Absalon wins La Bresse cross country in front of home crowd

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Julien Absalon (Orbea) won the elite men's cross country World Cup in front of a home crowd in La Bresse, France. The course had been described repeatedly as "old school", and Absalon clearly liked it, taking his 25th World Cup before his home crowd.

Absalon, who lives about 10km away, rode a smart race tactically and managed to escape the bad luck that affected some of the other favorites. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) steadily worked his way up throughout the race and made a late bid to overtake Absalon, but finished second. Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) was third, putting in a strong performance in his quest to make the Swiss Olympic team.

"It is maybe one of my best races. It's been in mind forever - the first World Cup at home is a lot of pressure, and I'm happy," said Absalon after winning on the course, which was designed by his brother Remi.

It was a dramatic finish with Absalon crashing on the final technical descent. A surging Kulhavy nearly caught the Frenchman, who quickly got back up and into action.

"It was hard. I was in good shape, but I was suffering a lot. When I saw Jaroslav in the last half lap, I was dead," said Absalon to Redbull.tv. "I was thinking I needed to go slow and not crash on that last descent, but then I lost my concentration and I crashed."

While the women's race was influenced by crashes among the favorites, the elite men's race was influenced more by mechanicals and flats. Burry Stander (Specialized) was crashed into by another rider and burped a tire not long after the start, and Marco Fontana (Cannondale) flatted while leading the race, unfortunately immediately after passing the tech zone which meant he had a long way to go for help. Moritz Milatz (BMC) also had a mechanical just after the tech zone and Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) required a wheel change. World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) sat out the race due to "stomach problems".

Swiss riders Näf and Florian Vogel (Scott-Swisspower), each vying for an Olympic spot on the Swiss team, set the early fast pace, joined by Fontana until his flat. With so far to go until the next tech zone, Fontana dropped out.

Absalon bridged up on lap two of the six-lap race. Näf dropped back first, and then Vogel, as they struggled to match the searing pace of the French champion.

Milatz, Giger and Lukas Flueckiger chased together until Milatz's mechanical. That left Giger, Vogel and Naef to form the primary chase group.

At the end of lap 4, Naef made an impressive bid for victory by attacking, then catching and passing Absalon. But Absalon wasn't about to give up a win on home turf and he surged past Naef on the climb on lap 5.

World champion and 2011 World Cup champion Kulhavy, who had been steadily working his way up through the field after a poor start, overtook a fried Naef and went in hot pursuit of Absalon. He got to within 20 seconds and almost caught Absalon on the final descent of the final lap, when the fatigued Frenchman crashed by going over the bars. Absalon almost lost the race, but recovered in time to ride across the line, celebrating in front of thousands of hometown fans. It meant Kulhavy finished just seven seconds back in second place, and Näf soloed in for third.

The absent Schurter, the only Swiss man already guaranteed a spot on the nation's Olympic team, remains the World Cup leader, with 700 points, followed by Absalon with 650 and Kulhavy at 625.

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