Dario Lillo celebrates his first World Cup victory in the Olympic cross-country at the start of the mountain biking season.
03.05.2026, 10:01
03.05.2026, 11:02
SDA
The 24-year-old from St. Gallen won the premiere in Yongpyong, South Korea, ahead of France's Luca Martin and Great Britain's Sam Aldridge.
Lillo celebrated a start-to-finish victory at the venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics. After a long solo ride, the 2024 World Championship silver medallist in the U23 category distanced the first chasers in the mud of Yongpyong by more than one and a half and two and a half minutes respectively.
Lillo is only contesting his second season in the elite category. On Friday, he had already shone in third place in the short track, his first podium finish in the elite.
The athlete from Eschenbach, who is also experienced in cyclo-cross, could already sense that something special was in the air on Sunday: "When I saw the weather forecast at the beginning of the week, I thought Sunday would be my day. When I woke up on Sunday and saw that it had rained during the night, I knew that today was the day." His team had a plan and he followed it through without thinking too much, said Lillo. "It all just happened."
Behind Lillo, the Swiss also made a promising start to the post-Nino Schurter era. Filippo Colombo, Fabio Püntener, Finn Treudler, Mathias Flückiger and Lars Forster finished 8th, 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th respectively.
Treudler, who has enjoyed success after success at U23 level in recent years, could have finished directly on the podium in his first elite World Cup race had he not been slowed down by technical problems. The 22-year-old from Zurich was lying in second place with a decent lead when a chain problem forced him off the saddle for the first time.
The Mountain Bike World Cup continues in three weeks' time. In Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic, the riders will be back on familiar terrain.
