Schurter wins men's cross country title at Worlds
Absalon second, followed by Cink
Switzerland's Nino Schurter took the fourth Elite men's Cross-country world title of his career on Saturday, in Vallnord, Andorra, closing in on the five titles held by his French rival Julien Absalon, who finished second. Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) took the bronze medal.
After a week of rain, the skies finally cleared for the Elite races, however, the damage had been done, leaving the forested sections heavily soaked, muddy and treacherous. Almost every rider crashed at some point, and the race was shortened at the start line by a lap because of the conditions.
Schurter, the World Cup champion, got his usual fast start, and was joined on the opening lap by Absalon and Cink. the Czech rider was dropped by the other two after the first lap, falling back to a chase group containing Manuel Fumic (Germany) and Mathias Fluckiger (Switzerland). Fluckiger flatted late in the third lap, leaving Cink and Fumic to chase, with the Czech rider gapping his German rival on the fourth lap.
The gap between the leaders and Cink hovered around 15 seconds until the fifth lap, when the front two began attacking, each trying to drop the other, without success. Cink was solidly in third, but losing ground to the leaders.
At the front, Absalon was stronger on the climbs but Schurter faster in the descents, and the Swiss rider final got a slim seven second gap but the start of the final lap. Absalon couldn't close the gap, but neither could Schurter extend it, and it wasn't until the final 150 metres that Absalon finally conceded victory to Schurter.
"It was a tough race, especially here with altitude," commented Schurter. "I was suffering with [my] breathing. Midway through the race I was struggling and starting to think maybe it's not my day. But then I realized I'm a bit faster on the downhill than Absalon and could get a gap there. I am so happy about this victory, but I'm still so exhausted."
"It is very nice to battle with him [Absalon] and it is even better to beat him. I tried to just do my race, not to go too much in the red zone. Tried to race my pace."
"It was an amazing year for me. I focussed on the World Cup and the World Championships, and did just the important races. So, the strategy went well. I am so happy about this season. Every World Championship is a nice achievement. It is the best feeling to ride in the World Champion's jersey."
Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Nino Schurter (Swi) | 1:29:22 |
2 | Julien Absalon (Fra) | 0:00:10 |
3 | Ondrej Cink (Cze) | 0:01:15 |
4 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) | 0:01:22 |
5 | Mathias Flückiger (Swi) | 0:02:08 |
6 | Maxime Marotte (Fra) | 0:02:25 |
7 | Ralph Naef (Swi) | 0:03:13 |
8 | Florian Vogel (Swi) | 0:03:14 |
9 | Hugo Drechou (Fra) | 0:03:48 |
10 | Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) | 0:03:54 |
11 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) | 0:03:59 |
12 | Lukas Flückiger (Swi) | 0:04:11 |
13 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) | 0:04:20 |
14 | Daniele Braidot (Ita) | 0:04:26 |
15 | Stéphane Tempier (Fra) | 0:04:29 |
16 | Luca Braidot (Ita) | 0:04:37 |
17 | Andrea Tiberi (Ita) | 0:04:50 |
18 | Raphael Gagne (Can) | 0:05:11 |
19 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) | 0:05:30 |
20 | Rudi Van Houts (Ned) | 0:05:51 |
21 | José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) | 0:05:56 |
22 | Matthias Stirnemann (Swi) | 0:06:05 |
23 | Jeff Luyten (Bel) | 0:06:27 |
24 | Bart De Vocht (Bel) | 0:06:54 |
25 | Simon Stiebjahn (Ger) | 0:07:12 |
26 | Henrique Avancini (Bra) | 0:07:27 |
27 | Fabian Giger (Swi) | 0:07:36 |
28 | Ruben Scheire (Bel) | 0:07:43 |
29 | Marek Konwa (Pol) | 0:07:53 |
