Flückiger and Keller shine at home
Mathias Flückiger and Alessandra Keller both finish in a marvellous second place at their home World Cup in Crans-Montana. To top off a perfect day, Keller also took the lead in the overall women’s World Cup.
For Thömus maxon, the home World Cup, which was also the main rehearsal for the 2025 Home World Championships, ended in great success. The two team leaders Alessandra Keller and Mathias Flückiger showed all their class and each rode to a much-acclaimed second place in the Olympic XCO race. With Loana Lecomte (Fra) and Tom Pidcock (Gbr), both races saw two superior winners.
«The results come with a good feeling and fun»
For Mathias Flückiger, the first World Cup podium of the season was a source of great satisfaction: «I’m really happy. It wasn’t easy because there was a lot of pressure. But with a good feeling and fun come the results. That feels great.»
Overall World Cup lead thanks to 2nd place for Keller
Alessandra Keller also drew a very positive conclusion from her second podium finish in 24 hours: «The home crowd was a great motivation. I gave everything I had. I was completely focussed on myself. Because the track was extremely challenging; anything could happen at any time.» To top off a perfect Sunday, Alessandra Keller also took the lead in the Overall World Cup after leading already the XCC overall standings.
Crash costs Forster a possible podium finish
Lars Forster, who had timed his race perfectly and was in the thick of the fight for the podium places halfway through the race, had less luck in the race. He crashed hard in one of the controversial technical sections. Forster lost a lot of time until he found his rhythm again. But the 30-year-old double European champion pulled himself together and rode to a good 8th place with a strong finish.
Things went less well for Vital Albin, who had to settle for 57th place. Luke Wiedmann had already finished 11th in the U23 race on Saturday evening.