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29th Olympic Games - JO
Beijing, China, August 9-23, 2008
Main Page Results Previous Event
Event 38 - August 23: Men's Cross Country MTB, 34.4km (8 laps)
French dominate the rest of the World
By Rob Jones in Beijing
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It was almost expected that Julien Absalon would win his second Olympic gold medal in the men's cross country race and Absalon delivered. The surprise came from his compatriot Jean-Christophe Peraud, who stormed to a silver medal, a minute after Absalon celebrated his win. The Swiss duo of Christoph Sauser and Nino Schurter delivered an exciting battle for bronze, with Schurter edging out Sauser by a few seconds.
The Laoshan mountain bike course was criticized after the test event last year for being too easy, but the riders should have been careful what they asked for, as the re-designed track was far harder than anyone had anticipated.
"It's the most complicated, difficult technical race. There were lots of stones and no time to rest," Absalon said after the race. Pernaud agreed that it was one of the hardest courses he'd ever ridden. "After I finished, I was so tired that I had to take a rest, because I couldn't feel my legs anymore," he said.
Absalon was impervious to the numerous steep and rocky descents which spelled the end of many of the favourites' races. Even Switzerland's Christoph Sauser, the reigning world champion, had to concede the race to his 22-year-old team-mate Nino Schurter, who took the bronze. Absalon topped Schurter as the rider to beat in London in four years' time.
How it unfolded
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Absalon began his race to defend the Olympic title as he often does: sitting back a few spots from the front and watching as others set the pace, before striking with surgical precision. For this Olympic race, it was late in the second lap that he made his move, attacking a leading group containing Fredrick Kessiakoff (Sweden), Christoph Sauser, Florian Vogel and Nino Schurter (all Switzerland), Roel Paulissen (Belgium), Jean-Christophe Peraud (France), Marco Fontana (Italy) and Jose Hermida (Spain). Manuel Fumic (Germany) and Christoph Soukup (Austria) were a few seconds behind this main group.
Absalon's ride was by no means effortless. The Frenchman was putting every bit of energy into making his attack succeed, hammering up the climbs out of the saddle and pedaling as much of the downhills as possible. By the end of the second lap his lead was 18 seconds, and grew to over 30 seconds by the end of lap three.
By that point, Peraud had dropped the Swiss pair of Sauser and Schurter, and was alone in second place, at 33 seconds, with the other chasers at 1'10". Absalon continued to slowly increase his lead over Peraud by a few seconds each lap to roll into the finish with a lead of one minute and seven seconds.
"When you ride at the Olympic Games, you can't play it safe. It's not a question of riding a careful race. You don't think, you just go. And if you don't, if you lose because of that, it is four years of regrets."
"It was not a walk in the park for me to win, it was really very difficult. It is always difficult to confirm and keep your status as the number one rider; it's not easy being the [defending] Olympic champion. In our sport it is all over in one day, so anyone can win. Today, I am happy that it was me."
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Peraud came in every bit as happy as Absalon for the silver, while Schurter managed to drop Sauser on the last lap to take the bronze medal.
"It was hard at the end," said Schurter "with it being Swiss versus Swiss. I thought that Christoph would be faster in these hot conditions, but I could see that I was stronger on the steep climbs, and I managed to get a little gap there."
Peraud was pleased with silver, since that was what he thought it was possible to aspire for. "My objective was to win silver here, to win a medal, but I felt the gold was inaccessible because Julien is so dominant."
North American riders did not fare well, with Canada's Geoff Kabush the only one of four to not be lapped and pulled. Both American riders - Adam Craig and Todd Wells - struggled, while the Canadians suffered mechanical problems. Kabush was just behind the lead group near the end of lap one when he got a slow leak and had to stop in the tech zone for a wheel change, losing many spots. McGrath flatted after landing hard from a drop off, blowing the tire off the front wheel and then having to ride the rim all the way around to the Tech Zone. His replacement wheel also had a slow leak and then he was pulled.
Belgian cyclo-cross star Sven Nys took a surprising ninth place as his country's top finisher, 2'30" ahead of his more experienced compatriot Roel Paulissen. He was excited to have done so well, and is considering putting more focus into his mountain biking ahead of the 2012 Games. "If you can start from 35th position and work your way up through to the group which is fighting for bronze, you can't help but be satisfied. I paid for that chase afterward - I got cramps because of the high tempo I had to ride," Nys said according to HLN.be. "I don't think I lost today - if I can start closer to the front I can contend for the podium."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- France's Julian Absalon had company only in the first lap of the race, here Manuel Fumic (Germany).
- Julien Absalon (France) on his way to the gold medal.
- Julien Absalon (France) on one of the smooth parts of the course.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) chases after his team-mate Absalon
- Christoph Soukup (Austria) on the rocky descent.
- South African Burry Stander finished 15th.
- Canada's Seamus McGrath flatted and was forced to carry his bike down the hill.
Images by Casey Gibson/www.cbgphoto.com
- Julien Absalon (France) on the climb.
- This French fan has a son named Absalon.
- Julien Absalon (France) shares his win with the fans.
- Fans line the final descent , and Absalon is on his way down.
- Julien Absalon (France) with his gold medal.
- Julien Absalon celebrates his win.
- The Netherlands Bart Brentjens before his crash
- Adam Craig of the USA on a climb.
- Fans packed the plaza around the start finish line.
- Spain's Jose Hermida was a favorite, and finished 10th.
- Geoff Kabush (Canada) led the field up the first climb.
- Germany's Moritz Milatz climbed to 16th place.
