Compared to the Women's race the rain continued to soften the cross-country course in Les Gets, making some sections unrideable even for the best technicians in the men's field. As in the women's race, there were some spectacular crashes, but all of them were minor. Once again, it was Switzerland's Mathias Flückiger (32) who attacked on the first lap and rode solo to his fourth victory in a row (short track & cross country). The overall World Cup leader travelled to the World Cup in Les Gets, France, from an altitude training camp. His form should therefore continue until the Olympic MTB race on 26 July in Tokyo could be even better. The cheeky overtaking manoeuvre by the Thömus rider on the second lap, with which he shook off his closest rival, the Czech Ondrej Cink, was characteristic of the entire race: Flückiger, who is technically one of the best in the field, jumped on the racing line on two waves and took the lead, while Cink took the longer route and pushed away the waves. After this manoeuvre, the Swiss rider pulled away and rode a lonely race at the front to the finish. Although Cink kept getting closer on the climbs, Flückiger managed the lead and always pulled out a few seconds advantage on the descents.
In between, the trio of Cink, world champion Jordan Sarrou and Alan Hatherly battled for places on the podium. In the end, however, it was Cink who finished second, recording the next top 3 result of 2021. The 30-year-old has yet to claim a win this season. Sarrou benefited from a slide by Hatherly on the final lap and secured third place in front of his home crowd. Fourth place is South African Hatherly's best ever World Cup result.
Schwarzbauer 24th - Brandl 37th.
From a German perspective, the mud race in Les Gets ended rather disappointingly. Max Brandl was unable to capitalise on his good starting position and ended up in 37th place, 6:30 minutes behind the leader. By contrast, things went better for his Lexware team-mate Luca Schwarzbauer. As the best German, he ended up in 24th place, while German champion Manuel Fumic finished 49th, one place behind Julian Schelb.
