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MTB index page for all MTB content MTB World Cup XC #2 - CDMOffenburg, Germany, April 25-26, 2009Main Page Results Previous Race World Cup Standings Race 4 - April 26: Elite men cross countryAbsalon attacks for solo win and lead in overall standingsBy Rob Jones in Offenburg, Germany
The huge men's field of over 220 riders took over one minute to roll through under the banner after completing the start loop as it headed out for the first of seven laps. By that time, the leaders were already starting to sort out their pecking order at the front of the race. A sizable group of heavy hitters was setting a hard pace and pulling away from the rest of the field. Among the group were Absalon, the World Cup leader Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida), World Champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized), Under 23 World Cup leader Burry Stander (Specialized), Florian Vogel (Scott-Swisspower), Lukas Fluckiger (Trek World Racing), Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower), Roel Paulissen (Cannondale) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Massi). This group was further joined by Todd Wells (Specialized), Marco Fontana (Cannondale), Jaroslav Kulhavy (Rubena-Specialized) and Martin Gujan (Cannondale Factory Racing). Absalon decided the numbers at the front were more than he was comfortable with, and he counterattacked a move by Schurter on the longest climb of the course on the third lap, quickly gaining 25 seconds on the disorganized chase behind. The Olympic champion, clad in the red, white and blue jersey of French National Champion, continued to pad his lead through the fourth lap, as the chase started to shed riders. Among the first to go was Hermida, who came to the race with a bad cold. Wells also dropped off after flatting, and eventually abandoned. "It was a tactical move to go so early," said Absalon. "A big group is so difficult to control, and I was in a good position when Nino did his attack to follow and then attack again. My goal was to be in good shape coming into these European World Cups, so this was very good for me." On lap five, Sauser decided it was time to shake things up in the chase and broke away from the rest of the group, taking only his teammate Stander with him. The duo quickly gained 20 seconds on the rest of the chasers, but were making no dent in Absalon's lead, and the effort failed after Sauser crashed hard in one of the technical sections and had to abandon with two broken brakes. Stander continued on in second, but was steadily being reeled in by Wolfram Kursch at (Topeak Ergon) and Peraud. The pair caught and dropped Stander in the final kilometres to take second and third behind Absalon, with the South African holding on for fourth, and the top Under 23 result. Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) capped an impressive ride up from midfield to take the final podium spot. "It was a record day," said Absalon. "A record World Cup victory, my first win of the season and my third victory at Offenburg." Top North American was Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), in eighth. "I was really pleased with my start, I was able to move up into the top twenty fairly quickly. Then I just had to ride my own race, my own pace. It is an encouraging result, particularly after not doing so well [in South Africa], and it gives me confidence as I prepare for Houffalize next week." American champion Adam Craig (Giant) battled with Kabush during the race before fading in the final laps to finish 14th, followed closely by the young Subaru-Gary Fisher talent Sam Schultz in 16th - the highest World Cup finish of his career. PhotographyFor a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here Images by Rob Jones /www.canadiancyclist.com
Results1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 1.49.26 2 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 1.09 3 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Massi 1.24 4 Burry Stander* (RSA) Specialized Factory Racing 1.32 5 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1.54 6 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Trek World Racing 2.13 7 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale Factory Racing 2.19 8 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing 2.34 9 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 2.57 10 Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 11 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 3.03 12 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 3.11 13 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 3.37 14 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 3.41 15 Jochen Kass (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 3.49 16 Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 3.53 17 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 4.14 18 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 19 