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World Cup XC # 4/DH/4X # 2 - B
Willingen, Germany, June 4-5, 2005
Main Page Results World Cup standings Previous Race Next Race
Race 2 - June 4: Men's XC
Sauser gets first win as Absalon struggles
By Rob Jones in Willingen
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In Houffalize, the first cracks appeared in the seemingly invincible Julien Absalon, when a stomach bug put him out of the top 15. Here, Absalon was back on-form, but no longer as dominant as the first two rounds.
A selection of the top riders was made by the first lap (after doing a start loop), with Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida) pushing the pace ahead of Absalon, Sauser, Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida), Fredrik Kessiakoff (Siemens Cannondale) and last weeks winner Marco Bui (Full Dynamix).
Naef lasted two laps before falling off the pace, and then it was five. On lap four, the halfway point in the race, Sauser decided it was time to shake things up. "When we came into the forest part I put the hammer down. I knew that Bui and myself were the strongest riders on the climb"
The pair blew apart the lead group. They quickly took 15 seconds on Hermida, with Kessiakoff at 20 seconds and Absalon appearing to struggle off the back. However, a lap and a half later Absalon was revitalized, charging by Hermida to close to within 9 seconds of the front pair with a little less than two laps to go. This was as close as he would get, however, and he gradually faded, still managing to hold on for third.
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On the second to last climb, Sauser dropped Bui for good, and soloed in for his first World Cup win of the season, and the chance to take over the leader's jersey from Absalon. Hermida stayed in fourth and Kessiakoff held off a late charge by Liam Killeen (Specialized) to take the final podium spot.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Clouds threatened rain, but held off until later in the day
- Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida Biking Team) took the lead on lap 1, but was not able to maintain the pace, would finish 9th
- A long line of riders make their way up the main climb
- Sid Taberlay (Specialized)
- The men's podium - Fredrik Kessiakoff, Julien Absalon, Christoph Sauser, Marco Bui, Jose Antonio Hermida
- Bart Brentjens (Giant) won the Garda Trentino Marathon
- Jose Antonio Hermida (Multivan Merida Biking Team) was 4th
- Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) back on form, but no longer as dominant as the first two rounds
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (Lapierre International) was one of the early leaders
- Liam Killeen (Specialized) would just miss the podium
- Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) would finish 12th
- Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale) winner and World Cup leader
- Marco Bui (Full Dynamix) rode another strong race
- Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) would lose the overall leader's jersey
- Adam Craig (Giant USA) top North American finisher
Results - 48.8 km
1 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing 1.59.30 2 Marco Bui (Ita) Full Dynamix 0.20 3 Julien Absalon (Fra) Bianchi Agos 0.44 4 Jose Antonio Hermida (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1.08 5 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing 2.48 6 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racin 3.37 7 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 3.42 8 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Usa 3.57 9 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 4.06 10 Yader Zoli (Ita) 4.23 11 Erwin Bakker (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 4.38 12 