Flueckiger tops Van der Poel in Albstadt
Sarrou rounds out podium
Mathias Flueckiger (Thomus RN Swiss Bike) took the second World Cup win of his career in Albstadt, Germany, on Sunday, flying through the rain and mud that everyone else struggled with.
The men's race began with light rain, that turned into a deluge for nearly 30 minutes mid-race, before the sun came out for the final lap and a half. World champion Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) and his usual rival, short track winner Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus) took the lead on the start loop, but van der Poel then struggled for the next lap and a half, dropping back as far as 12th. Schurter was joined at the front by Flueckiger, Jordan Sarrou (Absolute-Absalon), Florian Vogel (KMC-Ekoi-Orbea) and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory), but the group was quickly whittled down to Schurter, Flueckiger and Sarrou by Lap 3.
A lap later, and Flueckiger was off on his own in front, while the others struggled in the slippery mud. Van der Poel was recovering quickly, moving up to third behind Sarrou while Schurter was uncharacteristically falling back to eventually finish sixth. Flueckiger rolled in for the second World Cup win of his career, while van der Poel caught Sarrou in the final half lap to take second. Van der Poel keeps the World Cup jersey with 325 points, followed by Flueckiger with 305, and Schurter at 210.
"I just rode my own race," said Flueckiger. "I never had to go over my limit, just on the limit. And then I was in the lead and I had wings! I was just in a tunnel and riding to the finish line; in those conditions you just have to ride your own race."
"It was one of the most fun World Cups I've done so far," said van der Poel. "I said to my team that I was hoping for rain, so I was glad when it started pouring. It was a little bit stupid to follow Nino at the beginning and I blew the engine a little bit. It took me a few laps to get back on my pace. I got better and better, but unfortunately it was for second place."
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mathias Flueckiger (Swi) | 1:23:54 |
2 | Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) | 0:00:32 |
3 | Jordan Sarrou (Fra) | 0:00:33 |
4 | Titouan Carod (Fra) | 0:01:20 |
5 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:01:22 |
6 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 0:01:39 |
7 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) | 0:01:44 |
8 | Reto Indergand (Swi) | 0:01:55 |
9 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) | 0:02:08 |
10 | David Valero Serrano (Spa) | 0:02:28 |
11 | Stephane Tempier (Fra) | 0:02:31 |
12 | Jens Schuermans (Bel) | 0:02:37 |
13 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) | 0:02:39 |
14 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 0:02:49 |
15 | Thomas Litscher (Swi) | 0:03:01 |
16 | Joshua Dubau (Fra) | 0:03:25 |
17 | Nadir Colledani (Ita) | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
18 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) | 0:03:41 |
19 | Peter Disera (Can) | 0:03:53 |
20 | Martin Fanger (Swi) | 0:04:08 |
21 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:04:13 |
22 | Jan Škarnitzl (Cze) | 0:04:24 |
23 | Milan Vader (Ned) | 0:04:33 |
24 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) | 0:04:47 |
25 | Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo (Mex) | 0:04:49 |
26 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) | 0:04:55 |
27 | Georg Egger (Ger) | 0:05:02 |
28 | Karl Markt (Aut) | 0:05:06 |
29 | Gioele Bertolini (Ita) | 0:05:09 |
30 | Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) | 0:05:10 |
31 | Sebastian Fini Carstensen (Den) | 0:05:16 |
32 | Jan Vastl (Cze) | 0:05:22 |
33 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:05:29 |
34 | Daniel James Mcconnell (Aus) | 0:05:36 |
35 | Thomas Griot (Fra) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
36 | Anton Cooper (NZl) | 0:05:48 |
37 | Alan Hatherly (RSA) | 0:06:00 |
38 | Márton Dina (Hun) | 0:06:07 |
39 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | 0:06:17 |
40 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) | 0:06:20 |
41 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:06:23 |
42 | Nicholas Pettina' (Ita) | 0:06:33 |
43 | Martin Haring (Svk) | 0:06:34 |
44 | Luiz Henrique Cocuzzi (Bra) | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
45 | Catriel Soto (Arg) | 0:06:38 |
46 | Lukas Flueckiger (Swi) | 0:06:58 |
47 | Luca Schwarzbauer (Ger) | 0:07:01 |
48 | Jakub Zamrozniak (Pol) | 0:07:03 |
49 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) | 0:07:09 |
50 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) | 0:07:11 |
51 | Ben Oliver (NZl) | 0:07:17 |