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International 4.46 20 Stéphane Tempier (Fra) TX Active Bianchi 4.52 21 Mathias Flückiger* (Swi) Trek World Racing 5.08 22 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 5.11 23 Christoph Soukup (Aut) Merida Biking Team 5.21 24 Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Col) TX Active Bianchi 5.27 25 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Multivan Merida Biking Team 5.30 26 Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Lapierre International 5.34 27 Ludovic Dubau (Fra) 5.38 28 Martin Gujan (Swi) Cannondale Factory Racing 5.42 29 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 5.50 30 Milan Spesny (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 31 Alexis Vuillermoz* (Fra) Lapierre International 32 Florian Vogel (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 6.13 33 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 6.21 34 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 6.31 35 Umberto Corti (Ita) Team CBE Tecnoimpianti A.S.D. 6.38 36 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) Torq Performance Nutrition 6.44 37 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) MSC Bikes 6.50 38 Karl Markt (Aut) SRM Stevens Team 6.54 39 Anders Hovdenes* (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 40 Cristian Cominelli* (Ita) TX Active Bianchi 7.08 41 Jürg Graf (Swi) Felt International MTB Team 7.22 42 Bas Peters (Ned) 7.27 43 Christof Bischof (Swi) ISD Cycling Team 7.28 44 Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-Suntour 7.31 45 Guillaume Vinit* (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 7.35 46 Jiri Friedl (Cze) Merida Biking Team 7.39 47 Hannes Metzler (Aut) 7.40 48 Balz Weber (Swi) DS-Rennsport 7.46 49 Sergiy Rusenko (Ukr) ISD Cycling Team 7.48 50 Fabian Giger* (Swi) SKS M.I.G. Team 7.52 51 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 7.58 52 Lachlan Norris* (Aus) Discovertasmania.com 8.03 53 Filip Eberl (Cze) 8.05 54 Derek Zandstra (Can) 8.07 55 Peter Sagan* (Svk) 8.10 56 Marc Colom (Fra) 8.19 57 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 8.35 58 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 8.41 59 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 9.05 60 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 9.11 61 Johnny Cattaneo (Ita) 9.14 62 Magnus Darvell (Swe) 9.24 63 Frank Schotman (Ned) 9.42 64 Marek Galinski (Pol) JBG-2 Professional MTB Team 65 Thomas Litscher* (Swi) SKS M.I.G. Team 9.45 66 Josef Kamler* (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 10.11 67 Andras Parti (Hun) SRM Stevens Team 10.13 68 Irjan Luttenberg* (Ned) 10.18 69 Tim Bohme (Ger) Team Bulls 10.19 70 Jiri Novak (Cze) 10.20 71 Pascal Meyer* (Swi) SKS M.I.G. Team 10.33 72 Klaus Nielsen (Den) 10.35 73 Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) 10.40 74 Yader Zoli (Ita) Torpado-4US 10.51 75 Matous Ulman (Cze) Scott & Hagget MTB Team 11.09 76 Paolo Cesar Montoya Cantillo (CRc) Giant Italia Team 11.10 77 Ludovic Mottet (Bel) 11.27 78 Mattias Wengelin* (Swe) 11.37 79 François Bailly Maitre (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 11.50 80 Robert Mennen (Ger) 11.55 81 Luka Mezgec* (Slo) MBK Orbea 11.59 82 Frank Beemer* (Ned) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 12.06 83 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Giant Mountain Bike Team 12.15 84 Sebastian Szraucner* (Ger) 12.20 85 Marco Arnold* (Swi) 12.47 86 Nicolas Vermeulen (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team 13.14 87 Rene Tann (Ger) 13.42 88 Connor Mcconvey* (Irl) Felt International MTB Team 14.42 89 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Felt International MTB Team 15.54 90 Igor Bogdan (Ukr) 16.26 Behind two laps 91 Michael Broderick (USA) 92 Niels Wubben* (Ned) 93 Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chi) 94 Juan Pedro Trujillo Hernandez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 95 Tony Longo (Ita) 96 Fabien Canal* (Fra) Lapierre International 97 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 98 Anders Ljungberg (Swe) 99 Lukas Kaufmann* (Swi) 100 Evgeniy Nikolaev* (Rus) 101 Alejandro Diaz De La Pena Lopez (Spa) 102 Adrian Brzozka* (Pol) JBG-2 Professional MTB Team 103 Andy Eyring* (Ger) 104 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) 105 Martin Fanger* (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 106 Olaf Jonsson* (Swe) 107 Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita) ISD Cycling Team 108 Barry Wicks (USA) Kona 109 Olaf Rochow (Ger) 110 Cal Britten* (Aus) Torq Performance Nutrition 111 Henk Jaap Moorlag* (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 112 Anthony Grenet* (Fra) 113 Dariusz Batek (Pol) 114 Marco Minnaard* (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 115 Luka Kodra (Slo) MBK Orbea 116 Alban Lakata (Aut) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 117 Sebastien Carabin* (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team 