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Oakley’s Mountain Bike Team Breaks Out the Broomsticks at the Val di Sole World Cup

It was a clean, dirty sweep.

Oakley’s high-powered mountain bike team, lead took the top three spots at the Val di Sole World Cup in Italy this past week.

Right off the heels of a big Florian Vogel victory in Champèry, it was Nino Schurter’s turn to grace the top of the podium. Not only did he beat Olympic champion Julien Absalon in the sprint finish again, he also took over the world cup lead from the dominating rider. Vogel completed the superb race day for Team Oakley, flying into 3rd place.

Florian and Nino arrived in Val di Sole with superb focus and confidence from some good racing the previous week in Switzerland. Not to mention, the Italian location held some sentimental vale. Vogel became vice-world champion in 2008 right there in Van di Sole and Schurter won the U23 world champion title at the same venue. And they left no doubt from the beginning that they wanted to step up to the podium again.

Sprinting Duel
Jose Antonio Hermida, Julien Absalon, Mathias Flückiger and the leading duo set the pace at the front. Hermida flatted half way through and U23 leader Flückiger wasn’t able to keep up the high speed to the very end. The pack of world championship medalists (2009) stayed together until last lap. And that came as a surprise, as each attacked each constantly throughout the race.

With some fierce competition up front, it was apparent that the leaders were all racing at a high level. Vogel came off after an attack from Absalon half with a lap to go in the race. At the final 300 meters, Absalon had no chance against a charging Nino Schurter.

Intense Training for the Finals
The riders now train at an extreme altitudes in the Engadin Valley-Swiss Alps to get ready for worlds – with riders like Nino hungry for a World Cup win. The opportunity is clearly there, but Absalon is still right on his tail. Florian, the only rider to win a medal at worlds for the past three years, seeks to continue the trend…but Gold is still missing in his collection.