10 Bikes That Have Won the Nove Mesto XC World Cup

May 12, 2021 at 11:12

by Alicia Leggett

For the second XC World Cup of 2021, the racers are making a familiar transition from the smooth tracks of Albstadt to a very different, more technical course in Nove Mesto. While last week's racers by-and-large opted to ride hardtails, this week we expect to see mostly full suspension race bikes. Let's flip back through the history books to look at what bikes have been successful at Nove Mesto in years past.

2014

Nino Schurter's Scott Scale

Nino Schurter is back for race three and looking for a win. This is the steed he aims to take it on. He is the only elite to run 650b in a sea of 29 inch wheels which makes his Spark rather interesting.

For the 2013 Nove Mesto XC race, Nino Schurter was the only Elite racer to run 27.5" rather than 29" wheels, and it worked out for him as he rode the custom-painted hardtail to the top podium step.

Just in case Nino needs a reminder it s there on his top tube.

The bike commemorates Nino's World Championship win.

Schurter is running a full XX1 group with a 36 tooth ring up front.

XX1 and a 36t chainring proved to be a winning formula.

Nino-specific tires.

DT Swiss remote lockout on Schurter s Scale.

His DT Swiss XRC fork had carbon lowers and a remote lockout.

2015

Jolanda Neff's Stockli Beryll RSC 29er

Jolanda Neff s St ckli. Neff opted for her hardtail on the course today.

While this was the bike Jolanda raced, she actually had a Rocket Ron tire on the front for the Nove Mesto race.

Jolanda Neff's Stockli Beryll RSC 29er used flexstays to give the hardtail a bit of vertical compliance on a course that increasingly pushed riders toward full suspension bikes. Her bike featured a Fox 32 fork, new Shimano Di2, a Ritchey cockpit and seatpost, Shimano hubs on unbadged wheels, and Schwalbe tires.

Throughout the race Jolanda and Gunn-Rita remained close. Neff s downhill skills were a notch above Dahle-Flesjaa s however.

Many expected Jolanda Neff to ride for victory few named Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa on their list for today.

Jolanda's technical skill clinched her the win in 2015 and makes her a strong contender once again this upcoming weekend.

2016

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark

Images from 5 Cross-Country Speed Machines - XC World Championships article

Nino switched to a 29er for the 2016 World Champs at Nove Mesto.

2016 saw a shift toward the bikes we see at Nove Mesto today: namely, full suspension 29ers. Nino Schurter's updated Scott Spark had the new Eagle drivetrain that allowed Nino to run a 38t chainring, DT Swiss suspension and wheels, SRAM Level Ultimate brakes, and a Ritchey cockpit and seatpost.

The DT Swiss shock had a handlebar remote.

Eagle meant that Nino could switch from an 11 to 12-speed drivetrain.

Bikes at Nove Mesto have to balance performance with light weight.

Nino was a late adopter of 29" wheels.

2017

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark

Nino Schurter s custom Scott Spark Photos by Matthew DeLorme

Scott commemorated Nino's Olympic gold in 2016 with a custom-painted Scott Spark that he raced in 2017. The stunning bike has undergone a few parts changes from Nino's previous bikes, with Maxxis and Syncros on board as new sponsors and RockShox now providing Nino's suspension.

2018

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark

You guessed it! It's another Scott Spark belonging, once again, to Nino Schurter. Photo: Syncros

The special thing about Nino's 2018 Nove Mesto bike was the early AXS drivetrain hanging on it. The latest and greatest wireless drivetrain was just being released, and it caused a buzz, especially after an AXS failure sabotaged Nino's short track race in Albstadt not long before.

link="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nino Schurter (@nschurter)

It was also the year that Nino won by just centimeters over Anton Cooper, decided by a photo finish because the pair tied to the hundredth of a second.

