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Mountain Bike World Championships - CM
Val di Sole, Italy, June 17-22, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Race Next Race
Race 5 - June 19: Junior men cross country, 29.4km
Sagan wins junior world title
By Sue George in Val di Sole, Italy
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European champion Peter Sagan proved he's the best junior not only in Europe but in the world with his win on Thursday morning. The 18 year-old Slovakian won the junior world cross country title in Val di Sole, Italy, after a strong effort at the front of the race for much of the five lap race. He finished in 1:35:21. Behind him, Frenchman Arnaud Jouffroy finished on his own1:34 later. Another 2:51 back was Switzerland's Matthias Rupp in third.
"This was my second cross county worlds. It was really hard for me," said newly crowned World Champion Sagan, a last year junior who resides in Zinint. Sagan's coach said the young rider races not only mountain bike, but also road and cyclo-cross. He added that Sagan rarely had the chance to race with other juniors and generally drew stength and support from his brother, a road racer.
Marcus Schulte-Luenzum and Jonas De Backer (Belgium) set the intial pace as they led the rest of the nearly record 119 racers at the start. They couldn't keep it up, however, and by the end of the first half lap, Jouffrey and Sagan were leading the race with a slight advantage over Rupp and Alexander Gehbauer (Austria).
By the end of the first lap, Gehbauer had traded places with Rupp, and he'd stay there until the end of the second lap when Rupp, who finished third in the European championship, moved back up into third place.
At the end of the second lap, eventual winner Sagan started to pull away from second place Jouffroy with about a 12 second gap. For the rest of the race, Sagan was on his own, riding strongly to increase his advantage, which ultimately ended up at 1:34. Rupp held on to third. At one point Rupp's gap off the leader was up over three minutes, but a speedy finish bought him back a few seconds to a slightly narrower margin (2:51).
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"During the first part of the race, I tried to stay with the leader," said Jouffroy, who also races the road and cyclo-cross. "I came for victory, but I finished second and compliment the winner."
The race for fourth through sixth place was much closer with three riders sometimes changing places throughout the last few laps. When the dust settled, it was Fabian Strecker (Germany), Mirco Widmer (Switzerland) and Luca Braidot finishing in that order.
With their performance in the junior race, oth Jouffroy and Rupp maked their second podium appearance this week. They were part respectively of the winning and second place team relay squads from Tuesday's competition. Sagan's win came after eighth place finish at last year's junior worlds in Fort William, Scotland.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia) went to the front and stayed there
- Matthias Rupp (Switzerland)
- Jonas De Backer (Belgium) was one of the early challengers
- Fabian Strecker (Germany) was 4th
- Mirco Widmer (Switzerland) leads a chasing group.
- Anthony Grenet (France) attacks the climb.
- Charlton Durie (Australia) takes a drink.
- Dirk Peters (New-Zealand)
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia) was the epitome of focus in the men's junior race.
- Arnaud Jouffroy (France) came to win, but had to settle for second.
- Matthias Rupp (Switzerland) suffered in for third.
- Luca Braidot (Italy) took sixth.
- Jonas De Backer (Bel) leads Henk Jaap Moorlag (Ned) and Fabian Strecker (Ger)
- Micki Van Empel (Netherlands) feels the heat in the junior men's race.
- Robbie Squire (USA) heads across the grassy field.
- Arnaud Jouffroy (France)
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia) takes the win in the men's junior cross country.
- Arnaud Jouffroy happ with silver
- Rupp takes the Swiss flag to bronze
- Junior Men's XC ready to start
- Seamus Powell (USA) and David Miguel Costa Rodrigues (Portugal)
- Matthias Rupp in early lead group
- John Bennett (USA)
- Seamus Powell (USA)
- Alexander Gehbauer (Austria) was a favourite until a broken rear derailleur knocked him out on the second lap
- John Bennett (USA)
- Jonas De Backer (Belgium)
- Evan Guthrie (canada)
- Peter Sagan finished with a comfortable lead
- Arnaud Jouffroy (France)
- Matthias Rupp (Switzerland)
- The real race was for 4th between Fabian Strecker (Germany), Mirco Widmer (Switzerland) and Luca Braidot (Italy)
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia) celebrates his victory in the junior men's cross country race.
