After the start, Alexandra Engen (DEN) and Katrin Leumann (SUI) briefly take the lead. However, Neff, still in fourth position, quickly overtakes and immediately pulls away - a bold move that later proves to be the right one. On the second lap, Neff is already just under a minute ahead. She is followed by a trio with Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (NOR), world champion Julie Bresset (FRA) and Neff's teammate Maja Wloszczowska (POL). The other Swiss riders were unable to keep up the pace. Bresset loses contact with Neff's pursuers on the same lap.

Neff's substantial lead quickly turned out to be important. The leader crashed and lost almost her entire lead. "I wasn't focused and when I crashed I fell on the same shoulder as in training. My handlebars were also crooked," explains Neff later at the finish line. When she picks up speed again, she is only nine seconds ahead. Nevertheless, she is able to catch herself and continues to ride strongly. Her lead actually grows again, but remains around half a minute ahead of the strong Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa. Behind the Norwegian, Poland's Wloszczowska is fighting for third place. Her Danish pursuer Annika Langvad is only a few seconds behind for a long time, but then briefly catches up with Wloszczowska. The Polish rider then attacked and overtook the tired Langvad. Meanwhile, Neff continues to ride at the same pace and puts an end to Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa's chase.

Thus Neff takes her first World Cup victory in the highest category and is also very self-confident: "I go into every race to win. Of course, a fifth place would have been great, but I knew that I had a chance of winning here. Now I'm super happy that it worked out!" Nathalie Schneitter's last Swiss World Cup victory for Switzerland came in Champéry in 2010.

The other Swiss women are not doing so well. Katrin Leumann and Kathrin Stirnemann were still at the front at the start but were unable to keep up the pace. Leumann rides her race around the top ten. When her Swedish Ghost teammate Alexandra Engen, who finished fifth, came up from behind, Leumann wanted to go with her. "That probably broke me. In the end, I was glad that I had such a big lead towards the back," says Leumann. She finished 15th, Corina Gantenbein was 17th and Esther Süss from Küttigen, who came third in the World Championships last year, was never able to repeat her performance from the previous year. She finished in 20th place.

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