Schurter seals World Cup with second place

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The 2010 UCI cross country Mountain Bike World Cup concluded on Saturday in Windham, New York, and a new champion was crowned: Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower). Schurter had to settle for second place in the final race behind first time World Cup winner Jaroslav Kulhavy (Rubena-Birell-Specialized), who became the first Czech rider to win a World Cup cross country event.

"I was more conservative in the beginning, to preserve my third place [in the overall standings] from [Jose] Hermida," said Kulhavy. "But we dropped him, and I could see that I was riding the technical sections better than the others, so I was able to move up there.

"I tried to get by Nino before the downhill, but he beat me there, so I just had to wait for the right moment," he said. "This is an incredible win, the highest of my career, and it is very good timing, just before the world championships."

The 5.4-kilometre course was straightforward: a long climb followed by a quick descent. The riders zig-zagged their way up the climb, alternating open double track with loose, rocky and rooty single track, then descended through more of the same back to the start.

The six-lap race pitted Schurter against his season-long rival Julien Absalon (Orbea), the defending champion, with only 26 points separating the pair. Coming through the finish line at the end of the first lap, a group of five riders were at the front - Schurter, his teammate Florian Vogel, Burry Stander (Specialized), Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) and Martin Gujan (Cannondale). Absalon was just behind, having had a slightly slower start.

The race also saw the beginning of a flurry of flats and mechanicals, especially among the North Americans, with Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), Adam Craig (Giant), Todd Wells (Specialized), Adam Morka and Peter Glassford (Toronto Trek Store) and Andrew Watson (Norco) all affected. Kabush pulled out after a very lengthy stop in the pits that dropped him to the back of the field.

However Absalon was the most significant, flatting on the second lap, having to run to the pits for service, and dropping to the high teens. There then became two races - the one at the front, and the one behind as Absalon tried to claw his way back into contention, working his way through the traffic of slower riders. He made a magnificent effort, turning in some of the fastest laps of the race, but could only move up as high as sixth by the finish.

Schurter and Vogel were the only consistent riders to stay at the front of the race, as they poured on the power to keep Absalon at bay. Stander, Gujan and Fumic eventually burned out, and were replaced by Christoph Sauser (Specialized), Lukas Flückiger (Trek World Racing) and Kulhavy, who joined the leaders on the fourth lap.

By the final lap, it was still these five, with Vogel doing the pace making. Kulhavy finally made his move just before the top of the climb, but Schurter immediately responded, taking the lead into the descent. Kulhavy then made a brilliant pass on the descent to take the lead. Sauser also managed to get by Schurter, but then crashed, allowing both Schurter and Vogel to pass as Kulhavy extended his lead. This would be the final order, with Schurter taking second, Vogel third and Sauser fourth. Flückiger held off Absalon by 26 seconds for the final podium spot.

Schurter took the overall title with 1136 points, followed by Absalon at 1040 and Kulhavy, also at 1040 points. Absalon got the nod for second, but it took some calculating: they both had one win, but Absalon had two second places results to Kuhavy's one making it a very tight finish to the season. Vogel jumped from sixth to fourth overall and Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) took the fifth and final podium spot.

Full Results

Race notes

Nino Schurter raced in the world champion's rainbow stripes rather than the World Cup leader's jersey, a big no-no, for which he received a substantial 5000 Swiss Franc ($4865 US) fine. Team director Thomas Frischknecht claimed that the leader's jersey he had been provided with was too small to race in. Frischknecht also pointed to Julien Absalon as the source of the protest that saw Schurter fined, sending out an inflammatory e-mail:

Julien was at all times a great sportsmen when I raced against him and after too. I did not only respect him for his great results, I liked him as a person as well. Now he showed his real face of a sorry loser. Nino beat him over the whole season fair and square. A wrong jersey does not change the fact that Nino was better in 2010.

When I raced against the French armada with Martinez, Dupouey, Chiotti and Absalon I had to live with a second place many times. Sometimes even under special circumstances [when Chiotti won the world title and later admitted to doping]. But I tried to be a fair loser. A champion, and as such I counted Julien up ‘til today, also is a champion in losing.

Sorry Julien. I don't know what you were thinking!