Alban Lakata, Gunn-Rita Dahle win MTB Marathon world championships
Rainbow jersey's decided in Italian Dolomites
















Alban Lakata and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja claimed the gold medals at the UCI Marathon World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy, tackling a viciously hilly course over 87km with five mountain passes.
Lakata pulled away to win in 4:24:46 over Swiss rider Christophe Sauser, who was racing in his final event before retirement, with Leonardo Paez (Colombia) in third.
"The race was perhaps one of the best I have done in my life," Lakata said. "I wanted this victory and I felt in good form the very beginning. I did a good job today."
Lakata powered away on a descent, and Paez, who was left fighting for scraps against Sauser, said he didn't realize how large the gap had grown. "The race is always a beautiful one but this time round I had a problem with a little finger and I wasn’t able to be as forceful as I usually am," Paez said. "I did my best because I really wanted it but this injury also got me down a good bit. however I can still be pleased with how things went. Lakata really got away from us going downhill and nobody realised how much lead he was building up."
Sauser struggled in the first half of the race, but was able to rally and pick the perfect time to attack Paez and solo to silver. "In the first two and a half hours of the race I was in difficulty because I wasn‘t able to change the rhythm," Sauser said. "However after the Pordoi singletrack, I realised that I would be able to fight for a medal. I can be a canny rider at times but at other times a bit lazy but on this occasion I timed my overtaking move really well. I am more than happy to close my career with this second place."
In the 60km women's race, Norwegian Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå earned her sixth Marathon world title, besting the defending champion Annika Langvad (Denmark) and Sabine Spitz (Germany).
"Mountain biking is always hard but this course makes it even more difficult," Flesja said "I continued to push to the end as I knew that Annika could always make up time."
Langvad finished a distant three minutes behind, but did enough to keep Spitz back in third. "I am happy with this outcome, also because I have never won a World Championship silver. I lost ground on the first uphill as I was not in the best of shape due to some health problems."
Spitz was also pleased with a medal in her first attempt at the Marathon championship. “I was not sure how to approach the race as I had never raced it before and already after the first climb I knew that I could not keep up with the person ahead!“.
Men's Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Alban Lakata (Aut) | 4:24:46 |
2 | Christoph Sauser (Swi) | 0:02:07 |
3 | Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Col) | 0:02:15 |
4 | Periklis Ilias (Gre) | 0:04:33 |
5 | Damiano Ferraro (Ita) | 0:04:54 |
6 | Marcus Kaufmann (Ger) | 0:05:08 |
7 | Samuele Porro (Ita) | 0:06:40 |
8 | Roel Paulissen (Bel) | 0:07:27 |
9 | Lukas Buchli (Swi) | 0:09:42 |
10 | Kristian Hynek (Cze) | 0:12:20 |
11 | Daniel Geismayr (Aut) | 0:12:34 |
12 | Jochen Kass (Ger) | 0:12:40 |
13 | Tony Longo (Ita) | 0:12:41 |
14 | Howard Grotts (USA) | 0:13:05 |
15 | Karl Platt (Ger) | 0:13:55 |
16 | Andreas Seewald (Ger) | 0:14:15 |