118 Jianhua Ji (Chn) 119 Henrique Avancini* (Bra) 120 Olivier Maignan (Fra) 121 Martin Loo* (Est) 122 Matej Nepustil* (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 123 Pascal Schmutz* (Swi) 124 Felix Euteneuer* (Ger) 125 Catriel Andres Soto* (Arg) Infotre - Leecougan 126 Jo Thorson Nordskar* (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 127 Mattias Nilsson* (Swe) 128 Fabian Strecker* (Ger) 129 Shlomi Haimy* (Isr) 130 Roan Exelby (RSA) 131 Andrew Blair (Aus) 132 Kristian Hynek (Cze) Scott & Hagget MTB Team 133 Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona 134 Charlton Durie* (Aus) Discovertasmania.com 135 Daniel Kaufmann* (Swi) 136 Jérémy Huguenin* (Swi) 137 Rob Vangenechten* (Bel) Team Saeco 138 Tad Elliott* (USA) 139 Nicolas Jeantet* (Ita) Team CBE Tecnoimpianti A.S.D. 140 Alexis Chenevier* (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 141 Bilal Akgul (Tur) 142 Romain Gihoul* (Bel) 143 Periklis Ilias (Gre) ISD Cycling Team 144 Simon Scheiber* (Aut) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 145 Ondrej Cink* (Cze) Merida Biking Team 146 Axel Bult (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 147 Florian Schön* (Ger) 148 Patxi Cia Apezteguia (Spa) Conor - Camping La Siesta 149 Julien Saussac* (Fra) 150 Marcel Fleschhut* (Ger) 151 Nathan Haas* (Aus) Discovertasmania.com 152 Pierre Lebreton (Fra) BH-Suntour 153 Ethan Gilmour* (USA) 154 Uwe Hochenwarter (Aut) 155 Markus Bauer* (Ger) 156 Adam Morka (Can) 157 Erik Groen* (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 158 Zhiqiang Duan (Chn) 159 Pascal Hossay* (Bel) 160 Freddy Betremieux* (Fra) BH-Suntour 161 Heiko Gutmann* (Ger) 162 Andi Weinhold (Ger) 163 Calle Friberg (Swe) Behind three laps 164 Tim Wijnants* (Bel) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 165 Roland Plank (Aut) 166 Kornel Osicki* (Pol) JBG-2 Professional MTB Team 167 Mirco Widmer* (Swi) 168 Raphael Gagne* (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 169 Hubert Pollinger (Ita) Sunshine Racers ASV Nals 170 Vivien Legastelois* (Fra) BH-Suntour 171 Laurent Mineur* (Bel) 172 David Lozano Riba* (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 173 Jelmer Jubbega* (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 174 Zhen Wang* (Chn) 175 Rob Squire* (USA) 176 Valentin Fiderer* (Ger) 177 Balint Lukacs* (Hun) 178 Evgeniy Pechenin (Rus) Format-Udmurtia 179 Tomas Pesek* (Cze) 180 Tim Lemmers* (Ned) De Brink-Ten Tusscher 181 Oleksandr Kachanov* (Ukr) 182 Mikhail Baryshnikov* (Rus) 183 Lukas Sablik* (Cze) 184 Boris Vasilyev (Rus) Format-Udmurtia 185 Simon Stiebjahn* (Ger) Behind four laps 186 Kevin Kane* (USA) 187 Keiichi Tsujiura (Jpn) 188 Thomas Lapeyrie* (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 189 Robert Gehbauer* (Aut) Multivan Merida Biking Team 190 Abdulkadir Kelleci (Tur) 191 Rafal Hebisz (Pol) 192 German Dorhmann* (Arg) Infotre - Leecougan 193 Jonas De Backer* (Bel) 194 John Groves (Aus) 195 Abdurrahman Dandal* (Tur) DNF Dario Alejandro Gasco* (Arg) Massi DNF José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team DNF Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing DNF Andrea Tiberi (Ita) TX Active Bianchi DNF Patrik Gallati* (Swi) Scott-Swisspower Mtb-Racing DNF Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing DNF Martino Fruet (Ita) DNF Andras Melts (Hun) DNF Andreas Kugler (Swi) Felt International Mtb Team DNF Mykhaylo Batsutsa* (Ukr) DNF Stefan Sahm (Ger) Team Bulls DNF Arnaud Hacquard* (Fra) DNF Piotr Brzozka* (Pol) Jbg-2 Professional Mtb Team DNF Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) Central Ghost Pro Team DNF Bjorn Brems (Bel) Team Saeco DNF Ola Kjören (Nor) Team Fokus-Danica DNF Alexander Gehbauer* (Aut) DNF Samuele Porro* (Ita) Team Cbe Tecnoimpianti A.S.D. DNF Jakub Magnusek* (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb DNF Juri Ragnoli* (Ita) Felt International Mtb Team DNF Karl Platt (Ger) Team Bulls DNF Tiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira* (Por) DNF Ben Henderson (Aus) DNF Torsten Marx (Ger) Ds-Rennsport DNS Liam Killeen (GBr) Trek World Racing DNS Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) DNS Luis Alberto Costa Leao Pinto (Por) Teams 1 Orbea 67 pts 2 Multivan Merida Biking Team 50 3 Cannondale Factory Racing 50 4 Trek World Racing 36 5 Topeak Ergon Racing Team 35 6 Massi 32 7 Specialized Factory Racing 30 8 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 22 9 Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 21 10 Fumic.Brothers.International 19 11 Giant Mountain Bike Team 19 12 Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 18 13 TX Active Bianchi 18 14 Lapierre International 17 15 Subaru-Gary Fisher 15 16 Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 9 17 Merida Biking Team 8 18 Ceska Sporitelna MTB 1 World Cup standings after two rounds Individual 1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 450 pts 2 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 340 3 Burry