TX Active-Bianchi's Gerhard Kerschbaumer celebrated with a solo win the World Cup XCO's seventh and ultimate round in Val d'Isère (France), on Saturday, July 28th. Italian rider on Bianchi Methanol SL2 kicked for the line with a 30-second advantage on French Jordan Sarrou and 1:01 on his countryman Daniele Braidot.

Thanks to the victory in France, Kerschbaumer climbed GC from fourth to second position. 2011 World Cup's winner closed the 2012 edition with 372 points, only 23 less adrift Michiel Van der Heijden (Netherlands).

"I started well, then I crashed twice in the early race with rain-lashed course making the race harder for the whole field. In the second lap I was leading the race with Austrian Gehbauer; when he suffered a puncture I was able to keep my pace, going to win the race", Kerschbaumer stated after his victory.

Gerhard Kerschbaumer’s team-mate, élite Stephane Tempier placed ninth. TX Active-Bianchi's French rider on Bianchi Methanol SL2 overpaid a false start and went down to 45th place, but he never gave up recovering many positions lap by lap and bravely catched a top-10 placement afterwards.

"After the bad start, I performed really well: I'm happy with it. I'm in a good shape and I can look at London Olympics with some confidence", Tempier commented.

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