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MTB World Cup XC #9 & DH #7 - CDM
Schladming, Austria, September 11-14, 2008
Main Page Results Final World Cup standings Previous Race
Race 7 - September 14: Elite men cross country
Sauser caps season with a win
By Luke Webber in Schladming
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Christoph Sauser (Specialized Factory Racing) ended his most successful season to date with a win today in Schladming at the World Cup finals, beating a resurgent Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) and earning second place in the overall standings to go with his rainbow jersey. Olympic champion Julien Absalon (Orbea) claimed the overall World Cup title.
In good conditions, on a rapidly drying course, the men raced over eight laps. The organisers were careful to make sure that the winner would be racing for about two hours.
The first climb was lead by Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), obviously eager to fight against Sauser for the second place overall in the World Cup series.
By lap two however, any hope of that battle was gone. A group containing Hermida, Sauser, Adam Craig (Giant) and Roel Paulissen (Cannondale-Vredestein) was at the front and making good ground.
At the start of lap two, Paulissen had an unfortunate fall from one of the bridges, catapulting over the bars and sustaining a concussion which resulted in an overnight stay in hospital.
This left Sauser and Hermida away to do battle along with Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Giant Italia) and Craig, who was slightly off the pace of the group.
By this point Absalon had already abandoned the race. Some reports said that the Frenchman was already out partying the night before the race - obviously excited about winning the overall World Cup before a pedal was turned.
Speaking to Absalon after the race, he confirmed the rumours and said that today was only about enjoying the moment and ending the season on his own terms.
"It was just so fun here, I have won the overall already so there was no pressure. Today was just for fun and it was fun to ride just as much as I wanted, nothing more."
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Meanwhile on the slopes of Schladming the race was between rivals on the racetrack and friends on the circuit Hermida and Sauser. Both were very evenly matched but Hermida was on the attack from lap one, while the Swiss rider preferred to follow and use his ammunition in the closing stages.
One effort was enough to gain a slender ten second gap on the final lap and Sauser ended his season perfectly, with a win.
"I really wanted to win today and it feels so good to end the season on top," said Sauser.
"I race for winning and for nothing else. I knew it was going to come down to us two, I knew it would be a mental thing also. I made the gap in the downhill, just a few seconds and then I just sprinted all the way to the finish.
"It was really only second by second today. I think it was a good battle today for the spectators and on a great course too, steep up and down, just what I like," said Sauser.
For Hermida, it was more about salvaging something from a lacklusture year in which he has suffered bad luck with mechanicals and illness. Only in Madrid did he show a glimpse of his talent translated into a top result, but this has only served as motivation for him for the coming 2009 season.
"Only in the last month have I started to come back to my normal self - but maybe that is a good thing!" said Hermida. "Battles like today take years off your life! But I am still having fun on the bike and this is the most important thing."
"Today I had nothing to lose and that's why I took the responsibility of leading. I had to play all of my cards, I like to race it - is part of my character. I'm a hot latino - I don't care if I suffer!"
For the regular podium visitors there has been one major new player this season - a young South African rider who has made an impact at every race culminating in the under 23 title and fifth in the senior overall ranks. This year Burry Stander (GT Bicycles) has created inspiration for the new generation of riders, and next year it will be exciting to see the progression in his third year of international competition against the old guard of Sauser, Absalon and Hermida.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Luke Weber
- The men’s race started off at the usual furious pace.
- Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) got off to a flyer, leading the first climb.
- Christoph Sauser (Specialized Factory Racing) took it easy in the early stages.
- José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida Biking Team) made all the running, taking the race to everyone.
- Julien Absalon was just here for fun and to collect his trophy.
- Sauser descending on the new Epic.
- Burry Stander (GT Bicycles) was number one under 23 and fifth overall in the World Cup.
- Sauser made his gap on the descent and held the lead until the finish.
- Sauser crosses the line to take another World Cup win.
- Sauser gets some congratulations after a long hard season.
- The men’s race podium.
