very positive for me. I'm back and have a good feeling, that was my goal."

Mathieu van der Poel will miss the next two World Cup stages. He is taking a break after starting the road spring straight from the cyclo-cross season.
Mathias Flückiger is beaming about his third place. He deliberately started cautiously and worked his way up from tenth position. "The start was good for me, I managed it really well. I can never go over the limit here, I always have problems breathing here. More would not have been possible, I am very satisfied," he commented on his race.

On the third lap, he joins the chasing group with Henrique Avancini and Maxime Marotte (France). Together they then caught Ondrej Cink (Cz) and fought for third place. Albstadt winner Mathias Flückiger once again proves his strong form and is the strongest in the finish. He relegates Avancini and Cink to the next places.

Andri Frischknecht finishes ninth (+2:46), his best World Cup result from the previous week. He narrowly loses the sprint for eighth place to the unknown Mexican Jose Ulluoa Arevalo.
"I'm very happy," explains Andri Frischknecht, who formed a group with Reto Indergand (13th) and Titouan Carod (Fra) from seventh to ninth position. "I would have liked to have ridden faster, but nobody wanted to take the lead apart from me," says Andri Frischknecht.

As a result, they had company from behind and Frischknecht lost a few positions when there were repeated attacks from the group. In the finish, however, he proved to be on top of his game.
Although he was unable to hold off world championship runner-up Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita), he was able to distance himself from the rest. "I was able to hold on at the end, so I'm happy with my race."

With twelfth place, Matthias Stirnemann is back among the world's best riders and has almost regained his old strength.

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