17 | Diego Arias (Col) | 0:16:43 |
18 | Markus Bauer (Ger) | 0:18:16 |
19 | Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) | 0:19:58 |
20 | Jérémy Huguenin (Swi) | 0:20:23 |
21 | Klaus Fontana (Ita) | 0:20:48 |
22 | Matthias Leisling (Ger) | 0:21:00 |
23 | Simon Stiebjahn (Ger) | 0:22:12 |
24 | Jiri Novak (Cze) | 0:22:15 |
25 | Johnny Cattaneo (Ita) | 0:22:26 |
26 | Robert Mennen (Ger) | 0:22:58 |
27 | Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) | 0:24:48 |
28 | Matous Ulman (Cze) | 0:25:24 |
29 | Manuel Pliem (Aut) | 0:25:40 |
30 | Steffen Thum (Ger) | 0:25:53 |
31 | Hansueli Stauffer (Swi) | 0:26:03 |
32 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) | 0:26:27 |
33 | Sören Nissen (Den) | 0:26:31 |
34 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
35 | Oliver Zurbrugg (Swi) | 0:26:41 |
36 | Ismael Ventura Sanchez (Spa) | 0:26:46 |
37 | Stefano Dal Grande (Ita) | 0:27:33 |
38 | Arnaud Rapillard (Swi) | 0:27:43 |
39 | Frans Claes (Bel) | 0:28:18 |
40 | Alexey Medvedev (Rus) | 0:29:07 |
41 | Daniele Mensi (Ita) | 0:30:23 |
42 | Jhon Jairo Botero Salazar (Col) | 0:31:23 |
43 | Emeric Turcat (Fra) | 0:31:59 |
44 | Marzio Deho (Ita) | 0:32:46 |
45 | Wojciech Halejak (Pol) | 0:35:22 |
46 | Sebastian Batchelor (GBr) | 0:37:38 |
47 | Johann Pallhuber (Ita) | 0:38:32 |
48 | Xavier Dafflon (Swi) | 0:39:09 |
49 | Jose Luis Carrasco Gamiz (Spa) | 0:39:55 |
50 | Zoltan Vigh (Hun) | 0:40:56 |
51 | Juan Pedro Trujillo Hernandez (Spa) | 0:41:35 |
52 | Bram Saeys (Bel) | 0:41:45 |
53 | Frederic Gombert (Fra) | 0:42:17 |
54 | Mariusz Kozak (Pol) | 0:42:57 |
55 | Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) | 0:43:09 |
56 | Stefan Sahm (Ger) | 0:43:11 |
57 | Torsten Marx (Ger) | 0:44:04 |
58 | Hugo Prado Neto (Bra) | 0:45:21 |
59 | Massimo De Bertolis (Ita) | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
60 | Lukas Islitzer (Aut) | 0:45:49 |
61 | Mariusz Michalek (Pol) | 0:46:29 |
62 | Ramon Sagues Portabella (Spa) | 0:47:49 |
63 | Sascha Weber (Ger) | 0:47:59 |
64 | Tom Ettlich (Ger) | 0:48:16 |
65 | Christian Kreuchler (Ger) | 0:50:17 |
66 | Stéphane Monnet (Swi) | 0:50:19 |
67 | Robson Ferreira Da Silva (Bra) | 0:50:31 |
68 | Mathias Alig (Swi) | 0:51:25 |
69 | Remi Laffont (Fra) | 0:51:59 |
70 | Nicolas Cambus (Fra) | 0:52:01 |
71 | Ben Thomas (GBr) | 0:53:19 |
72 | Bastien Michaud (Fra) | 0:53:20 |
73 | German Dorhmann (Arg) | 0:55:46 |
74 | Jesus Del Nero Montes (Spa) | 0:56:19 |
75 | Lenart Noc (Slo) | 0:56:40 |
76 | Ronald Beckers (Bel) | 0:58:06 |
77 | Markus Werner (Ger) | 0:58:55 |
78 | Cory Wallace (Can) | 0:59:23 |
79 | Morgan Pilley (Aus) | 0:59:57 |
80 | Philipp Pangerl (Ger) | 1:00:50 |
81 | Miguel Angel Hidalgo (Arg) | 1:01:20 |
82 | Yuki Ikeda (Jpn) | 1:02:00 |
83 | Martin Eckerberg Bisgaard (Den) | 1:03:17 |
84 | Vincent Arnaud (Fra) | 1:04:02 |
85 | Bogdan Czarnota (Pol) | 1:05:01 |
86 | Hamish Batchelor (GBr) | 1:05:09 |
87 | Arnaud Allemand (Fra) | 1:07:21 |
88 | Felix Fritzsch (Ger) | 1:09:11 |
89 | Orlando Alves Silva (Bra) | 1:09:16 |
90 | Robert Dobai Joltvinschi (Rom) | 1:10:05 |
91 | Martin Feichtegger (Aut) | 1:10:47 |
92 | Michael Broderick (USA) | 1:12:10 |
93 | Sven Mägdefessel (Ger) | 1:12:33 |
94 | Dana Weber (USA) | 1:13:55 |
95 | Denys Marhem (Fra) | 1:16:49 |
96 | Louis Wolf (Ger) | 1:18:02 |
97 | Ivan Vila Oziel (And) | 1:19:32 |