- The Junior Men's XC podium: Arnaud Jouffroy, Peter Sagan, Matthias Rupp
Results
1 Peter Sagan (Slovakia) 1.35.21 (18.48km/h) 2 Arnaud Jouffroy (France) 1.34 3 Matthias Rupp (Switzerland) 2.51 4 Fabian Strecker (Germany) 5.34 5 Mirco Widmer (Switzerland) 5.42 6 Luca Braidot (Italy) 5.43 7 Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands) 6.07 8 Marcus Schulte-Luenzum (Germany) 6.15 9 Mattthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) 6.33 10 Marek Konwa (Poland) 7.01 11 Martin Gluth (Germany) 7.17 12 Tim Wellens (Belgium) 9.37 13 Micki Van Empel (Netherlands) 9.56 14 Blaz Znidarsic (Slovenia) 10.55 15 Anthony Grenet (France) 10.59 16 Daniele Braidot (Italy) 11.01 17 Jonas De Backer (Belgium) 11.17 18 Nicholas Pettina (Italy) 11.41 19 Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) 11.44 20 Zsolt Juhasz (Hungary) 11.56 21 Arnaud Grand (Switzerland) 12.08 22 Jan Nesvadba (Czech Republic) 12.14 23 Robbie Squire (United States Of America) 12.25 24 Simon Stiebjahn (Germany) 12.30 25 Dirk Peters (New Zealand) 26 Ricardo Paulo Marinheiro (Portugal) 12.31 27 Thomas Decugis (France) 12.33 28 Erik Groen (Netherlands) 13.01 29 Matthias Hoi (Austria) 30 Mykhaylo Batsutsa (Ukraine) 13.16 31 Reto Indergand (Switzerland) 13.19 32 Robbie Hucker (Australia) 13.25 33 Elia Silvestri (Italy) 13.56 34 Peter Braunsteins (Australia) 13.59 35 Marcel Fleschhut (Germany) 14.21 36 Olof Jonsson (Sweden) 14.34 37 Andreas Gravdal (Norway) 14.42 38 Adriaan Louw (South Africa) 14.46 39 Hamish Creber (Great Britain) 15.01 40 Donat Albin (Switzerland) 15.45 41 George Bennett (New Zealand) 42 Rourke Croeser (South Africa) 15.48 43 Liam Mcgreevy (Ireland) 16.50 44 Valentin Fiderer (Germany) 17.19 45 Evan Guthrie (Canada) 17.26 46 Amotz Nehoray (Israel) 17.48 Behind one lap 47 Alex Paton (Great Britain) 48 Filippo Blanc (Italy) 49 Umbert Almenara Verges (Spain) 50 Sebastian Batchelor (Great Britain) 51 Pavel Pryadein (Russian Federation) 52 Ashley Hough (New Zealand) 53 Tyson Wagler (Canada) 54 David Miguel Costa Rodrigues (Portugal) 55 Kevin Santana (Argentina) 56 Benedikt Muendle (Liechtenstein) 57 Filip Adel (Czech Republic) 58 Attila Bela (Hungary) 59 Ruben Scheire (Belgium) 60 David Johnston (Australia) 61 Joris Bagnol (France) 62 Michael Pesse (Italy) 63 Charlton Durie (Australia) 64 Foronda Mauricio (Colombia) 65 Luke Fetch (Australia) 66 Rob Van Der Heijden (Netherlands) 67 Jonathan Boucher (Canada) 68 Michalis Kittis (Cyprus) Behind two laps 69 Zoltan Bene (Hungary) 70 Manfred Reis (Germany) 71 Timofei Ivanov (Russian Federation) 72 Alexios Kokovikas (Greece) 73 Oscar Byhlinder (Sweden) 74 Diogo Beatriz Gome Afonso (Portugal) 75 Brazhnik Rodion (Ukraine) 76 Mario Rodriguez Bravo (Chile) 77 Keisuke Goda (Japan) 78 Richard Malinowsky (Brazil) 79 Francisco Lopez Pallares (Spain) 80 Juan Siles (Argentina) 81 Sagi Fainshtain (Israel) 82 Szymon Galczynski (Poland) 83 John Bennett (United States Of America) 84 Andras Szatmary (Hungary) 85 Kerry Werner (United States Of America) 86 Abdurrahman Dandal (Turkey) 87 Charalampos Takidis (Greece) 88 Stepan Stepanov (Russian Federation) 89 Neil Mc Gimpsey (Ireland) 90 Scott Green (New Zealand) 91 Klemen Nicoletti (Slovenia) 92 Seamus Powell (United States Of America) 93 Tomer Laks (Israel) DNF Alexander Gehbauer (Austria) DNF Jakub Magnusek (Czech Republic) DNF Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) DNF German Dorhmann (Argentina) DNF Paul O'reilly (Ireland) DNF Balint Lukacs (Hungary) DNF Aleksei Kuzmenko (Russian Federation) DNF Vid Tancer (Slovenia) DNF Kieran Hambrook (New Zealand) DNS Joze Zagar (Slovenia)
