Switzerland is the XC Team Relay World Champion 2022

Switzerland has been proclaimed 2022 Team Relay World Champion at the World Championships in Les Gets. The Alpine country's comeback started in the middle of the race with U23 rider Ronja Blöchlinger, continued with Junior rider Anina Hutter and was finished off by Nino Schurter to prove that they are still the best team in this discipline.

Switzerland wins the Team Relay World Championship 2022

The team relay event has once again brought us an exciting race in which 6 riders per team and 6 laps in total have left Switzerland as the strongest country in this category.

On the first lap, Italy was the fastest with Luca Braidot leading the way and leaving his team 20 seconds ahead of the rest. Behind them, French U23 rider Adrien Boichis put in a strong performance to stay second alongside the powerful Chris Blevins of the US team.

France's Junior rider Alexandre Martins managed to put his team first on lap 2 with 20 seconds ahead of Denmark, who rode with Oliver Solvhoj (U-23). Loana Lecomte kept France first through lap 3 and increased the lead to 40 seconds over their first pursuer, Italy. There was still a lot of racing ahead and big heavyweights to contend with.

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It was not until lap 4 that Switzerland entered the podium places for the first time, with under-23 rider Ronja Blöchlinger leaving her team in second place with a gap of more than 1:30 minutes behind France, who were still firmly in the lead.

The race made a big change on lap 5 when Junior Anina Hutter continued the Swiss comeback to put her in first place. Italy, with Junior Giada Specia also in the lead, jumped to second place with 7 seconds to go. And Haley Batten made up positions for the USA leaving her 3rd with 15 seconds and one lap to go. France, who rode that penultimate lap with Junior Tatiana Tournut, dropped to 7th place with more than 2 minutes lost due to mechanical problems.

It was Nino Schurter's turn for Switzerland and he went out first on the last lap.

Nino Schurter finishes the XC Team Relay with a flat tire!

But is doesn’t matter.

It’s GOLD and the Rainbow Jersey for the Swiss XC Team, Champion of the World! #LesGets2022 pic.twitter.com/RmpB2VZS0U

— UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) August 24, 2022

Although Italian U23 rider Simone Avondetto managed to keep up well on the final lap, he could do nothing to stop Nino Schurter from finishing first with a flat rear tyre.

Switzerland won the Team Relay World Championships for the ninth time and remains the team with the most victories in the event, followed by France with 7.

The Italian team came second and the USA closed the podium.

The Spanish team had another discreet performance with a 13th position after a significant comeback after riding in last position for a couple of laps. David Campos, Rocío García, Marta Cano, Joan Mir, Lucía Gomez and David Valero, in that order, were the team designated by Mikel Zabala, national coach, to compete in this Team Relay.