Annika Langvad's Specialized Epic

2018 was the culmination of Annika Langvad's three-year winning streak at Nove Mesto, which included winning the World Championship in 2016. It's extremely unfortunate that we don't have more bike check shots of most of her winning bikes, because her series of victories was quite impressive and deserving of acknowledgement. The bike pictured below was photographed at Sea Otter 2018, but she continued to race it at several of the 2018 World Cup races, riding it to victory.

SRAM Eagle XX1

Extremely light yet powerful Magura brakes.

link="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Annika Langvad (@annika.langvad)

2019

Kate Courtney's Scott Spark

Photos: Paris Gore, Red Bull Content Pool

Kate Courtney signed with Scott in 2019, joining Nino on the rainbow-jerseyed team after her breakout performance to win the World Championship in 2018. Kate's 2018 full suspension Scott Spark featured a cool grip integrated dropper remote button, RockShox suspension, a Syncros cockpit and saddle, and lots of sparkles.

Sparkles for days.

Kate's favorite animal is a shark, which she says exemplifies her racing style.

2020 double-header

Henrique Avancini's Cannondale Scalpel

Henrique Avancini proudly flew the Brazilian flag on his Scalpel for the brief 2020 World Cup season, taking his first Elite World Cup win at the second XCO race of the Nove Mesto double-header.

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot's Canyon Lux

The queen of the rainbow stripes rode a custom-painted Lux for the 2020 World Cup season that featured Rockshox suspension and Schwalbe tires on Duke wheels.

Simon Andreassen's Specialized Epic

link="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Simon Andreassen (@simon_andreassen)

Simon Andreassen took his first Elite World Cup win at Nove Mesto last season, and he has a chance to repeat the feat this weekend. His S-Works was fitted with lots of Specialized parts, RockShox suspension, the Specialized Brain, and an ultra-clean Eagle XX1 AXS drivetrain.

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56 Comments

108 3

Wheeeliemann (May 13, 2021 at 12:08)

Scott welcomes you to the Pinkbike 2021 pre race marketing warmup

Maxipedia FL (May 13, 2021 at 13:51)

I came for this comment. Thank you!

10 0

NorCalNomad (May 13, 2021 at 20:59)

And we won't be talking about Nino's Sparks that are "POWERED BY SRAM" with a FOX DPS in the rear before Rockshox had the SID rear shock

danielfloyd FL (May 14, 2021 at 8:10)

the 2017 one is so clean

36 0

Nobbinam (May 13, 2021 at 12:20)

Nino Schurter's Scott Scale
Nino Schurter's Scott Spark
Nino Schurter's Scott Spark
Nino Schurter's Scott Spark
....
Will he be able to win a sprint on Sunday?

By the way, Annika Langvad's insights she shared on Insta over the last couple days are a delight compared to the usual posts on social media

dolores (May 13, 2021 at 12:46)

It's a shame that she did most of the hard work, racking up points between 2018 and 2019, to put Denmark in a good place and now she's not even going to the Olympics, it must have been a tough decision to retire #respect

ps: I've always wondered why Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney used/use the fork crown position (racing for Specialized), as the narrow tuck position is faster based on the 2018 Specialized MTB Research www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6rZBNY90Fo

Jules15 FL (May 13, 2021 at 14:26)

@dolores: Kate still uses it

dolores (May 13, 2021 at 15:32)

Hi @Jules15, I know, which is why I wrote used/use

unless Annika and Kate have always been more comfortable with the fork crown position or maybe they never got the memo...

entrecerros (May 13, 2021 at 17:13)

Only chance he has to win a sprint is using a 27.5 rear and 29 front and I don't think this will happen

Augustus-G (May 13, 2021 at 21:44)

@dolores: I use both and sometimes the crown position is great for a change of position and in some headwinds you don't seem to get bashed about as much as in the Narrow tuck. For me both are useful and have their time and place.

On Annika's Instagram posts. The one's I found the most interesting where the ones when she first went back to work and realized just how hard it is for people with careers. She got a very poignant reality check. To put it simply she was wiped out mind & body for the first few weeks.

magnusc (May 14, 2021 at 3:24)

@dolores: I mostly use the narrow tuck, but I can see the benefit of the crown fork where you might be able to give your arms more rest and chest stays more open. Don’t think this really matters much in XCO because the flat parts are so few, but in Cape Epic and other XCM races with a lot of flat terrain it’s key.