30 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:08:02 |
31 | David Valero (Spa) | 0:08:11 |
32 | Emil Lindgren (Swe) | 0:08:15 |
33 | Jan Nesvadba (Cze) | 0:08:20 |
34 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) | 0:08:27 |
35 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Col) | 0:08:59 |
36 | Stephen Ettinger (USA) | 0:09:14 |
37 | Michal Lami (Svk) | 0:09:28 |
38 | Catriel Andres Soto (Arg) | 0:10:00 |
39 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hun) | 0:10:02 |
40 | Spencer Paxson (USA) | 0:10:13 |
41 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) | 0:10:22 |
42 | Geoff Kabush (Can) | 0:10:28 |
43 | Hans Becking (Ned) | 0:10:34 |
44 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) | 0:10:50 |
45 | Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) | 0:11:02 |
46 | Sebastien Carabin (Bel) | 0:11:24 |
47 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Por) | 0:11:37 |
48 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:12:05 |
49 | Alexander Gehbauer (Aut) | 0:12:22 |
50 | Alex Grant (USA) | 0:12:23 |
51 | Martin Haring (Svk) | 0:12:26 |
52 | James Reid (RSA) | 0:12:27 |
53 | Anton Sintsov (Rus) | 0:12:33 |
54 | Martin Gluth (Ger) | 0:12:37 |
55 | Karl Markt (Aut) | 0:12:50 |
56 | Timofei Ivanov (Rus) | 0:12:54 |
57 | Frank Beemer (Ned) | 0:12:55 |
58 | Rotem Ishay (Isr) | 0:13:06 |
59 | Philip Buys (RSA) | 0:13:28 |
60 | Matiss Preimanis (Lat) | 0:13:57 |
61 | Markus Bauer (Ger) | 0:14:18 |
62 | Shlomi Haimy (Isr) | 0:14:36 |
63 | Maximilian Vieider (Ita) | 0:15:31 |
64 | Dario Alejandro Gasco (Arg) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
65 | Sergji Rysenko (Ukr) | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
66 | Evgenii Pechenin (Rus) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
67 | Anton Gogolev (Rus) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
68 | Matthias Wengelin (Swe) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
69 | Patricio Maximiliano Farias Diaz (Chi) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
70 | Russell Finsterwald (USA) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
71 | Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Col) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
72 | Periklis Ilias (Gre) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
73 | Cameron Ivory (Aus) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
74 | Kyosuke Takei (Jpn) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
75 | Maxim Gogolev (Rus) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
76 | Paolo Cesar Montoya Cantillo (CRc) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
77 | Fabio Hernando Castaneda Monsalve (Col) | Row 76 - Cell 2 |
78 | Pavel Priadein (Rus) | Row 77 - Cell 2 |
79 | Gregor Raggl (Aut) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
80 | Moritz Milatz (Ger) | Row 79 - Cell 2 |
81 | Dmytro Titarenko (Ukr) | Row 80 - Cell 2 |
82 | Javier Eduardo Puschel (Chi) | Row 81 - Cell 2 |
83 | Dimitrios Antoniadis (Gre) | Row 82 - Cell 2 |
84 | Brendan Johnston (Aus) | Row 83 - Cell 2 |
85 | Abdulkadir Kelleci (Tur) | Row 84 - Cell 2 |
86 | Ever Alejandro Gomez (Bol) | Row 85 - Cell 2 |
87 | Guy Diaz Groiller (And) | Row 86 - Cell 2 |
88 | Luciano Caraccioli (Arg) | Row 87 - Cell 2 |
89 | Gareth Mc Kee (Irl) | Row 88 - Cell 2 |
90 | Kirill Kazantsev (Kaz) | Row 89 - Cell 2 |
91 | Artyom Golovaschenko (Kaz) | Row 90 - Cell 2 |
92 | Nathan Byukusenge (Rwa) | Row 91 - Cell 2 |
93 | Bayram Eroglu (Tur) | Row 92 - Cell 2 |
94 | Sipho Madolo (RSA) | Row 93 - Cell 2 |
95 | William Mokgopo (RSA) | Row 94 - Cell 2 |
96 | Motoshi Kadota (Jpn) | Row 95 - Cell 2 |
97 | Besik Gavasheli (Geo) | Row 96 - Cell 2 |
98 | Noe Alejandro Rodriguez Acevedo (Mex) | Row 97 - Cell 2 |
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