World Mountain Bike Championships - CDM

Vail, Colorado, USA, September 12 - 16, 2001

2000 Results    Main page

Day 4 - September 16: Men's Elite cross country

Live Report

17: 40 - 5km to go
Green and Rasmussen still lead and are gradually increasing their margin over a chasing bunch of eight consisting of the riders mentioned above less Kashi Leuchs who seems to have faded out. As they go out on to the last lap, it looks like the top two positions on the podium are secured — it's going to be very hard for anyone to close the 1.20 gap if Green has retained the form he's shown all season. That said, many of the chasers are known for their ability to come back strongly in the last lap. One thing is certain: whoever wins the bronze is going to have to fight for it hard.

18:00 - 0km to go
As we look up the finish straight, it's Roland Green on his own; he's shed Rasmussen on the final lap to take the world championships ina powerful display of the same domonating riding we've seen from him all season. This is truly a magnificent achievement; taking the worlds and the World Cup in the same year puts Green into the mountain bike pantheon with Miguel Martinez, the only other rider to accomplish that double.

Just 30 seconds behind Green a hard-charging Thomas Frischknecht collects the silver, and moments afterwards Christof Sauser comes in for bronze. The following riders are separated by just seconds apiece, as the last lap saw each of them battle to take podium positions after Michael Rasmussen blew and eventually dropped to 11th.

Results (unofficial)

1 Roland Green (Canada)
2 Thomas Frischknecht (Switzerland)
3 Christof Sauser (Switzerland)
4 Cadel Evans (australia)
5 Ludovic Dubau (France)
6 Bart Brentjens (Netherlands)
7 Cedric Ravenal (France)
8 Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium)
9 Martino Fruet (italy)
10 Jose Hermida (Spain

Complete live report