Schurter wins in La Bresse to secure UCI World Cup

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Despite having already mathematically won the 2018 UCI XCO World Cup after the penultimate sixth round, Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) did not hold back in the final round in La Bresse, France, on Sunday, taking his 30th career World Cup win, putting him in an exclusive club with Julien Absalon and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå.

Schurter attacked on the opening lap and led for all but one lap. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Torpado Gabogas) and Corendon-Circus' Mathieu Van der Poel kept Schurter within 15 seconds for the first three laps, with Van der Poel actually joining the world champion at the front on lap 2, but they both began to lose ground in the second half of the race.

Kerschbaumer rallied in the final lap to pull to within 12 seconds and take second place, but Van der Poel crashed and suffered a slow puncture, and was overtaken by Maxime Marotte (Cannondale Factory) for third in the last lap.

"It was my plan to attack right from the beginning and see how the others responded," said Schurter. "I want to try to win every World Cup race, and my 30th World Cup win was a big goal. And it's a good feeling to go into the world championships with a good result."

Schurter ended the season with 1,861 points. Van der Poel remained in second, a distant 506 points back, while Marotte moved into third, bumping Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory).

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