98 | Ali Çakas (Tur) | 1:20:42 |
99 | Julien Bely (Fra) | 1:21:38 |
100 | Motoshi Kadota (Jpn) | 1:21:56 |
101 | Andrea Terenzi (SMr) | 1:22:35 |
102 | Matthew Beers (RSA) | 1:23:25 |
103 | Eliad Daniel (Isr) | 1:23:56 |
104 | Florian Buffard (Fra) | 1:24:23 |
105 | Marco Francioni (SMr) | 1:25:10 |
106 | Robert Wittmann (Ger) | 1:27:56 |
107 | Timothy Carleton (Can) | 1:27:57 |
108 | Will Hayter (GBr) | 1:28:13 |
109 | Michael England (Aus) | 1:28:17 |
110 | Lukasz Klimaszewski (Pol) | 1:29:05 |
111 | Marcos Katafuchi (Arg) | 1:29:06 |
112 | Florian Wenger (Swi) | 1:31:22 |
113 | Christopher Platt (Ger) | 1:34:42 |
114 | Uldis Alitis (Lat) | 1:35:22 |
115 | Ulrich Rose (Ger) | 1:39:02 |
116 | Simon Chasseloup (Fra) | 1:44:40 |
117 | Tim Dunford (GBr) | 1:44:55 |
118 | Nino Surban (Phi) | 1:47:39 |
119 | Ole Jespersen (Den) | 1:48:47 |
120 | Pablo Funaro (Arg) | 1:52:26 |
121 | Andrea Maccagli (SMr) | 1:53:18 |
122 | Risto Oprja (Est) | 2:02:57 |
123 | Justin Price (NZl) | 2:22:37 |
Women's Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) | 3:34:13 |
2 | Annika Langvad (Den) | 0:03:18 |
3 | Sabine Spitz (Ger) | 0:09:30 |
4 | Ariane Kleinhans (Swi) | 0:11:14 |
5 | Sally Bigham (GBr) | 0:11:43 |
6 | Yana Belomoina (Ukr) | 0:17:44 |
7 | Esther Süss (Swi) | 0:18:20 |
8 | Christina Kollmann (Aut) | 0:19:20 |
9 | Lea Davison (USA) | 0:21:44 |
10 | Daniela Veronesi (Ita) | 0:23:00 |
11 | Tereza Hurikova (Cze) | 0:23:02 |
12 | Michalina Ziolkowska (Pol) | 0:28:29 |
13 | Katazina Sosna (Ltu) | 0:31:30 |
14 | Elena Gaddoni (Ita) | 0:34:22 |
15 | Sabine Sommer (Aut) | 0:35:17 |
16 | Claudia Galicia Cotrina (Spa) | 0:38:22 |
17 | Florence Darbellay (Swi) | 0:40:49 |
18 | Mary Mcconneloug (USA) | 0:42:21 |
19 | Kathrin Mueller (Ger) | 0:42:28 |
20 | Regina Genser (Ger) | 0:44:18 |
21 | Cornelia Hug (Swi) | 0:45:57 |
22 | Katrin Schwing (Ger) | 0:46:47 |
23 | Magdalena Sadlecka (Pol) | 0:46:50 |
24 | Marlies Beckers (Bel) | 0:46:59 |
25 | Paulina Woerz (Ger) | 0:48:09 |
26 | Jennie Stenerhag (Swe) | 0:49:53 |
27 | Sofia Pezzatti (Swi) | 0:50:24 |
28 | Verena Krenslehner (Aut) | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
29 | Florentine Striegl (Ger) | 0:51:53 |
30 | Sanne Van Paassen (Ned) | 0:52:49 |
31 | Bettina Uhlig (Ger) | 0:53:02 |
32 | Cemile Trommer (Ger) | 0:53:32 |
33 | Sandrine Ponsard (Fra) | 0:55:58 |
34 | Greete Steinburg (Est) | 0:58:14 |
35 | Lee Craigie (GBr) | 0:58:48 |
36 | Chiara Eberle (Ger) | 1:00:09 |
37 | Gorana Tezak (Cro) | 1:00:44 |
38 | Barbara Liardet (Swi) | 1:01:56 |
39 | Zorana Tezak (Cro) | 1:03:10 |
40 | Stephanie Dohrn (Ger) | 1:03:18 |
41 | Mercedes Pacios Pujado (Spa) | 1:04:56 |
42 | Stéphanie Gutknecht (Swi) | 1:05:56 |
43 | Jana Zieschank (Ger) | 1:05:59 |
44 | Viktoria Zeller (Aut) | 1:08:15 |
45 | Irina Krenn (Aut) | 1:08:38 |
46 | Sarah Riley (Aus) | 1:09:00 |
47 | Hildegunn Hovdenak (Nor) | 1:09:20 |
48 | Melanie Alexander (GBr) | 1:09:33 |
49 | Jeanette Gerrie (NZl) | 1:12:51 |
50 | Iwona Szmid (Pol) | 1:16:24 |
51 | Eliza Kwan (Aus) | 1:20:29 |
52 | Christina Verhas (Aut) | 1:23:14 |
53 | Almut Grieb (Ger) | 1:25:11 |
54 | Katriens Geuens (Bel) | 1:27:08 |
55 | Mirjam Horn (Ger) | 1:35:51 |
56 | Tania Clair Pickler (Bra) | 1:43:42 |
57 | Nienke Oostra (Ned) | 1:58:35 |
58 | Anne Claire Defix (Fra) | 1:59:42 |
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