Results
1 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 1.57.56 2 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0.19 3 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 1.09 4 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 2.20 5 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 2.51 6 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 3.10 7 Florian Vogel (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 3.23 8 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 3.32 9 Matthias Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 3.44 10 Burry Stander (RSA) GT Bicycles 3.53 11 Todd Wells (USA) GT Bicycles 4.09 12 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis 4.14 13 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 4.21 14 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 4.35 15 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 5.15 16 Milan Spesny (Cze) Merida Biking Team 5.26 17 Nino Schurter (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 5.33 18 Jochen Kass (Ger) Team ALB Gold 5.35 19 Stéphane Tempier (Fra) Gewiss Bianchi 5.49 20 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 5.58 21 Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Giant Italia Team 6.17 22 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 6.52 23 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 7.02 24 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) 7.27 25 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 7.33 26 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) 7.40 27 Hannes Metzler (Aut) Giant Mountain Bike Team 7.50 28 Alban Lakata (Aut) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 7.52 29 Andreas Kugler (Swi) Fischer-BMC 7.55 30 Alexandre Moos (Swi) 8.00 31 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 8.27 32 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 8.50 33 Yader Zoli (Ita) Giant Italia Team 8.53 34 Jürg Graf (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 8.54 35 Martino Fruet (Ita) 8.57 36 Robert Gehbauer (Aut) Multivan Merida Biking Team 9.03 37 Kristian Hynek (Cze) 9.15 38 Periklis Ilias (Gre) 9.44 39 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 9.50 40 Fabian Giger (Swi) 10.24 41 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 10.55 42 Fabien Canal (Fra) Team Lapierre International 11.19 43 Josef Kamler (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 11.23 44 Guillaume Vinit (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 11.30 45 Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Team Lapierre International 11.34 46 Matous Ulman (Cze) 11.37 47 Lukas Kaufmann (Swi) 11.41 48 Rene Tann (Ger) 11.52 49 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 12.07 50 Martin Fanger (Swi) 12.13 51 Filip Eberl (Cze) 12.24 52 Connor Mcconvey (Irl) 12.32 53 Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) Central Ghost Pro Team 12.47 54 Torsten Marx (Ger) Team ALB Gold 12.58 55 Frank Beemer (Ned) 13.23 56 Umberto Corti (Ita) 13.52 57 Andras Parti (Hun) 14.41 One lap behind 58 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Beone Mountainbiketeam 59 Gerald Hauer (Aut) 60 Uwe Hochenwarter (Aut) 61 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier Two laps behind 62 Sebastien Carabin (Bel) 63 Maxim Gogolev (Rus) 64 Anders Ljungberg (Swe) 65 Thomas Litscher (Swi) 66 Calle Friberg (Swe) 67 Heiko Gutmann (Ger) 68 David Fletcher (GBr) 69 Frank Schotman (Ned) 70 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 71 Barry Wicks (USA) Kona 72 Michael Stieglbauer (Ger) 73 Rob Vangenechten (Bel) 74 Diego Rosa (Ita) Giant Italia Team 75 Evgeniy Pechenin (Rus) Format-Udmurtia 76 Anton Gogolev (Rus) Three laps behind 77 Pascal Hossay (Bel) 78 Till Marx (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 79 Igor Bogdan (Ukr) 80 Samuele Porro (Ita) 81 Oleksandr Kachanov (Ukr) 82 Hubert Pollinger (Ita) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 83 Ola Kjören (Nor) 84 Volodymyr Zinovkyn (Ukr) 85 Martin Loo (Est) Merida Biking Team Four laps behind 86 Michael Margesin (Ita) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 87 Jelmer Jubbega (Ned) 88 Michal Plesnik (Svk) 89 Jernej Muzga (Slo) 90 Felix Euteneuer (Ger) 91 David Escolar Ballesteros (Spa) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 92 Guido Thaler (Aut) Five laps behind 93 Andriy Gumenyuk (Ukr) 94 Lukas Platzgummer (Ita) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 