Not the hoped-for World Cup start

The first XCO World Cup race did not go as planned for Team Thömus maxon. Alessandra Keller just missed out on the five-rider podium in Mairiporã (Bra) in sixth place. Lars Forster was the best Thömus-maxon rider in the men’s race in 18th place.

Alessandra Keller did not get off to the best of starts, but still managed to finish in tenth place. The Swiss champion was able to close the small gap to the front at the start of the second lap. However, the pace of the three leading riders Batten, Blunk (both USA) and Rissveds (Swe) was too high and Keller had to find her own pace. She fought for fifth place until the last lap, but had to give it up to Jolanda Neff in the final lap. The winner was Jenny Rissveds.

Sixth place at the start of the World Cup was a strong performance, but not what Keller native had hoped for: “It was a mega tough race. I gave it my all and have no regrets. Next week is my next chance.”

Forster solid – Flückiger with a race to catch up

The Thömus men had mixed results. Lars Forster showed a strong performance and was always in the large second group. In the end it was 18th place for the two-time European champion Forster. Mathias Flückiger, on the other hand, had a completely unsuccessful start. After half a lap and less than ten minutes of race time, the silver medal winner of the Olympic Games in Tokyo was already 50 seconds behind and outside the top 50. Flückiger started from a long way back to catch up and finished in 21st place. Vital Albin started very well, but dropped back to 78th place by the end. U23 rider Luke Wiedmann already finished 13th on Saturday.

Next weekend, Saturday and Sunday, the second World Cup race is scheduled in Araxá, again in Brazil.

Results:
Cross Country Mairiporã (Bra)