26 0

hunkyG (May 13, 2021 at 12:19)

Might as well call this article "Nino's World Cup bikes through the years"

14 1

krka73 (May 13, 2021 at 12:16)

I generally hate red and Spesh, but I gotta admit that Red SWORKS is a hell of a nice looking race bike.

IF-OBA-WILLS-IT (May 13, 2021 at 13:14)

why do you hate specialized? i could certainly see one finding them too boring and corporate, but "hate" surprises me.

Blackhat (May 13, 2021 at 19:19)

@IF-OBA-WILLS-IT: Oh, I certainly don’t find them boring. Between the unnecessary proprietary marketing gimmicks that either does nothing for performance (zerts) or is only supported for a few years with no documentation for user service (brain) and the legal teams bullying of small companies there’s always something interesting going on. I hoped they had learned the lesson about the lawyers, but then they went and partnered with backcountry (another egregious bully) for all online sales.

xmothersuperiorx (May 14, 2021 at 5:26)

@Blackhat: What's the story with Backcountry?

Blackhat (May 14, 2021 at 8:25)

@xmothersuperiorx: Basically the same as specialized. They used trademark lawsuits to strong arm several small companies into abandoning the word “backcountry” in their product naming schemes. I think several were put out of business by it.

Both cases are similar in that a large company adopted a word in their marketing that we’re already ubiquitous and had strong associations in their respective areas (backcountry, roubaix, epic). Which is fine. But they then used their legal teams to claim that preestablished word for themselves, as if their branding had created the word instead of the other way around. And they were doing it against companies that had little hope of surviving the legal costs required to defend their rights.

www.outsideonline.com/2404984/backcountry-com-lawsuit-backlash-explained

10 0

wilsonians (May 13, 2021 at 12:53)

2014 Women: Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Giant). 2015 Men: Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized). 2019: Mathieu Van der Poel (Canyon).....yeah but screw them I guess?

10 0

dolores (May 13, 2021 at 13:10)

they were too fast to be caught by a photographer

jmc361 (May 13, 2021 at 14:09)

Nino's 2013 Scale with the Dugast sew-ups was in the Scott booth at Interbike that year. It's was hilariously light. Like laugh out loud light. Like, there are obviously road bikes that are lighter, but picking up something that's mountain bike-shaped at around 16lbs really messes with your perception of reality.

PAmtbiker (May 13, 2021 at 14:14)

Alternative title: Here are some pictures of some pretty nice Scott bicycles primarily ridden by Nino Schurter, but also by Kate Courtney

tomatokamryd (May 13, 2021 at 12:21)

Carefully selected winners ....

azogas413 (May 13, 2021 at 12:37)

I like how they just blatantly skipped 2015 and 2019 men's winners

18 1

alicialeggett Editor (May 13, 2021 at 12:53)

Unfortunately, the more likely someone is to win, the more likely it is that the photographers at the event will take photos of that rider's bike before the race. So we have a LOT of photos of Nino's bikes and are a little short on bike check photos for riders who weren't expected to win. It's not exactly my favorite thing either, but that's bike racing! The unpredictability makes it cool.

imnotdanny (May 13, 2021 at 13:01)

@azogas413: in one of the paragraphs they said that they don't have bike check images of all of them. Also the article is called "10 Bike that Have Won the Nove Mesto XC World Cup" not "All Bikes that Have Won at Nove Mesto".

azogas413 (May 13, 2021 at 13:03)

@alicialeggett: This is very true. Here's to hoping we see a higher mix of winning bikes in the future with all the young talent coming into the elites!

Jango997 (May 13, 2021 at 13:22)

@alicialeggett: It's not like MvdP in 2019 or Kulhavy in 2015 were surprise winners tho. Probably 2nd most likely to win after Nino. But I understand that bike checks are usually done before the race and photographers can't possibly have everything. And I personally think Ninos bikes are always the most photogenic, his frame size and setup just looks pefrectly balanced.

