In the end, it is a small technical detail that decides between victory and second place. On the home straight, Nino Schurter comes out of Sam Gaze's slipstream and seems to have a surplus of speed, but then he suddenly opens his mouth wide in disappointment. Schurter has clicked off the pedals and loses all chance of extending his streak to seven victories. At least he still has enough speed to cross the line ahead of Maxime Marotte and finish second. Gaze exuberantly celebrates his first World Cup victory in the elite.

"It was a bit of a shame that it happened because of the clipless pedal. It would certainly have been close otherwise, but I think I would have had it," commented Schurter.
Until then, the two reigning world champions had fought a great duel that was not at all expected. Cyclo-cross star Mathieu van der Poel was no longer able to keep up with the pace on the second lap and ultimately finished fourth. Maxime Marotte came from behind and occasionally caught up with the leading duo, but this was mainly because the two were tactical. Every now and then there are small sprints for first position on the singletrails, with the two of them eyeing each other up in between.

"Sam was extremely strong and this is his course. These short climbs are his thing. It was clear that it would be difficult to lose him here, you need a new solution against him," said Schurter about the duel with the New Zealander. On the final lap, the two of them tacticked again and on the last climb, it was Sam Gaze who was the first to take the sprint before the singletrail. "He got ahead of me," admits Schurter. But it could have been enough on the home straight if Schurter hadn't clicked off the pedals. He didn't think it was "too bad" that the series came to an end. "I knew it would come to an end at some point. Maybe it's also good when someone else is the hunted. Let's see what happens next."

Second best Swiss is European champion Florian Vogel in seventh place. He battled in a group from which the Frenchman Titouan Carod then broke away two laps before the end and took fifth place. "If I had been told that two months ago, I would have been happy. But now I'm not entirely satisfied. I've had problems with my stomach since yesterday, I couldn't eat properly. That certainly cost me a lot of energy. Under these circumstances, I got the best out of it, but I can definitely do better this season," commented Vogel. Mathias Flückiger was part of the chasing group around Vogel, but lost the connection on the penultimate lap. He finished in ninth place. "I was able to deliver my performance. But I had a pretty bad crash yesterday and have a huge bruise. Normally I always feel very good technically, but somehow I wasn't myself the last two days." Andri Frischknecht surprised in tenth place. "I had a great winter, without any injuries or illnesses. I already thought last year that I could ride further up the field. I was hoping for a top 16 result and now I'm tenth," says Andri Frischknecht after a fatherly hug from Thomas Frischknecht following the best race of his career.

Good Swiss results in the women's race

In the women's race, it was Denmark's Annika Langvad who won the opening race of the Cross-Country World Cup, 13 seconds ahead of France's Pauline Ferrand Prevot and 34 seconds ahead of the surprising Anne Tauber from the Netherlands. Jolanda Neff loses the sprint for fourth place to Helen Grobert from Germany and her Kross team-mate Maja Wloszczowska from Poland and finishes sixth. Linda Indergand in ninth and Alessandra Keller in tenth round off the good Swiss result.

Six weeks after breaking her collarbone, Jolanda Neff was not expected to be back in contention for victory. And so you can take it from her when she says that she is "not disappointed at all". Nor that she missed out on the podium by such a narrow margin. "No, if one of us is on the podium, then that's okay," she says, referring to her team-mate Maja Wloszczowska. "I haven't been on a mountain bike for five weeks now, so I can't expect to ride for the win. That wouldn't be normal either. I rode safely and far exceeded my goal of a top ten finish and am super satisfied."

After the initial phase, Neff lined up in fourth place behind the leading duo Annika Langvad/Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Anne Tauber and rode in this position for a while with former world champion Catharine Pendrel. During the penultimate of six laps, Maja Wloszczowska managed to catch up again. The duo was able to shake off Pendrel, but Helen Grobert managed to catch up on the final lap. The trio sprinted, which Grobert won.

Linda Indergand stays in the top ten at first, but is then overtaken by a group and is in eleventh place. However, Indergand was able to hold her own and ultimately lost the sprint for eighth place to German champion Sabine Spitz. "The icing on the cake was missing for me to win the sprint. But after Cyprus, where not much was possible, I'm very happy with today," commented Indergand. After a slow start, Alessandra Keller rode her way up to seventh position and fought for a long time to catch up. "I tried to catch up at the front and I didn't succeed. I don't think I used too much energy, I just couldn't do it anymore," explained Alessandra Keller about her tenth place.

Results men: 1st Samuel Gaze, NZL, 1:30.14

2. Nino Schurter, SUI, + 0.01
3rd Maxime Marotte, FRA, + 0.02
4th Mathieu von der Poel, NED, + 1.10
5th Titouan Carod, FRA, + 1.27
6th Anton Cooper, NZL, + 2.02
7th Florian Vogel, SUI, + 2.14
8. Henrique Avancini, BRA, + 2.22
9th Mathias Flückiger, SUI, + 2.23
10th Andri Frischknecht, SUI, + 2.32
DNF Lukas Flückiger, SUI
all results at: www.uci.ch/mountain-bike

Women's results:

1. Annika Langvad, DEN, 1:33.14
2nd Pauline Ferrand Prevot, FRA, +0.13
3. Anne Tauber, NED, + 0.34
4th Helen Grobert, GER, + 1.15
5. Maja Wloszczowska, POL, + 1.16
6th Jolanda Neff, SUI, + 1.16
7th Catharine Pendrel, CAN, + 1.55
8. Sabine Spitz, GER, + 2.43
9th Linda Indergand, SUI, + 2.43
10th Alessandra Keller, SUI, + 2.47
26th Kathrin Stirnemann, SUI, + 6.28
all results at: www.uci.ch/mountain-bike