The Austrian town of Vöcklabruck was the scene of the second race of the 2017 UCI World Cup calendar. Under a highly demanding route, Abel, provisional leader of the championship, took the controls of the brand new carbon K1 with the aim of repeating Aalter’s result.
In the semi-finals, Abel Mustieles, second in this round with four points on his card, Oswald, Pechhacker, Leiser, Bertola and Joacim Nymann managed to qualify for the Elite 20. At this point in the race, one of the big favourites, Benito Ros, was left with no chance of going through to the final, who after making two important mistakes was relegated to eleventh position. For the Navarrese rider, accustomed to being in the places of honour, it was a frustrating result, as he saw himself with a chance of making a good result in the final in the Vöcklabruck areas.
The final was not easy at all for the Elite 20 riders.” The high level of the five zones planned for this round was going to equalize the scores a lot, so any success was providential. For Abel, at the controls of a
Clean K1 20″,
it was a final from less to more, and after starting with three consecutive “fives”, he had the ability to overcome and achieve a hard-fought victory being the best in the last two sections. Enough effort to achieve victory, but not enough for the Spaniard to end up happy with his riding:
Abel Mustieles:
“I’m not entirely happy, despite the win, as I didn’t manage to ride as I should have in the first three sections. In the last two I was satisfied, but above all I needed to feel good on the bike. However, it is a great result, as it is a big step forward for the general classification. It’s time to train more and be more competitive in the next race.”
Joacim Nymann:
“The semi-finals were really good for me, despite some mistakes on the first lap, I had to drive very focused as the level of the sections was something simple. I managed to qualify for the final in sixth position and I’m happy about that. The final round wasn’t so good, as I had a fall in the warm-up that conditioned me in the race. I didn’t like the areas, they weren’t well thought out, since in most of them you were very short of time. I’m happy to be back in the final and I think I can improve for the next race.”