GZMS (May 13, 2021 at 14:05)

@Jango997: it is like after albstad last weekend we got kate’s bike check, but no bike check on the winning bike.. (shrug)

dolores (May 13, 2021 at 15:35)

@GZMS Ask, and it shall be given to you;

Massi Aire Carbon SL von Loana Lecomte

Orbea Alma von Victor Koretzky

Thirty3 (May 13, 2021 at 19:13)

@dolores: lts so interesting to see how different the men's bikes are vs the women's. The men's seem like road bikes for the dirt. Long stems, small frames and narrow bars. While the women's seem to embrace the modern race bike. Wider bars and shorter stems etc. The men's bikes looks clowny and cartoony. Same for men's road bikes.

GZMS (May 14, 2021 at 9:17)

@dolores: sweet! thanks for that!

cassonwd (May 13, 2021 at 15:24)

Shows how fookin' old XX1/X01 SRAM eagle is, and the cassettes are basically the same price. Gat'dayum they have made a pretty penny off the eagle gruppo as a whole.

DRomy (May 13, 2021 at 12:17)

Basically a free advertisement for Scott. Nice.

TOflat FL (May 13, 2021 at 12:23)

Hey, nobody ever said anything about integrity

37 0

andrew-va (May 13, 2021 at 12:24)

Scott sponsored the fastest guy in the race 3 years in a row. Was it really free?

baulz FL (May 13, 2021 at 12:57)

@andrew-va: They earned the extra attention on their brand.

AyJayDoubleyou FL (May 13, 2021 at 15:20)

Based on commenters on the state of the sport articles, Nino is worth about 5 million euros. That’s a hell of a lot for Scott, maxxis, dugast, RS/sram and so on to pay, so that we can look at pretty bikes.

DRomy (May 13, 2021 at 22:45)

@andrew-va: In rereading my terse comment, I realize I came across as sarcastic. Didn’t mean to. The reason I said “Nice.” was because I think it was nice for Scott to get the extra publicity after providing tremendous support for Nino (and Kate) over so many years.

rodeostu (May 13, 2021 at 13:25)

Nino is such a badass. Mere mortals would never venture to the depths of anaerobic hell where semi-slick skinwalls and a 40T front ring seem like a good idea.

yesisaidyes (May 13, 2021 at 13:22)

I didn't realize Scott made a bike called the Cannondale Scalpel

orchardbrewco FL (May 13, 2021 at 13:29)

That photo of Nino and Anton what a ripper. Best of luck to them this weekend!

wyric FL (May 13, 2021 at 13:42)

Scott Spark has the same frame (geometry) for 5 years and still Nino gets to podium.

Killerclam (May 13, 2021 at 18:01)

Does Stockli even sell bikes today?

zephxiii (May 13, 2021 at 18:27)

I guess not but was awesome when Neff was riding for them.

thebetageek (May 13, 2021 at 12:52)

10 bikes that have won the world cup scott spark

iamamodel (May 14, 2021 at 5:39)

They aren't Sparks (120 mm trail bikes) they are Spark RCs 100 mm XC race version).

theoptimist (May 14, 2021 at 8:02)

We need a calendar with pictures of Nino's bikes called "Schurter of the Year".

DavidGuerra (May 14, 2021 at 10:48)

Shame on Scott for producing XC bikes with squatty main pivot locations, especially with a 38t chainring.

losidan (May 13, 2021 at 17:13)

The Cannondale is dreamy

padirt FL (May 14, 2021 at 4:09)

Lots of Xc wins for Scott but they haven’t updated their bikes in years.

AliB123 (May 14, 2021 at 5:15)

My theory is that if it ain't broken why change out

Bergsmannen (May 14, 2021 at 14:33)

May we have a new Spark RC soon.

eeb033 (May 14, 2021 at 9:15)

Only 1 Shimano bike.

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