Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) once again delivered the home victory the fans had been looking for at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Les Gets, adding the win in the elite men’s Cross-Country Olympic race on Sunday to the short-track victory he took on Friday.
“It was a dream week for me, I’m super happy,” said Koretzky in the televised post-race interview after having quickly taken a moment to embrace his partner and child on the sidelines.
The Frenchman crossed the line with a seventeen second advantage to Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM), who took no time to overcome his start position back in 25th position on the grid after missing the short track through illness. Vlad Dascalu (Trek Factory Racing) took third at in the sweltering day of racing, after overhauling Marcel Guerrini (Bixs Performance Race Team).
Schurter went out the front early in the race and put on the pressure, cutting the lead group down to just four heading into the fourth lap of eight. Jordan Sarrou (BMC), Koretzky and Joshua Dubau (Rockrider Ford) had joined Schurter in that group while Dascalu at that stage was just a little off the back.
Still, it was Koretzky that soon took off alone and held firm out the front, with Schurter and Dubau holding in as the main pursuers. Still Schurter had to fight his way back to Dubau after losing around 30 seconds to fix a puncture in the sixth of eight laps. Ultimately the French Rockrider Ford racer faded to fifth near the very end of the final lap after Schurter attacked and rode away to second.
“It was a good ride but unfortunately then I had a flat and had to catch back. I was happy with the second place but I had to dig deep,” said Schurter, with just how hard he had fought to secure that runner up spot clear as he lay on his side on the grass after the line, eyes closed and trying to catch his breath. “I still didn’t feel so good with breathing from my sickness last week so I had to dig really deep.”
In the men’s U23 race France’s Adrien Boichis (Trinity Racing MTB) took to the front early and finished with a 23 second gap to Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) with Carter Woods (Giant Factory Off-Road) third.
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