Schurter victorious in Méribel cross country World Cup

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The men's cross country World Cup has been dominated by two riders all season - Julien Absalon (BMC) and Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo), each with three wins apiece. Absalon was virtually assured the overall title, since Schurter had missed the second round, but it did not affect his desire to win the final round before his compatriots in Méribel, France.

Schurter is always a fast starter, and had a 20-second lead by the end of the first lap on a chase group initially containing Absalon, Mathias Fluckiger (Stockli), Lukas Fluckiger (BMC), Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC), Dan McConnell (Trek Factory Racing) and Manuel Fumic (Cannondale Factory).

While Absalon was driving the chase on the climbs, with only Fumic able to match him, Schurter was clearly faster on the descents, maintaining a 30-second gap at the start of each lap after final long descent. On the final lap, Absalon finally managed to drop Fumic on the climb to solo in 13 seconds behind Schurter, as he took the 14th World Cup win of his career.

"It's an awesome feeling to win my third [World Cup] in a row, I feel super lucky," said Schurter. "I felt pretty confident on this tricky track. It was a really technical downhill and I chose the full suspension bike, which I think was the right decision, since I think I gained a lot of time on the downhill. I'm really looking forward to the Worlds next, I want to defend my title there."

Absalon won the World Cup title, the sixth of his career but first since 2009, with 1490 points, followed by Schurter at 1330. McConnell finished third with 970 points, while Fumic jumped from fifth to fourth with 856 points after finishing third in the final round.

"I'm really happy to win the title," said Absalon. "I have had it five times, but the last time was a long time ago [2009], so I'm happy to have such a good season. It was really good to have the final here in France with lots of spectators and the ambiance all around the track. It was difficult to fight and still do a safe race."

"For sure it is more pressure for me to race in France; it would be easy for me to do a top-30 to win the [overall] trophy, but in France, for me, it would not be possible to ride in 30th position. For the public I have to fight to be in front. I didn't want to flat, I didn't want to crash or have any technical problems, so I lost lots of time in the downhill. It was a little bit like Windham [round 6], where Nino was also fast in the downhill."

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