Absalon wins men's cross country World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne

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Julien Absalon (BMC) won his first World Cup of the season and the 26th of his career, in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada on Saturday afternoon. Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) rode away from Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) for third place.

"Finally, I did it. I'm happy because I had bad luck at other World Cups this season," said Absalon to Redbull.tv. "I'm also happy because I like to race here. Mont-Sainte-Anne is special. The track here is beautiful. I won the Worlds here 15 years ago when I was junior - my first big victory."

Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) set the pace from the gun, leaving many to wonder whether he'd found his good form from last year, which has otherwise been lacking this season. But before the first lap was over, the clear leaders of the race were Absalon and Schurter at the front. Kulhavy started to fade and would drop out of podium contention.

It looked like it might be another Absalon-Schurter duel throughout the seven-lap race, but Absalon had no interest in getting beat by Schurter in an end-of-the-race sprint. He executed the perfect race, attacking until he put enough pressure on Schurter to get away.

"I did an attack on the climb on the third lap," said Absalon, "but I only got five seconds. So I did it again on the next lap and I got 15 seconds to take into the technical section."

He made his move on the steep, switchback climb. "I like this kind of steep climb," Absalon said.

The Frenchman quickly established a gap as Schurter could not follow. Then the gap grew more quickly after Schurter flatted. After a stop in the tech zone to get a new rear wheel, he was about a minute behind Schurter by the end of that lap.

"I attacked on the climb, and maybe he took some risks on the downhill to catch me?" said Absalon of Schurter's flat. "I saw then that he had a flat tire. I had maybe 10 seconds, so I pushed pretty hard to stay in front. I had a perfect race - no mistakes."

Absalon took his first World Cup victory since signing for BMC this past winter. He'd come close in Albstadt but his chances were ruined after a broken frame. He was also close in the most recent World Cup round Vallnord, but broke his chain.

Hermida, who won the world championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne in 2010, eventually caught Schurter and the two raced together for awhile until Hermida got away from Schurter on the switchback climb on the final lap. Hermida rode in alone for second - for the fourth time in his career at Mont-Sainte-Anne, while Schurter hung on for third.

Ralph Naef (BMC) got stronger as the race went on and finished on the podium in fourth place. Daniel McConnell (Trek Factory) also had a strong later part of the race and rode himself to his second World Cup podium in fifth place.

Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Cannondale) was the top North American, starting in the fourth row. He quickly made it up into the teens, moving into the top-10 on lap four. He was riding with Naef when he crashed, losing contact with the Swiss rider who continued to move up to finish on the podium. In the crash, Plaxton broke the fastener on his shoe, which didn't help matters.

Schurter has an almost insurmountable lead in the World Cup series with one race remaining. He is ahead of Absalon by 220 points. Absalon moves into second with his victory, 80 points ahead of round one winner McConnell. Plaxton moves from 17th to 15th in the standings.

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