As Julie Bresset on Thursday, Switzerland’s Thomas Litscher brilliantly confirmed his position as one of the top favorites of the U23 men competition celebrating a superb victory at the end of an exciting event marked by great fights for 2nd and 3rd place.
At the end of the sixth and last lap, the Swiss rider beat by 1.42 minutes Poland’s Marek Konwa while Henk Jaap Moorlag from Holland was a strong 3rd at 2.13 minutes.
Two other Swiss came in 4th and 5th – Matthias Stirnemann and Reto Indergand - while Italy Gerhard Kerschbaumer, the U23 World Cup Champion had to be content with a rather modest 6th place. Two days ago, Kerschbaumer clinched bronze in the ‘Team Relay’ event.
Another favorite, France’s Fabien Canal, who wore bib 7, also had a difficult day as he finished a distant 23rd nearly ten minutes behind the winner.
A total of 77 riders ended the race of a total length of 31,800 km while 9 riders gave up or didn’t start the race at all.
Second World title for Litscher.
Four years after collecting the rainbow jersey in the junior category in Fort William, in Scotland, Litscher captured another major title at Champéry a month after finishing 2nd in the European Championships organized in Slovakia. This season, the talented 22-year-old was mostly focusing on the ‘Elite’ tour reaching some promising results to finish the overall standings a solid 15th. Interestingly enough, Litscher, who has reached three top-10 positions, is the youngest rider classified within the top-20!
The strong support of the local crowd strongly encouraged the Swiss rider, especially in the first part of the race when he was fighting hard to build up his lead on the other favorites.
“I didn’t expect to take off so soon, I didn’t plan it. I already was happy to be among the leaders after the start loop. At the beginning I was ready to ride a while along Kerschbaumer to better control the race,” Litscher explained afterwards. “But he was not in such a great shape this time so I didn’t wait too long on him after I dropped him again in the second big uphill section,” he added.
A lot of concentration.
“Then I just remained focused on my race, taking care not to make a stupid mistake. It’s a very demanding track which requests a lot of concentration. You can save a lot of physical and mental energy in avoiding slipping away in difficult wet sections. I must say that the crowd has been amazing. The spectators made incredible noise in the long climb after the ‘feed zone’ so I was really motivated and pushed as hard as I could on my pedals.”
“To grab that world title here in front of my fans and friends is for sure something special, I’ll never forget that day,” also said Litscher as he was congratulated by Mr. Ueli Maurer, a key member of the Federal Government.
“I hope this will help me next year to qualify for the London Olympics. Only three Swiss XC riders will be able to compete there but I believe in my chances looking how well I progressed this year compared to last season. I know I still have a lot to improve. I’ll do my best – I’m still young so if I can’t make it this time, hopefully it will the case in 2016.”
A great day too for Poland.
It will also be a day to remember for the Polish team as Marek Konwa became the first man to capture a medal at a UCI MTB and Trials World Championships. It has already be the case in the women’s side – in fact the defending World Champion on Saturday is Maja Wloszczoska who beat the rest of the field last year in Québec.
“This is pretty huge for me and our group, I’m so thrilled about this success especially when I think that I crashed during my first lap after the feed zone,” the 21-year-old explained
“It’s really a challenging course which really suited my style, I felt very good on the technical parts,” also said the Polish rider who moved up in 2nd place prior the middle of the competition after passing all the other favorites except Litscher.
“I like this course a lot, it was perfect for me and I’m now looking forward to celebrate this medal with my teammates.”
Nearly a dozen countries have now clinched medals in the six XC races held so far and in the women Trials event won as expected by Switzerland’s Karine Moor. The 25-year-old who got her ninth rainbow jersey is now giving up the competition scene to live a more relaxed life, yet without turning her back to her specialty.
Two Spanish girls also reached the Trials podium in that event. With a total of three gold and a bronze medals, both Switzerland and France are leading the list of medal winners.
PkL |
U23 XC men. 