95 Boris Vasilyev (Rus) Format-Udmurtia 96 Ross Creber (GBr) 97 Christoph Plank (Aut) 98 Michael (1978) Weiss (Aut) 99 Nejc Cernilogar (Slo) Six laps behind 100 Matthias Rupp (Aut) Matthias Rupp (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 101 Tim Wijnants (Bel) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 102 Alexey Belokrylov (Rus) Format-Udmurtia 103 Claudio Caluori (Swi) 104 Andriy Khripta (Ukr) 105 Bostjan Lavtar (Slo) Seven laps behind 106 Ronald Paur (Aut) Final World Cup standings 1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 1340 pts 2 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 1195 3 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1064 4 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis 1030 5 Burry Stander* (RSA) GT Bicycles 992 6 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 878 7 Florian Vogel (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 848 8 Nino Schurter* (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 808 9 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 808 10 Todd Wells (USA) GT Bicycles 803 11 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 744 12 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 682 13 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 576 14 Christoph Soukup (Aut) 556 15 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 552 16 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 544 17 Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 515 18 Seamus Mcgrath (Can) 462 19 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 450 20 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 446 21 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 440 22 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 419 23 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 416 24 Jürg Graf (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 414 25 Hannes Metzler (Aut) Giant Mountain Bike Team 388 26 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 387 27 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 373 28 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 352 29 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 313 30 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 312 31 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 296 32 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 295 33 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 291 34 Milan Spesny (Cze) 286 35 Karl Markt (Aut) 267 36 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 261 37 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 253 38 Yader Zoli (Ita) Giant Italia Team 248 39 Tony Longo (Ita) Full-Dynamix-It 231 40 Matthias Flückiger* (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 227 41 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 227 42 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros10.com 220 43 Michael Broderick (USA) 220 44 Jiri Friedl (Cze) 212 45 Jan Skarnitzl* (Cze) 184 46 Bas Peters (Ned) 183 47 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 176 48 Derek Zandstra (Can) 176 49 Jochen Kass (Ger) Team ALB Gold 173 50 Stéphane Tempier* (Fra) Gewiss Bianchi 173 51 Andreas Kugler (Swi) Fischer-BMC 173 52 Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Trek / VW 171 53 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 171 54 Mathieu Toulouse (Can) Team Maxxis 161 55 Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 156 56 Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chi) 153 57 Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 149 58 Connor Mcconvey* (Irl) 131 59 Sven Nys (Bel) 130 60 Gion Manetsch (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 128 61 Karl Platt (Ger) 123 62 Martino Fruet (Ita) 122 63 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) 115 64 Matthew Hadley (Can) 112 65 Anders Hovdenes* (Nor) 110 66 Lachlan Norris* (Aus) 109 67 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 106 68 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 104 69 Barry Wicks (USA) Kona 102 70 Martin Fanger* (Swi) 99 71 Michael Weiss (Aut) 99 72 Frank Schotman (Ned) 98 73 Nicola Rohrbach* (Swi) Central Ghost Pro Team 97 74 Raphael Gagne* (Can) Rocky Mountain 96 75 Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona 94 76 Matous Ulman (Cze) 93 77 Tim Bohme (Ger) Team ALB Gold 89 78 Maxime Marotte* (Fra) 87 79 Ola Kjören* (Nor) 86 80 Alban Lakata (Aut) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 84 81 Peter Riis Andersen (Den) Team ALB Gold 82 82 Marti Gispert Labarta (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 78 83 Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Giant Italia Team 76 84 Eric Batty (Can) 76 85 Alexis Vuillermoz* (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 75 86 Kristian Hynek (Cze) 74 87 Josef Kamler* (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 73 88 Fabian Giger* (Swi) 69 89 Carl Decker (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 68 90 Dylan Cooper (Aus) 66 91 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) 64 92 Peter Glassford (Can) 62 93 Daniel Sessford (Can) 61 94 Cal Britten* (Aus) 60 95 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) 58 96 Ken Onodera* (Jpn) Subaru-Gary Fisher 58 97 Andrew Watson (Can) 58 98 Israel Nunez Baticon (Spa) Massi 57 99 Andrew Blair (Aus) 56 100 Max Plaxton (Can) Rocky Mountain 56 101 Till Marx (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 55 102 Nick Both (Aus) 52 103 Pierre Lebreton (Fra) 52 104 Calle Friberg (Swe) 51 105 Spencer Paxson (USA) 51 106 Francis Morin* (Can) 51 107 Nathan Haas* (Aus) 50 108 Murray Spink (Aus) 48 109 Marc Colom* (Fra) 47 110 Alexandre Moos (Swi) 46 111 Brendon Sharratt (NZl) 46 112 Craig Richey (Can) 45 113 Shaun Lewis (Aus) 44 114 Ben Henderson* (Aus) 42 115 Brian Price (Aus) 40 116 Freddy Betremieux* (Fra) 40 117 Christof Bischof (Swi) 40 118 Marek Galinski (Pol) 39 119 Kenji Takeya (Jpn) 39 120 Andrew Bott (NZl) 38 121 Stefan Widmer (Can) 38 122 Brett Anderson* (Aus) 36 123 Julien Fillion (Can) 36 124 Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Team Lapierre International 36 125 Robert Gehbauer* (Aut) Multivan Merida Biking Team 34 126 Gavin Mccarthy (NZl) 34 127 Andras Parti (Hun) 33 128 James Maebus (Aus) 32 129 Tad Elliot* (USA) 32 130 Ricky Federau (Can) 31 131 Sid Taberlay (Aus) 30 132 Periklis Ilias* (Gre) 30 133 Ben Grieve-Johnson* (Aus) 30 134 Gareth Montgomerie (GBr) 29 135 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 29 136 Rohin Adams (Aus) 29 137 Ian Bibby* (GBr) 29 138 Lukas Kaufmann* (Swi) 29 139 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) BEO 29 140 Ryan Atkins* (Can) 29 141 Marc Trayter Alemany (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 28 142 Travis Frisby* (Aus) 28 143 Yu Takenouchi* (Jpn) 27 144 Davy Coenen (Bel) 27 145 Klaus Nielsen (Den) Team ALB Gold 27 146 Fabien Canal* (Fra) Team Lapierre International 26 147 Dario Alejandro Gasco* (Arg) Massi 26 148 Mattias Wengelin* (Swe) 26 149 Adam Snyder (USA) 26 150 Torsten Marx (Ger) Team ALB Gold 26 151 Patrik Gallati* (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 25 152 Guillaume Vinit* (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 24 153 Alexander Wetterhall* (Swe) 21 154 Rene Tann (Ger) 20 155 Andrew Freye (USA) 19 156 Leni Trudel* (Can) 18 157 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) 18 158 Troy Wells (USA) 17 159 Filip Eberl (Cze) 17 160 Kyle Douglas* (Can) 17 161 Ian Wilkinson (GBr) 17 162 Pascal Meyer* (Swi) 16 163 Cody Peterson (USA) 16 164 Bjorn Brems* (Bel) 15 165 David Lozano Riba* (Spa) MSC Bikes 15 166 Ross Schnell (USA) Trek / VW 15 167 Martin Loo* (Est) 14 168 Javier Eduardo Puschel (Chi) 14 169 Paul Van Der Ploeg* (Aus) 14 170 Jonathan Boulanger* (Can) 14 171 Ethan Gilmour* (USA) 13 172 Frank Beemer* (Ned) 13 173 Alejandro Diaz De La Pena Lopez (Spa) 13 174 Umberto Corti* (Ita) 12 175 Tim Madgwick (NZl) 11 176 Mattias Nilsson* (Swe) 11 177 Jianhua Ji (Chn) 10 178 Ian Field* (GBr) 9 179 Jonathan Galante (Fra) 9 180 Gerald Hauer (Aut) 9 181 Uwe Hochenwarter* (Aut) 8 Team - men 1 Orbea 467 pts 2 Swisspower MTB Team 409 3 GT Bicycles 347 4 Athleticum-MTB-Team 326 5 Multivan Merida Biking Team 301 6 Specialized Factory Racing 301 7 Giant Mountain Bike Team 290 8 Cannondale-Vredestein 279 9 Team Maxxis 220 10 Team Lapierre International 136 11 Full-Dynamix-It 128 12 Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 107 13 Giant Italia Team 79 14 Subaru-Gary Fisher 71 15 Merida Biking Team 58 16 Topeak Ergon Racing Team 40 17 Fumic.Brothers.International 39 18 Cemelorca-Seguros10.Com 37 19 Trek-VW 28 20 Ecp-Tau Ceramica 18 21 Rocky Mountain 17 22 Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike 13 23 Kona 13 24 Gewiss Bianchi 13 25 Fischer-BMC 12 26 Versluys-Landbouwkrediet MTB Team 5 27 Bh-Sr. Suntour 1 28 Scott Valloire Galibier 1
