For Christian Pfäffle the UCI World Cup race in La Bresse, France had a very similar development and outcome as the previous race one week before. In Albstadt/Germany the 23 year old had started from place 128 to finish 47th.

In the meantime the UCI points ranking hadn’t been updated, meaning the points he won weren’t taken into account to determine his starting position for the World Cup race in the Vosges Mountains. So the STEVENS MTB Racing Team rider took off from position 125. ”The starting phase again was a huge mess with many crashes, so I had to walk the first climb rather than riding it”, Christian Pfäffle said after the race. He eventually got back in the saddle, though. Like in Albstadt, he fought superbly from the first lap on to catch up.

After the first lap he already had advanced to place 85 and continued to overtake competitors while constantly clocking in respectable lap times. Considering these lap times Christian from the third lap on was always better than place 40 despite the many passing maneuvers that hindered him from being able to ride his own rhythm. The La Bresse course was technically challenging and slippery due to heavy rain the previous day. With a better starting position an even better result can be expected.

For the first time since 1999 the podium was completely made up by French riders. Winner became Julien Absalon in front of Maxime Marotte and Victor Koretzky. Nino Schurter who had outsprinted Absalon for victory in Albstadt had begun the race as part of a head group but suffered two flats and fell behind to finish fourth at 1min 42 sec behind.

”There were less possibilities for passing compared to Albstadt, but it was a super nice, natural course, technically challenging, though, because of the rain from the night before”, Christian said. Despite the demanding course he had passed 77 riders, almost as many as in Albstadt (81). ”So I could repeat my good performance from Albstadt”, he said.

STEVENS Racing Team manager Joachim Oechsner concludes: ”You must have respect for this effort. You can’t go a straight line, neither uphill nor downhill, because there is always a slower rider in front of you. In addition you can’t choose the perfect line for overtaking which requires a lot of power and concentration. This shows in what kind of shape Christian is at the moment.”
By finishing second best German, Pfäffle has recommended himself for starting in the World Championships from June 29th to July 3rd in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, says Oechsner.