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower 4.49 13 Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita) 4.53 14 Marek Galinski (Pol) Orbea 4.59 15 Bas Peters (Ned) 5.08 16 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Giant-Racing-Team 5.15 17 Milan Spesny (Cze) 5.33 18 Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Bianchi Agos 5.46 19 Bart Brentjens (Ned) Giant-Racing-Team 5.48 20 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic Racing 5.58 21 Jochen Käss (Ger) 6.05 22 Nino Schurter (Swi) 6.22 23 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 6.33 24 Christoph Soukup (Aut) 6.43 25 Balz Weber (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 6.49 26 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic Racing 6.53 27 Andreas Kugler (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 28 Marc Trayter Alemany (Spa) 6.54 29 Christof Bischof (Swi) 7.11 30 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) 7.13 31 Marten Tjallingii (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 7.18 32 Thys Al (Ned) Giant-Racing-Team 7.25 33 Frédéric Frech (Fra) 7.48 34 Michael Weiss (Aut) 8.06 35 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 8.11 36 Jérome Chevalier (Fra) 8.27 37 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) 8.35 38 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Bianchi Agos 8.36 39 Martino Fruet (Ita) 9.04 40 Sid Taberlay (Aus) Specialized Factory Racin 9.12 41 Karl Platt (Ger) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 9.28 42 Carl Friberg (Swe) Bikin'cyprus Int. 9.44 43 Igor Bogdan (Ukr) 9.59 44 Alban Lakata (Aut) Specialized Factory Racing 10.22 45 Mike Felderer (Ita) 10.23 46 Inaki Lejaretta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 10.41 47 Till Marx (Swi) 11.00 48 Miguel Martinez (Fra) Commencal Oxbow 11.05 49 Yury Trofimov (Rus) 11.08 50 Michael Broderick (USA) 11.10 51 Sergiy Rysenko (Ukr) 11.25 52 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) 11.39 53 Oriol Morata Abril (Spa) 11.51 54 Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Orbea 13.46 1 lap behind 55 Jürg Graf (Swi) 56 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) 57 Dariusz Batek (Pol) Lotto 58 Roman Rametsteiner (Aut) 59 Jiri Friedl (Cze) 60 Tony Longo (Ita) 61 Hannes Metzler (Aut) 62 Johannes Sickmüller (Ger) 63 Fabio Bernasconi (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 64 Philip Tavell (Swe) 65 Miha Solar (Slo) 66 Andrea Tiberi (Ita) 67 Alejandro Diaz De La Pena Lo (Spa) Maxxis-Msc 68 Tomas Vokrouhlik (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb 69 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Massi-Abarth 70 Joan Llordella Prat (Spa) 71 Damien Bynens (Bel) 72 Ivan Schalbetter (Swi) 73 Benjamin Rudiger (Ger) 74 Torsten Marx (Ger) 2 laps behind 75 Tim Böhme (Ger) 76 Max Plaxton (Can) Maxxis-Msc 77 Hannes Genze (Ger) 78 Tudor Oprea Ovidiu (Rom) Bikin'cyprus Int. 79 Stefan Sahm (Ger) Giant-Racing-Team 80 Sébastien Hansen (Fra) 81 Roland Golderer (Ger) 82 Ivan Alvarez (Spa) 83 Pavel Boudny (Cze) 84 Lukas Hanus (Svk) 85 Thomas Roccaro (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 86 Friedemann Schmude (Ger) 87 Andreas Dilger (Ger) 88 Frank Schotman (Ned) 89 Emil Jamnicz (Cze) Max Cursor 90 Nicolas Vermeulen (Bel) 91 Joris Boillat (Swi) 3 laps behind 92 Rene Tann (Ger) Giant-Racing-Team 93 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) 94 Gody Jacobs (Bel) 95 Hans Becking (Ned) 96 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) 97 Hubert Pollinger (Ita) 98 Alan Obye (USA) 99 Olaf Rochow (Ger) 100 Raffael Schmid (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 101 Roland Abächerli (Swi) 102 Ismael Ventura Sanchez (Spa) 103 Zak Toogood (GBr) 104 Marc Gölz (Ger) 105 Laurent Fontaine (Bel) 106 James Ouchterlony (GBr) 107 Bjorn Brems (Bel) Merlan Duo-Be One 108 Andi Weinhold (Ger) 109 Rok Grilc (Slo) 110 Tobias Witzack (Ger) 111 Christopher Maletz (Ger) 112 Oleksandr Yakymenko (Ukr) 113 Jiri Novak (Cze) 114 Sam Malfliet (Bel) 115 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) 4 laps behind 116 Nicola Rohrbach (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 117 Denis Vorontsov (Rus) 118 Karel Videcky (Cze) Max Cursor 119 Tim Ottens (Ned) 120 Joris Massaer (Bel) 121 Frank Lehmann (Ger) 122 Marti Gispert Labarta (Spa) Maxxis-Msc 123 Maarten Krommendijk (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 124 Andras Melts (Hun) 125 Daniel Schütz (Swi) 126 Christian Vogt (Ger) 127 Pierre Geoffrey Plantet (Fra) 128 Sam Schultz (USA) 129 Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) 130 William Bjergfelt (GBr) 131 Mark Nellen (Ned) 132 Urs Foehn (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 133 Andre Kleindienst (Ger) Lapierre International 134 Fabian Brzezinski (Ger) 135 Leon De Jong (Ned) 136 Mathijs Wagenaar (Ned) 137 Rick Evers (Ned) 138 Jochen Coconcelli (Ger) 139 Paul Remy (Fra) 140 Ian Field (GBr) 141 Dylan Cooper (Aus) 142 Ruud Rentmeester (Ned) 143 Peter Nilges (Ger) 144 Axel Bult (Ned) 145 Thibault Legastelois (Fra) Lapierre International 146 Ludovic Mottet (Bel) 147 Lukas Vlach (Cze) 148 Torsten Walter (Ger) 149 Daniel Eiermann (Ger) 150 Robert Vrecer (Slo) 151 Gerald Hauer (Aut) 152 Wilko Rochow (Ger) 153 John Devine (USA) 154 Nick Waite (USA) 155 Dominiek Ranson (Bel) 5 laps behind 156 Marcel Groothuismink (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 157 Stanislav Machac (Cze) 158 Ian Bibby (GBr) 159 Shaun Lewis (Aus) 160 Onno Houwer (Ned) 161 Werner Weiss (Ita) 162 Guo Yinhui (Chn) 163 Jordy Luisman (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 164 Thomas Felkel (Ger) 165 Jorgen Flion (Bel) 166 Georg Huber (Aut) 167 Klemens Bont (Swi) 168 Dror Pekatch (Isr) 169 Tom Geeraerts (Bel) 170 Andy Taildeman (Bel) 171 Steve Appermans (Bel) 6 laps behind 172 Karel De Wael (Bel) 173 Gael Martinet (Swi) Domcycle-Commencal-Bike P 7 laps behind 174 Timothy Madgwick (NZl) DNS Geoff Kabush (Can) Maxxis DNS Richie Mccauley (Irl) DNS Dario Steinacher (Ita)
World Cup standings after round 4
1 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing 770 pts 2 Julien Absalon (Fra) Bianchi Agos 729 3 Marco Bui (Ita) Full Dynamix 635 4 Jose Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 610 5 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Giant-Racing-Team 560 6 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing 387 7 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Lapierre International 353 8 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 325 9 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic Racing 316 10 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower 281 11 Erwin Bakker (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 263 12 Miguel Martinez (Fra) Commencal Oxbow 226 13 Silvio Bundi (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 224 14 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic Racing 216 14 Michael Weiss (Aut) 216 16 Ralph Naf (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 215 17 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Usa 212 18 Jochen Kass (Ger) 212 19 Marc Trayter Alemany (Spa) 205 20 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 200 21 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 198 22 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) 192 23 Marek Galinski (Pol) Orbea 191 24 Bart Brentjens (Ned) Giant-Racing-Team 187 25 Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Bianchi Agos 186 26 Christoph Soukup (Aut) 184 27 Christof Bischof (Swi) 178 28 Marti Gispert Labarta (Spa) Maxxis-Msc 178 29 Jerome Chevalier (Fra) 176 30 Jader Zoli (Ita) 174 31 Nino Schurter (Swi) 174 32 Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita) 170 33 Bas Peters (Ned) 162 34 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) K2-Zero Rh+ 162 35 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) 158 36 Sergiy Rysenko (Ukr) 158 37 Sid Taberley (Aus) Specialized Factory Racing 149 38 Milan Spesny (Cze) 137 39 Andreas Kugler (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 122 40 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) 120 41 Frederic Frech (Fra) 119 42 Thijs Al (Ned) Giant-Racing-Team 118 43 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 116 44 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 113 45 Florian Vogel (Swi) 113 46 Balz Weber (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 110 47 Yury Trofimov (Rus) 109 48 Igor Bogdan (Ukr) 103 49 Thomas Dietsch (Fra) 103 50 Michael Broderick (USA) 102 51 Martino Fruet (Ita) 78 52 Till Marx (Swi) 77 53 Karl Platt (Ger) 73 54 Johannes Sickmueller (Ger) 72 55 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 72 56 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Bianchi Agos 70 57 Jürg Graf (Swi) 68 58 Alejandro Diaz De La Pena Lo (Spa) Maxxis-Msc 60 59 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Merlan Duo-Be One 60 60 Stefan Sahm (Ger) Giant-Racing-Team 59 61 Hannes Metzler (Aut) 58 62 Peter Pouly (Fra) 58 63 Martin Kraler (Aut) Giant-Racing-Team 57 64 Andreas Dilger (Ger) 57 65 Gion Manetsch (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 55 66 Roman Rametsteiner (Aut) 54 67 Johann Pallhuber (Ita) 54 68 Haakon Austad (Nor) 51 69 Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Orbea 50 70 Ludovic Dubau (Fra) Devinci-Pro Race 50 71 Ivan Alvarez Guttierrez (Spa) 48 72 Sergio Mantecon Guttierre (Spa) 46 73 Miha Solar (Slo) 46 74 Dariusz Batek (Pol) Lotto 45 75 Alban Lakata (Aut) Specialized Factory Racing 44 76 Peter Andersen (Den) 44 77 Toni Longo (Ita) 37 78 Pierre Lebreton (Fra) Devinci-Pro Race 36 79 Mike Felderer (Ita) 35 80 Todd Wells (USA) 35 81 Carl Friberg (Swe) Bikin'cyprus Int. 34 82 Radim Korinek (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb 33 83 Friedemann Schmude (Ger) 32 84 Oriol Morata Abril (Spa) 31 85 Stephane Tempier (Fra) 31 86 Nicolas Filippi (Fra) Lapierre International 29 87 Tim Boehme (Ger) 28 88 Oleksandr Yakymenko (Ukr) 28 89 Jiri Friedl (Cze) 26 90 Fabio Bernasconi (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 23 91 Pavel Boudny (Cze) 22 92 Klaus Nielsen (Den) 22 93 Benjami Rudiger (Ger) 22 94 Eloi Gispert (Spa) Massi-Abarth 21 95 Hans Becking (Ned) 17 96 Filip Eberl (Cze) 17 97 Jose Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) Maxxis-Msc 15 98 Simon Richardson (GBr) 14 99 Lars Nordhaug (Nor) 14 100 Frank Schotman (Ned) 13 101 Philip Spencer (GBr) 13 102 Philip Tavell (Swe) 12 103 Roland Golderer (Ger) 11 104 Leonardo Zanotti (Ita) 11 105 Andreas Tiberi (Ita) 10 106 Hannes Genze (Ger) 10 107 Guillermo Bogas Oliva (Spa) 10 108 Rick Evers (Ned) 9 109 Kryspin Pyrgies (Pol) Lotto 9 110 Tomas Vokrouhlik (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb 8 111 Thomas Roccaro (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 8 112 Sebastien Delfosse (Bel) Massi-Abarth 7 113 Torsten Marx (Ger) 7 114 Joan Llordella Prat (Spa) 6 115 Joris Boillat (Swi) 6 116 Raffael Schmid (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 6 117 Damien Bynens (Bel) 5 118 Ivan Schalbetter (Swi) 4 119 François Bailly Maitre (Fra) 4 120 Sebastien Hansen (Fra) 4 121 Benjamin Rudiger (Ger) 3 122 Antonio Ortiz Barranco (Spa) 3 123 Jiri Novak (Cze) 3 124 Bjorn Brems (Bel) Merlan Duo-Be One 2 125 Maxim Gogolev (Rus) 2 126 Flavio Derungs (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 2 127 Igor Baretto (Ita) 1 128 Andras Melts (Hun) 1 129 Fredrik Modin (Swe) 1
