Lars Forster rides to his second World Cup victory

At Sunday’s cross-country race, Thömus maxon riders shine with three podium finishes. Forster wins for the first time in the new team colours, Flückiger finishes fifth and Wiedmann rides to third place again in the U23 category.

While Forster, who started from the second row, got off to a good start, the Swiss champion Flückiger, who still has a thumb injury, was initially hemmed in deep in the field. At the beginning of the third lap, he caught up with the leading group, which already included Lars Forster. Forster stood out up to this point with his clever race strategy. He always hid in the back of the group and let the other riders do the leading work.

Forster’s crisp attack in the final lap

In the fourth lap Mathias Flückiger laid his cards on the table and took the lead. Unfortunately, his effort was not rewarded, because a flat rear tyre threw him back to tenth place for a while. Just at that moment, Forster ignited the afterburner and set off to secure the second World Cup victory of his career. “I got off to a good start and felt good from the beginning. Nevertheless, I had to keep telling myself that it was hot today and that I had to be patient. So, as the race went on, I was able to catch and overtake one after the other,” said the beaming winner in the finish line interview. He felt that he was the strongest of the group on the mountain and used this superiority to the full in the final lap. He was overjoyed about this success, he added.

Flückiger finished in an excellent fifth place. Considering the flat tyre and his injured thumb, this result cannot be rated highly enough.

Keller focuses on the European Championships

Alessandra Keller’s original plan was to skip the race in Leogang to fully concentrate on the upcoming European Championships. With this training focus in mind, she was able to keep up with the best riders in the start lap and even take the lead for a short time. In the final classification, she finished in 18th place. The race was won by Puck Pieterse ahead of the two Austrians Mitterwallner and Stieger.

Luke Wiedmann again showed a solid race and placed third in the U23 category for the second time this weekend.

It continues for the athletes of Thömus maxon next weekend with the European Championships in Krackau, Poland.