ITA1 and AUT1 prevail in season's final Team SBX event in Veysonnaz

However, the Team SBX title went to two other teams who came out fortunate of the final battle for the Globe.

In fact, the 2016-17 season was the first one ever to feature a three-stop tour of Team boarderX events and therefore the first ever in history in which the best teams would be awarded with a Crystal Globe.

That said, the ranking prior to the Veysonnaz race was crystal clear with Brutto and Moioli needing the win to having a chance to pass FRA1 on the home straight of the women's title race.

But the French team representatives Nelly Moenne Loccoz and Chloe Trespeuch, riding with the confidence boost of being the first ever team world champions, managed to secure the second rank ahead of CAN1 with Carle Brenneman and Tess Critchlow in today's finals and therefore the Crystal Globe with a total of 2.600 points and only 200 points more than ITA1.

In the men's event, things were also heating up the calculators.

After Haemmerle and Schairer had crossed the finish line in first position ahead of Jonathan Cheever and Mick Dierdorff of USA2 as well as Kevin Hill and Chris Robanske of CAN1 due to an amazing comeback hunt of Schairer from fourth to first, it was time to crunch numbers.

In the end, it didn't work out for the Austrian duo as AUT1 was sitting on 2,000 points and therefore 90 points less than today's ninth ranked team ITA1 consisting of Omar Visintin and Emanuel Perathoner today.

And as hindsight is easier than foresight, the Austrian squad could or should have played things a bit more tactical in order to stand atop of the overall ranking as the ranking is based on the each team's performance, regardless the rider's names behind it.

As it was obvious that ITA1 would definitely be one of the top ranked duos in today's bracket, it would have been smart to team up the strongest racers Haemmerle and Schairer as AUT2 which was sitting in second rank prior to the Veysonnaz race with 160 points more than AUT1.

But they didn't and as a result it was the South Tyrolean pair triumphing and writing history.

“It was the goal to win the title. We did very well in the first two races but were unfortunate today. But I'm happy that it worked out,” said Visintin.

However, the defeated squad wasn't too disappointed as Alessandro Haemmerle found the right words to get straight back into motivation mode for the next season - despite missing out the Crystal Globe so close:

“The win today was very important for me and Markus. We had only fourth place finishes in the last races, so it's nice that we were finally able to show what we can.

Winning the season's final race gives you an extra push to work even more during spring and summer for the next season in order to stand atop again.”

Results

Full results of this season's final Team SBX World Cup staged at Veysonnaz, Switzerland can be viewed online.