The world champion takes the lead right at the start of the race and surprisingly finds a companion in Martin Fanger. Behind the Swiss duo, local hero Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) tries to close the gap. He is ten seconds behind when a defect on the second lap throws him back. Double Olympic champion Julien Absalon is also just about to close the gap to the two Swiss riders when he crashes in the "Rock Garden". Nevertheless, Schurter and Fanger never get far away from the pursuers. Frenchman Stéphane Tempier in particular was putting pressure on them from behind and a larger group was only 30 seconds away.

"You never get far away on this course. When Martin had the flat tire, I knew I had to ride flat out," explains Schurter. In the last two laps, German champion Milatz also gets closer and closer, but neither he nor Tempier can prevent Schurter's eleventh World Cup victory. "This is of course a great comeback after the trip to the road. I knew that I could compete for victory here. Of course I was lucky that Jaro and Julien had a defect and crashed, otherwise it would have been a lot tougher," says Schurter.

He had already seen Martin Fanger very strong in Solothurn, but he never thought he would be with him for so long. Fanger is naturally disappointed, but tries to see "the positives". "Nino sometimes rides completely different lines on the downhills and I just followed him once. I hit a stone in the process. That's a shame, but I think it's important for me in the future," says Fanger.

Florian Vogel also leaves Nove Mesto satisfied. He fights for positions in the chasing group and is close to the podium for a long time. "I am definitely satisfied. It's my best World Cup result in Nove Mesto, I felt good and didn't collapse at the end," Vogel comments on his result. Fabian Giger finished eighth and had to criticize his start in particular. He only came out of the first hot phase in 25th place. He then shifted into forward gear and was still in sight of third place for a long time. "It was really tough, I had to fight on the last lap. I'm still missing a bit, but it's okay," says Giger.Thomas Litscher says he was too tense at the start. "It was only after the third lap that I found my rhythm and caught up. It was very tough for me because I was ill for two weeks after Australia and only felt normal again this week. That's why I can be satisfied," explained Litscher.Lukas Flückiger also had to bury his podium dreams. He suffered three faults and still finished 16th, three places ahead of Ralph Näf, who got off to a miserable start and then rode up from 50th place after the start loop with strong lap times.

Julien Absalon continues to lead the overall standings with a solid lead. Thanks to consistent results, José Antonio Hermida (ESP) is now in second place, ahead of Australian Daniel McConnell. Just 20 points behind him is Nino Schurter in fifth place. It will be exciting to see what changes the next World Cup race on June 1st in Albstadt will bring.

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Ranking World Cup 2014, #3 Nove Mesto CZE, Men:
1. Nino Schurter (SUI)	1.28.33	+0.00
2. Stéphane Tempier (FRA)	1.28.41	+0.08
3rd Moritz Milatz (GER)	1.28.47	+0.14
4. Daniel McConnell (AUS)	1.29.01	+0.28
5th Julien Absalon (FRA)	1.29.02	+0.29
6th José Hermida (ESP)	1.29.20	+0.47
7th Florian Vogel (SUI)	1.29.21	+0.48
8th Fabian Giger (SUI)	1.29.35	+1.02
9th Andrea Tiberi (ITA)	1.30.00	+1.27
10th Thomas Litscher (SUI)	1.30.01	+1.28
13th Ralph Näf (SUI)	1.30.23	+1.50
14th Martin Fanger (SUI)	1.30.55	+2.22
16th Lukas Flückiger (SUI)	1.31.17	+2.44
28th Reto Indergand (SUI)	1.34.04	+5.31
36th Marcel Wildhaber (SUI)	1.34.51	+6.18
40th Martin Gujan (SUI)	1.35.08	+6.35
66th Matthias Stirnemann (SUI)	1.38.29	+9.56
79th Nicola Rohrbach (SUI)	1.40.03	+11.30
81st Marc Stutzmann (SUI)	1.40.57	+12.24
84th Daniel Eymann (SUI)	lapped
107th Michael Hutter (SUI)	lapped
119th Silvio Büsser (SUI)	lapped
DNF. Mathias Flückiger (SUI)	abandoned
DNF. Gian-Carlo Sax (SUI)	abandoned