Podium finish in the XCC race of Les Gets for Alessandra Keller
The Thömus maxon team started the third last World Cup weekend with a podium place for Alessandra Keller and two top ten results in the men’s race. The long straights and the dry surface made for exciting and close decisions.
World Cup leader Alessandra Keller was the big animator in Friday’s XCC race until the second last lap. She was always in the front positions and did not shy away from leading the race. For a long time, she was able to compete for the victory. Until she slipped on her rear wheel in one of the hairpin bends on the dust-dry ground and had to close a gap to the later winner, Puck Pieterse (NED). This effort probably cost her the decisive energy to be able to sprint for the victory on the home stretch. But Keller was satisfied with her third place. “I didn’t have the best legs today, but I was able to collect more important points for the overall ranking,” the woman from Nidwalden summed up at the finish.
Keller still within striking distance despite being behind in the overall standings.
The women’s race was won by Pieterse, ahead of Richards (GB) and Alessandra Keller. In the intermediate World Cup ranking she had to give up the leader’s jersey to the young Dutchwoman. With a small gap of 30 points to today’s winner, Keller is still within striking distance two races before the end of the season.
No Exploit in the Men’s Race
For once, the men’s race was without an exploit. Flückiger, Forster and Albin did not compete for the victory. Mathias Flückiger “hid” cleverly in the field for long stretches to profit from the slipstream of the other riders. He also risked more than once a brave attack to break the leading group, but in the end, he was not rewarded for his riding. In the end, a solid team result with Lars Forster in ninth, Vital Albin in tenth and Flückiger in twelfth place. This means that all Thömus maxon riders will start from the second row of the grid in the XCO race on Sunday. The podium reads: Koretzky (FR), ahead of Sarrou (FR) and discipline leader Schwarzbauer (DE).
Luke Wiedmann started already on Thursday in the U23 category. He was the best Swiss rider and finished fourth.