Vogel and Leumann win cross country championships

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Florian Vogel (Scott Swisspower) won the Swiss cross country championship this weekend. Vogel succesfully defended his title in Chur.

Four favorites competed for three places on the podium. World Champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized Factory Racing) found a track with a long climb and rough descent that suited his skills. Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) lives only meters away from the start/finish and wanted to put on a good show in front of the home crowd. With his good World Cup results thus far in 2009, Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) was the man to beat, but of course, Vogel wanted to keep the national title.

Lukas Flückiger (23 Degrees/ Trek)  and Martin Gujan (Cannondale) were also in the medal hunt.

The pace was tremendously high from the beginning. Soon it became clear that Sauser and Schurter would not be able to contend for the title. Schurter has been fighting bronchitis for two weeks. He's back to good health, but still struggled breathing.

One third of the way into the race, Gujan and Vogel put a gap on Flückiger and Näf. At the half-way point, Vogel looked confident and tried for a solo attack. At first, his gap back to Gujan held at 20 seconds. On the last three laps, nothing held the reigning champion back, and he won by nearly two minutes. This win was welcome after he struggled on the World Cup scene this spring.

Gujan earned a silver, and Flückiger completed the podium. The other favorites Näf (fourth), Sauser (fifth) and Schurter (sixth) had to go home without medals.

Vogel will head next to Zoetermeer, Holland, to defend his European Championship title.

Katrin Leumann (goldwurst-power / Sputnik) won the women's race in 1:35:50. Esther Süss (Wheeler-IXS Pro Team) followed just eight seconds behind, and Petra Henzi (Fischer-BMC) was third at 1:53.