Stander* (RSA) Specialized Factory Racing 310 4 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Massi 280 5 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 250 6 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Trek World Racing 240 7 Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 225 8 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale Factory Racing 220 9 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 168 10 Mathias Flückiger* (Swi) Trek World Racing 159 11 Stéphane Tempier (Fra) TX Active Bianchi 156 12 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 150 13 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 146 14 Jochen Kass (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 144 15 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 140 16 Christoph Soukup (Aut) Merida Biking Team 134 17 Martin Gujan (Swi) Cannondale Factory Racing 130 18 Florian Vogel (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 127 19 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Multivan Merida Biking Team 126 20 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 124 21 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre International 124 22 Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 122 23 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 122 24 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 116 25 Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Col) TX Active Bianchi 116 26 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing 110 27 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 110 28 Alexis Vuillermoz* (Fra) Lapierre International 108 29 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 97 30 Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Lapierre International 94 31 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 89 32 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 85 33 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) MSC Bikes 84 34 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 80 35 Ludovic Dubau (Fra) 74 36 Jürg Graf (Swi) Felt International MTB Team 71 37 Liam Killeen (GBr) Trek World Racing 66 38 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 62 39 Milan Spesny (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 61 40 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) Torq Performance Nutrition 61 41 Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing 60 42 Umberto Corti (Ita) Team CBE Tecnoimpianti A.S.D. 59 43 Sergiy Rusenko (Ukr) ISD Cycling Team 55 44 Jiri Friedl (Cze) Merida Biking Team 54 45 Cristian Cominelli* (Ita) TX Active Bianchi 54 46 Marc Colom (Fra) 50 47 Guillaume Vinit* (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 43 48 Andrea Tiberi (Ita) TX Active Bianchi 42 49 Hannes Metzler (Aut) 39 50 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 38 51 Balz Weber (Swi) DS-Rennsport 36 52 Connor Mcconvey* (Irl) Felt International MTB Team 34 53 Karl Markt (Aut) SRM Stevens Team 30 54 Robert Mennen (Ger) 30 55 Anders Hovdenes* (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 29 56 Dries Govaerts* (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team 29 57 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 29 58 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Felt International MTB Team 28 59 Bas Peters (Ned) 26 60 Lachlan Norris* (Aus) Discovertasmania.com 26 61 Christof Bischof (Swi) ISD Cycling Team 25 62 Yader Zoli (Ita) Torpado-4US 25 63 Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-Suntour 24 64 Lukas Kaufmann* (Swi) 24 65 Fabian Giger* (Swi) SKS M.I.G. Team 18 66 Bjorn Brems (Bel) Team Saeco 17 67 Filip Eberl (Cze) 15 68 Derek Zandstra (Can) 14 69 Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) Central Ghost Pro Team 14 70 Peter Sagan* (Svk) 13 71 Juan Pedro Trujillo Hernandez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 13 72 Roan Exelby (RSA) 12 73 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 11 74 François Bailly Maitre (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier 11 75 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 10 76 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 9 77 Andrew Blair (Aus) 9 78 Severin Disch* (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team 8 Team standings 1 Multivan Merida Biking Team 131 pts 2 Orbea 110 3 Specialized Factory Racing 100 4 Trek World Racing 91 5 Cannondale Factory Racing 90 6 Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing 66 7 Topeak Ergon Racing Team 63 8 Massi 56 9 TX Active Bianchi 45 10 Lapierre International 33 11 Giant Mountain Bike Team 28 12 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 23 13 Merida Biking Team 23 14 Fumic.Brothers.International 19 15 Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team 18 16 Subaru-Gary Fisher 17 17 Giant Italia Team 14 18 Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo 9 19 MSC Bikes 4 20 Ceska Sporitelna MTB 1 |
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