Keller and Forster shine in fourth place
Just one day after Alessandra Keller’s third place in the first XCC World Cup of the season, Team Thömus maxon impressed once again. Two-time overall World Cup winner Keller secured a strong fourth place in an extremely exciting women’s race. Lars Forster also finished fourth – just one second behind third place.
Alessandra Keller literally kept her cool in the heat of Araxá. She did not let herself be put off by the horrendous initial pace and rode in the second largest group in the race for a long time. But after the halfway point of the race, Keller stepped up the pace considerably and caught up with the leaders within a lap. From this moment on, an extremely exciting battle broke out for the three podium places. The strongest in the end was Samara Maxwell (NZL), who celebrated her first World Cup victory.
“Racing like this makes fun”
Alessandra Keller finished an excellent fourth and was again pleasantly surprised by her performance: “I didn’t know what to expect. But it seems that I recovered well from the short track. I deliberately planned my race and this plan worked out very well. It’s fun to race like this.”
Strong finish from Forster
Lars Forster also provided an extremely positive surprise. The two-time European champion showed an attentive race and was always in a large chasing group, which fought for third place on the podium behind the two superior riders Korretzky (FRA) and Blevins (USA). With an impressive final lap, Forster took an excellent fourth place.
Forster drew a positive conclusion: “I stayed calm throughout the race. I only pushed harder in the last three laps. It’s a shame that in the end I was only just short of third place. But I’m very happy with my performance.”
Flückiger and Albin ensure a strong team performance
Mathias Flückiger rode consistently in twentieth place for a long time. But in the last third of the race, the Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo was able to turn up the heat and get back into the fight for third place. Flückiger then lost a little for this effort in the last lap and finished in 13th place.
Vital Albin, who started in 61st position, was also convincing and thus ensured a cohesive team performance from Thömus maxon. Albin was able to steadily work his way forward with strong lap times and achieved a satisfactory 24th place.
Next Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12, the second World Cup will take place in Araxá.