52 | Grant Ferguson (GBr) | 0:07:30 |
53 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | 0:07:36 |
54 | Andrew L'Esperance (Can) | 0:07:45 |
55 | Simon Vitzthum (Swi) | 0:07:56 |
56 | Mário Costa (Por) | 0:07:58 |
57 | Julian Schelb (Ger) | 0:08:07 |
58 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | 0:08:26 |
59 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:08:31 |
60 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | 0:08:51 |
61 | Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) | 0:09:00 |
62 | Raphael Gay (Fra) | 0:09:06 |
63 | Timofei Ivanov (Rus) | 0:09:07 |
64 | Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) | 0:09:08 |
65 | Florian Chenaux (Swi) | 0:09:09 |
66 | Sven Strähle (Ger) | 0:09:16 |
67 | Thibaud Saint Guilhem (Fra) | 0:09:28 |
68 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) | 0:09:44 |
69 | Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) | 0:09:49 |
70 | Keegan Swenson (USA) | 0:09:50 |
71 | Noah Blöchlinger (Swi) | 0:09:51 |
72 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
73 | Leandre Bouchard (Can) | 0:10:11 |
74 | Florian Trigo (Fra) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
75 | Krzysztof Lukasik (Pol) | 0:10:12 |
76 | Martins Blums (Lat) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
77 | David Rosa (Por) | 0:10:39 |
78 | Lorenzo Pellegrini (Ita) | 0:10:52 |
79 | Rok Naglič (Slo) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
80 | Luke Vrouwenvelder (USA) | 0:10:59 |
81 | Léo Lhomme (Swi) | 0:11:06 |
82 | Zsombor Palumby (Hun) | 0:11:13 |
83 | Denis Fumarola (Ita) | 0:11:35 |
84 | Ruslan Boredskiy (Rus) | 0:11:51 |
85 | Edoardo Bonetto (Ita) | 0:11:59 |
86 | Vincent Sibille (Fra) | 0:12:10 |
87 | Lukáš Kobes (Cze) | 0:12:21 |
88 | András Parti (Hun) | Row 87 - Cell 2 |
89 | Davide Clerici (Ita) | Row 88 - Cell 2 |
90 | Tobias Eise (Ger) | Row 89 - Cell 2 |
91 | Moritz Bscherer (Aut) | Row 90 - Cell 2 |
92 | Lucas Dubau (Fra) | Row 91 - Cell 2 |
93 | Harold Flandre (Fra) | Row 92 - Cell 2 |
94 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) | Row 93 - Cell 2 |
95 | Severin Disch (Swi) | Row 94 - Cell 2 |
96 | Nick Vanpol (Bel) | Row 95 - Cell 2 |
97 | Marc Andre Fortier (Can) | Row 96 - Cell 2 |
98 | Christian Pfäffle (Ger) | Row 97 - Cell 2 |
99 | Erwin Bakker (Ned) | Row 98 - Cell 2 |
100 | Rob Vanden Haesevelde (Bel) | Row 99 - Cell 2 |
101 | Bastien Rolland (Fra) | Row 100 - Cell 2 |
102 | Bruno Vitali (Swi) | Row 101 - Cell 2 |
103 | Zdeněk Vobecký (Cze) | Row 102 - Cell 2 |
104 | Jakob Hartmann (Ger) | Row 103 - Cell 2 |
105 | Mingrun Chen (Chn) | Row 104 - Cell 2 |
106 | Guy Sessler (Isr) | Row 105 - Cell 2 |
107 | Heiko Hog (Ger) | Row 106 - Cell 2 |
108 | Rémi Groslambert (Fra) | Row 107 - Cell 2 |
109 | Manuel Sanchez Aldeguer (Spa) | Row 108 - Cell 2 |
110 | Andreas Egger (Ger) | Row 109 - Cell 2 |
111 | Oleksandr Koniaiev (Ukr) | Row 110 - Cell 2 |
112 | Samuel Shaw (NZl) | Row 111 - Cell 2 |
113 | Mattia Setti (Ita) | Row 112 - Cell 2 |
114 | Stefan Schairer (Ger) | Row 113 - Cell 2 |
115 | Jan Withaar (RSA) | Row 114 - Cell 2 |
116 | Victor Selles Pardo (Spa) | Row 115 - Cell 2 |
117 | Henrik Jansson (Swe) | Row 116 - Cell 2 |
118 | Rodolphe Lestievent (Fra) | Row 117 - Cell 2 |
119 | Arthur Tropardy (Fra) | Row 118 - Cell 2 |
120 | Niklas Grobert (Ger) | Row 119 - Cell 2 |
121 | David Duggan (GBr) | Row 120 - Cell 2 |
122 | Tobias Sindlinger (Ger) | Row 121 - Cell 2 |
123 | Clément Noel (Fra) | Row 122 - Cell 2 |
124 | Tumelo Makae (Les) | Row 123 - Cell 2 |
125 | Adrian Heinz Willi Horchler (Ger) | Row 124 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Hugo Drechou (Fra) | Row 125 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jochen Käß (Ger) | Row 126 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Ricardo Marinheiro (Por) | Row 127 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Maximilian Foidl (Aut) | Row 128 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Erno Mccrae (Bel) | Row 129 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Ondřej Cink (Cze) | Row 130 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Lars Forster (Swi) | Row 131 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) | Row 132 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Bartlomiej Wawak (Pol) | Row 133 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Ger) | Row 134 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Jaroslav Kulhavý (Cze) | Row 135 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Wout Alleman (Bel) | Row 136 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Andrin Beeli (Swi) | Row 137 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Goran Cerovic (Mne) | Row 138 - Cell 2 |
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