At the start of the seven-lap race, three Swiss riders take the lead. Nino Schurter leads the field ahead of Mathias Flückiger and Fabian Giger. Giger suffers a rear wheel defect on the second lap and is then unable to get back into the race. Julien Absalon gets off to a bad start, but soon fights his way into the chasing group. When he sees that Absalon is riding ten seconds behind him, Schurter lets the Frenchman catch up. "I thought it was still too early to keep him away by hook or by crook," Schurter explains his tactics.

The duo showed their class and pulled further and further away from the chasing group. Schurter senses that he has a little more to offer on the mountain. "I was never really at the limit there," he says after the race. Absalon also has to keep closing small gaps that Schurter can open up in the technical passages. The top duo had to overcome a tricky situation on the fourth lap. At the entrance to the notorious downhill passage "La Béatrice", Schurter always takes a shorter, more spectacular line than Absalon, who enters the descent ahead of him for once. However, Schurter is not able to overtake the Frenchman in this passage and has to line up behind him again. Schurter comes down so close behind Absalon that he touches his rear wheel. The world champion crashes and loses his goggles. Schurter then picks up the pace again and closes the gap a short time later.

Schurter then pushes his limits on the first climb of the penultimate of seven laps. He attacked and opened up a gap of six seconds within 200 meters, which he widened further on the following descent. "I just gave it a go and got away straight away. I'm very happy that I was able to win here. I've had no luck in Mont Sainte Anne a few times in recent years. Julien must have been a bit tired because he only arrived on Friday. Nevertheless, my form is great, everything fits," commented the man from Graubünden on his twelfth World Cup victory.

Absalon became the father of a son for the second time ten days ago and therefore only flew to Canada at short notice.

Flückiger brothers on the hunt together
The fact that Lukas Flückiger has to start a chase after the start phase is something that is familiar to the BMC rider. "I thought I didn't start too badly, but it was super fast at the beginning," says Lukas Flückiger. At the start of the fourth lap, he was finally able to catch up with his brother Mathias Flückiger and fight for third place against him, the Australian Daniel McConnell, Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) and Sergio Mantecon (ESP). This pentathlon ended in McConnell's favor. "Daniel surprised me a bit. I actually thought I was further ahead, but it's okay to lose so much time on the first lap. I had cramps, but only in my arms. The result definitely gives me confidence," explains the 30-year-old.

His brother Mathias, who is almost five years younger, is delighted with fifth place. "I don't want to sound arrogant, but I was never able to go over the limit, just ride my rhythm. I had breathing problems for weeks and therefore rode a poor Swiss championship. As I wasn't able to train properly for so long, I'm more than happy with the result," commented Mathias Flückiger, who was able to prevail over Olympic champion Kulhavy in the battle for fifth place.Thomas Litscher also achieved a top 10 result in ninth place. "That's what I needed after a difficult spring. I rode a consistent race and made sure not to overdo it at the start," says Litscher. Florian Vogel finished in 15th place and unlucky Fabian Giger in 16th place.

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Rankings World Cup #5 Monte-Sainte-Anne/CAN, men:
1. Nino Schurter (SUI)	1.38.15	+0.00
2. Julien Absalon (FRA)	1.38.31	+0.16
3rd Daniel McConnell (AUS)	1.39.42	+1.27
4. Lukas Flückiger (SUI)	1.40.04	+1.49
5th Mathias Flückiger (SUI)	1.40.15	+2.00
6th Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE)	1.40.21	+2.06
7th Sergio Manceton (ESP)	1.40.29	+2.14
8th José Hermida (ESP)	1.40.48	+2.33
9th Thomas Litscher (SUI)	1.41.34	+3.19
10th Stéphane Tempier (FRA)	1.41.42	+3.27
15th Florian Vogel (SUI)	1.42.35	+4.20
16th Fabian Giger (SUI)	1.42.56	+4.41
25th Matthias Stirnemann (SUI)	1.44.59	+6.44
26th Martin Gujan (SUI)	1.45.28	+7.13
39th Nicola Rohrbach (SUI)	1.47.40	+9.25
59th Marc Stutzmann (SUI)	lapped
61st Marcel Wildhaber (SUI)	lapped
85th Sepp Freiburghaus (SUI)	lapped
94th Nicolas Lüthi (SUI)	lapped
DNF. Ralph Näf (SUI)	abandoned