Fluckiger wins another epic battle against Nino Schurter in the Leogang World Cup

Mathias Fluckiger signs again another double victory, XCC and XCO, winning another epic battle against Nino Schurter.

Mathias Fluckiger wins the Leogang XCO World Cup 2022

The raincoats gave way to ice jackets on the starting grid, which foreshadowed a "hot" race that could hurt or benefit some riders.

Vlad Dascalu started very strong and took the lead of the first group that formed on the opening lap. The Romanian Trek Factory rider was followed by Alan Hatherly, Henrique Avancini, Anton Cooper, Jordan Sarrou, Nino Schurter and Mathias Fluckiger.

The first to take over from Dascalu was Nino Schurter at the start of the first lap. And although on Friday, during the Short Track, Nino Schurter showed no signs of being at his best, doubts about the Swiss were dispelled when he attacked on the hardest climb of the circuit.

The attack was neutralized by South African Alan Hatherly who helped the group get back in contact with the World Champion, but it was already clear what the tone of the race would be.

Nino Schurter's change of pace took effect and by the start of lap 2 there were only five riders in the front group: Hatherly, Dascalu, Fluckiger, Cooper and Schurter himself.

On the second lap, Nino gave his rivals no respite and when the pace relaxed a little, Schurter attacked again to continue to get rid of rivals. Anton Cooper was the most damaged this time and ended up dropping back.

To add more excitement to the race, Mathias Fluckiger surprised everyone during lap 3 and from the last position of the group launched a very aggressive change of pace that left everyone except Nino Schurter hanging.

Fluckiger had completely dynamited the race and throughout lap 4 it began to look like the victory would be between one of the two Swiss. Alan Hatherly remained third at about 7 seconds and tried not to lose more time. Behind, Maxime Marotte continued to gain positions and now fought with Dascalu for fourth place.

The Spanish rider David Valero was making another one of his epic comebacks and after not having a good start he was already sixth at the beginning of lap five.

The last lap started with a lot of tension between Schurter and Fluckiger which ensured a great end of the race. For his part, Vlad Dascalu tried to contact Alan Hatherly to dispute the third place while David Valero did the rest to try to reach Maxime Marotte, which ensured him to get on the podium.

Fluckiger tried several uphill attacks and although they didn't seem decisive, he got 5 seconds ahead of Nino. Just enough to reach the finish area alone and thus achieve his first victory of the year in the XCO World Cup.

Nino Schurter came in second, making him wait once again for the long-awaited record of 34 victories, which would leave him as the mountain biker with the most World Cup wins, Alan Hatherly came in third after a very solid race, Vlad Dascalu was fourth and Maxime Marotte closed the podium in fifth place.

The Spanish rider David Valero came in sixth, fighting for position with Anton Cooper in the sprint.

Results XCO World Cup Leogang 2022

1. FLÜCKIGER Mathias (THÖMUS MAXON) 
2. SCHURTER Nino (SCOTT-SRAM MTB RACING TEAM) 
3. HATHERLY Alan (CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING) 
4. DASCALU Vlad (TREK FACTORY RACING XC) 
5. MAROTTE Maxime (SANTA CRUZ FSA MTB PRO TEAM)
6. VALERO SERRANO David (BH TEMPLO CAFÉS UCC) 
7. COOPER Anton (TREK FACTORY RACING XC) BRAIDOT
8. Luca (SANTA CRUZ FSA MTB PRO TEAM) 
9. SCHUERMANS Jens (SCOTT CREUSE OXYGENE GUERET) 
10. DUBAU Joshua (ROCKRIDER RACING TEAM)