UCI Mountain Bike World Series Cross-country Olympic World Cup: Lars Forster powers to long-awaited win in Leogang

Lars Forster (Thömus Maxon) timed his move to perfection to power to the win at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series Cross-country Olympic World Cup in Leogang on Sunday.

Forster, Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) and Ondrej Cink (Primaflor Mondraker Genuins Racing Team) were separated by just one second as they began the final lap after the Swiss rider had ridden his way up the positions throughout the six-lap race.

However, Forster made his move at the start of the lap to pull away from his rivals and he finished in a time of 1:17:41 to take his first win in a UCI Cross-Country World Cup Olympic race since 2019, where he triumphed in Snowshoe, West Virginia.

Schwarzbauer finished 14 seconds back with Cink 23 seconds in arrears of the winner.

Mathias Flückiger (Thömus Maxon) had looked like he was going to steam to his third victory in Leogang in as many years before a puncture on the fourth lap ruined his progress and chances for the win. He would recover well for a fifth-place finish, book-ending the podium alongside team mate Forster.

Forster moved up to fourth in the Cross-Country Olympic World Cup standings, behind Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC), Nino Schurter (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) and Schwarzbauer. Schurter was unable to carry over his record-breaking form from Lenzerheide and only managed to finish 21st.

Schwarzbauer led the majority of the race after a typically powerful start and proved, alongside Cink, to be one of the very best on the early climbs.

Leogang is one of the hardest XCO courses on the calendar with a 3.6km course filled with ascents up ski slopes and technical descents. The hot sunny weather made the effort even tougher today.

Schwarzbauer and Cink had formed a duo at the front before they were joined by Flückiger halfway through the race after he shot up from 34th to the top 10 in just two laps.

Once he had reached the business end of racing, Flückiger began picking off riders in the top 10 to try and get up to Schwarzbauer, who was leading, and he hit the front on the climb as they started lap four.

His aforementioned rear-wheel puncture came just after a descent section and Schwarzbauer quickly moved ahead of the Swiss veteran to try and take maximum advantage. Flückiger wasn’t too far away from a technical zone, but he lost around 45 seconds and eight positions after changing his back wheel.

This would end his chance at victory and we appeared to have a two-rider fight set to decide the winner. Neither Schwarzbauer nor Cink had won a Cross-Country Olympic World Cup race before so we were looking at a maiden victory either way.

This was until Forster appeared in the background of the leaders and was beginning to reel them in as the climbing kept coming on the penultimate lap. Their advantage had dropped from 20 seconds to just a few bike lengths before it was ultimately closed on the penultimate arrival to the finishing arena.

The 29-year-old made quick work as the final lap began, moving to the front going into the first corner and putting the power down as soon as they began to go uphill. Cink had no response and started to go backwards.

Whilst Schwarzbauer was closer, Forster clearly still had some matches to burn and we still had the switchback section of climbing to come, where gradients can max out close to 25%.

The duo were spent halfway into the final lap, as Forster’s advantage was growing from six to 10 to 15 seconds at the front going into the descent.

After he safely navigated the table-tops without any risk and descended into the finish arena for the final time, he was greeted by the tremendous roar of the Austrian crowd and crossed the line with his arms aloft after 77 minutes of gruelling racing.

An incredible performance matched with a great celebration as he lifted his bike above his head and celebrated an emotional victory.

Schwarzbauer and Cink were both delighted to hold onto second and third respectively with Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Flückiger rounding out the five-rider podium.

Forster will next go to Krakow, Poland, to try and win a third XCO European title before the MTB World Series returns in Val di Sole, Italy in a fortnight.

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