Swiss Bike Cup: All BMC MTB Racing Team riders in the Top Seven!
4. April 2016, Riviera — MELANIE LEVEAU - Even though they didn’t take the win, the BMC MTB Racing Team managed a fantastic performance - finishing second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh.
The first round of the Swiss Bike Cup usually marks the start of the international season and is always a good indicator of each rider’s form after the long winter break. The least we can say is that the BMC MTB Racing Team is ready to tackle the 2016 season! Absalon finished second after his first duel with Nino Schurter, Lars Forster took third in his first race in the Elite category, and Lukas Flückiger, Reto Indergand and Martin Fanger finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively!
At the front of the race, Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter were first accompanied by young French talent Titouan Carod who eventually had to let the two leaders go due to a flat tire. Absalon couldn’t follow Schurter’s attack in the most difficult section of the course but had a big smile on his face at the finish line nonetheless “I felt much better than last week at the French Cup. I didn’t suffer from allergies this time so I could really give it all” he explained.
Starting in the third row, and excited to finally get racing again after the winter, Lars Forster fought his way up to take third place after dropping Marco Fontana and Florian Vogel in the fourth of seven laps in total.
Lukas Flückiger finished strong, catching teammate Reto Indergand in the last few meters to take fifth place in the closely contested sprint for fourth place.
It wasn’t Martin Fanger’s lucky day unfortunately. The Swiss rider had a flat tire at the very beginning of the race and crossed the line in 34th position at the end of lap one but despite this, he managed to ride back into seventh place with impressive lap times (the fastest time on laps five and seven).
The entire BMC MTB Racing Team will take part in the Gold Trophy Sabine Spitz in Bad Säckingen, Germany next Sunday.
Results:
- Nino Schurter
- Julien Absalon +0’15’’
- Lars Forster +1‘32‘‘
- Marco Fontana +2‘16‘‘
- Lukas Flückiger +2‘16‘‘
- Reto Indergand +2‘17‘‘
- Martin Fanger +2‘53‘‘
Full results available here.
Photo: EGO Promotion
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