- The men's podium: Jean-Christophe Peraud (France), Julien Absalon (France), Nino Schurter (Switzerland).
- Belgian cyclo-cross star Sven Nys had a great finish in ninth, and now wants to spend more time on the fat tires.
- France's Jean-Christophe Peraud on a rocky descent.
- Christoph Sauser was in contention all day , and finished 4th.
- American Todd Wells flashes through the trees.
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Geoff Kabush (Canada) got the holeshot and led for the first part of lap one.
- Canada's Geoff Kabush got the holeshot and led for the first part of lap one.
- Early on lap one it was a bit of a traffic jam.
- It was a bit of a traffic jam on the first lap.
- Great Britain's Liam Killeen went down, but straightened his 'bars and continued after the early crash.
- Fredrik Kessiakoff was at the front during the first lap.
- Christophe Sauser (Switzerland)
- Manuel Fumic (Germany)
- Jose Hermida (Spain)
- Julien Absalon (France)
- Christoph Sauser and Jean-Christophe Peraud
- Adam Craig (United States)
- Jianhua Ji (China)
- Todd Wells (United States)
- Federico Ramirez (Costa Rica)
- World champion Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) was hoping for better than fourth.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) moves to the road next year.
- Seamus Mcgrath (Canada) rode the rim all the way around to the tech zone.
- Julien Absalon (France)
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (France)
- Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) and Nino Schurter (Switzerland) rode together most of the race.
- Manuel Fumic (Germany)
- Jose Hermida (Spain)
- Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden)
- Burry Stander (South Africa)
- Christoph Soukup (Austria) and Moritz Milatz (Germany).
- Liam Killeen (Great Britain)
- Roel Paulissen (Belgium)
- Geoff Kabush (Canada)
- Jianhua Ji (China)
- Kashi Leuchs (New Zealand)
- Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium)
- Todd Wells (United States)
- Seamus McGrath (Canada)
- Julien Absalon (France)
- Liam Killeen (Great Britain) fought his way up from last to seventh.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark)
- Adam Craig (United States)
- Bart Brentjens (Netherlands)
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (France)
- Christoph Sauser (Switzerland)
- Sven Nys (Belgium)
- Julien Absalon (France) repeats as Olympic Games Champion.
- Julien Absalon (France) was delighted with another Olympic gold medal.
- France's Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) takes silver.
- Nino Schurter (Switzerland) takes the bronze in front of Christoph Sauser (Switzerland).
- Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) pounded his bars in frustration after taking fourth.
- Julien Absalon (France) was the gold medal winner.
- Podium (L-R): Jean-Christophe Peraud (France), Julien Absalon (France) and Nino Schurter (Switzerland).
Images by Greg Chang/Photosport International
- Christoph Sauser chased the bronze medal hard but just came up short.
- The Australian Daniel McConnell had some trouble with their shoes on the dusty course.
- The coach had to get a rock out of the cleats.
- Julian Absalon followed rule #1 and drank before he was even thirsty.
- Absalon nows a thing about winning and as such is familiar with needing to stay hydrated.
- Absalon had to keep his body fluid.
- Niko Schurter decided to take the drink externally for a btter cooling effect.
- Absalon and the loneliness of the cross country mountain biker.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud completed France's triumph and finished second.
- Sven Nys (Belgium) scored a ninth place.
- Manuel Fumic was with the Swiss riders for a long time, but a mechanical depreived him of all chances for a better placing. He ended in 11th.
- There were huge crowds at the course.
- Switzerland's Nino Schurter sprinted hard for his bronze medal.
- Absalon dominated his way to his second Olympic gold.
- Peraud ended the day in second
Results
1 Julien Absalon (France) 1.55.59 2 Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) 1.07 3 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 1.53 4 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 1.55 5 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) 4.00 6 Christoph Soukup (Austria) 4.12 7 Liam Killeen (Great Britain) 4.15 8 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spain) 4.22 9 Sven Nys (Belgium) 5.01 10 Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) 5.02 11 Manuel Fumic (Germany) 5.17 12 Oliver Beckingsale (Great Britain) 5.26 13 Marek Galinski (Poland) 5.30 14 Cedric Ravanel (France) 5.39 15 Burry Stander (South Africa) 5.59 16 Moritz Milatz (Germany) 7.00 17 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden) 7.10 18 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 7.21 19 Roel Paulissen (Belgium) 7.31 20 Geoff Kabush (Canada) 7.56 21 Rubens Valeriano (Brazil) 9.20 22 Jianhua Ji (China) 9.30 23 Andras Parti (Hungary) 10.01 24 Kashi Leuchs (New Zealand) 10.31 25 Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (Denmark) 10.42 26 Hector Leonardo Paez (Colombia) 10.47 27 Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina) 11.05 28 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) 13.06 One lap behind 29 Adam Craig (United States) 30 Yader Zoli (Italy) 31 Klaus Nielsen (Denmark) Two laps behind 32 Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium) 33 Wolfram Kurschat (Germany) 34 Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) 35 Bilal Akgul (Turkey) 36 Cristobal Silva (Chile) 37 Bart Brentjens (Netherlands) 38 Emil Lindgren (Sweden) 39 Daniel Mcconnell (Australia) 40 Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong) 41 Yury Trofimov (Russia) Three laps behind 42 Sergii Rysenko (Ukraine) 43 Todd Wells (United States) 44 Seamus Mcgrath (Canada) 45 Mannie Heymans (Namibia) 46 Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 47 Federico Ramirez (Costa Rica) Six laps behind 48 Antipass Kwari (Zimbabwe) DNF Florian Vogel (Switzerland) DNF Robin Seymour (Ireland)
