In the fourth of seven laps, a second attack by Mathieu Van der Poel breaks up the four-man lead group. Mathias Flückiger, who had closed a gap of 15 seconds after one lap, and the Brazilian Henrique Avancini become the chasing duo that rides for a long time only 20 seconds behind Mathieu van der Poel and Nino Schurter.

Schurter rode a few attacks "to perhaps wear him down", as he later explained. But Van der Poel did not allow himself to be put on the defensive. On the contrary. On the penultimate lap, he used the asphalt climb to launch one of his powerful attacks. "He attacked exactly where I thought I could put him under pressure," commented Schurter. "I then tried not to ride too hard after him and maybe gradually close the gap. But he stayed strong at the front and on the last lap I rode more for safety."

This is van der Poel's fourth win in a row in the World Cup, twice in short track and twice in cross country. "He was certainly the strongest," Schurter states. "Of course you always want to win, especially in front of this great crowd that cheered me on so much, but it can't always work out. I'm happy with my race."

Mathias Flückiger decides not to follow Van der Poel's attack but to concentrate on third place. On the sixth lap, he was able to break away from Henrique Avancini, who was then swallowed up by the chasing group after getting his shoulder caught on a post on a bridge. "It's quite special with two World Cup weeks in a row in front of your own crowd, but I think I was able to save energy this week and recover well. You need power on the track, which doesn't suit me that well. That's why I'm very happy with my result," said Flückiger, who will skip the World Cup final in Snowshoe.

Behind him, Frenchman Victor Koretzky took fourth place (+1:44) after beating World Championship silver medallist Gerhard Kerschbaumer from Italy in the sprint.

Andri Frischknecht finished in a good 13th place (+3:13). His teammate Lars Forster feels the wind in his sails and rides to 15th place, making him the best in the battle for the last remaining World Championship starting place. His rivals for this place were Lukas Flückiger (25th place) and Fabian Giger (35th place).

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