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MTB World Cup XC #3 - CDM
Madrid, Spain, May 3-4, 2008
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Race 4 - May 4: Elite men cross country,
Absalon makes it three in a row
By Luke Webber in Madrid, Spain
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Julien Absalon captured his third World Cup in succession - all in three consecutive weeks. The Frenchman finished in 2:12:30 and beat Spaniard José Antonio Hermida by 12 seconds and compatriot Jean-Christophe Peraud by 52 seconds.
His win was far more of a challenge than in either Houffalize, Belgium, or Offenburg, Germany, thanks to a fast course. A lead group split and reformed during the early laps. In the initial stages, American Todd Wells even led it out - his first experience and one he will not forget.
At one point, the lead group consisted of 20-30 riders, but as some made attempts at getting away, Absalon was aware that this move would not be successful. "With groups so big, never would one man or even a pair be able to ride to the win. It would be impossible," the savvy winner said after the race.
How it unfolded
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With five laps down and the lead group thinning, José Antonio Hermida, through a mix of power and strength drawn from the Spanish fans, launched a decisive attack that completely split apart chase group. At first Absalon did not react, but sensing that Hermida would not back down and knowing they would work well together to keep a lead, he bridged across.
Then, it was a bit of good luck and expert timing that clinched Absalon the victory. "On the steep climb, I knew I had the speed over Jose, so I entered the descent first and attacked hard in the final two kilometres. Once you had a small gap, there was not enough time in the closing stages to make it back."
Hermida saw things differently as his front wheel had washed out on the descent, gifting Absalon another couple of seconds in his attack. "I did not notice that," said Absalon in response. But when someone is winning, it is often the case that luck follows.
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It was nearly a case of two Spaniards in the top three, but Frenchman Jean Christophe Peraud did not give Ruben Ruzafa the final podium spot, preferring instead to take the glory himself. It was the Orbea team who dominated the top five, with three riders making the cut.
Last week's top performer, Burry Stander, took another step up the ranks by winning the under 23 competition in convincing style, including finishing 13th overall. But the result did not entirely satisfy him.
"By lap three I was in the top group, but I got carried away spending too much time near the front and then having a silly crash, hitting my bad knee," said Stander. "I will, however, treat this as a learning experience. It is the first time I have been at the front from the early stages, so next time I will do things differently."
The World Cup takes a couple weeks off for cross country riders before reconvening in Andorra for round four on May 31 - June 1. In the meantime, the opening round of the Gravity World Cup will take place May 10-11 in Maribor, Slovenia.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Dave McElwaine / www.trailwatch.net
- Barry Wicks (Kona) relaxes before his warm-up begins.
- Nino Schurter (Swisspower MTB Team) is hoping to be a major player again this week.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) has been unbeatable in this World Cup season so far.
- Candian Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) is leading his country's competition for an Olympic spot.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) gets the hole shot in a field of 158 elite men.
- The world's best racers make a hard left at the start. Julien Absalon is leading Florian Vogel (Swisspower) and his team-mate Nino Schurter.
- Mathieu Toulouse (Team Maxxis) rides mid-pack. He crashed later, but still finished.
- Todd Wells (GT/Mongoose) was able to stay with the leaders on lap one. He finished 18th for the day.
- Riders near the front of the race round a 180 degree turn and head up a steep climb.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) let others set the pace for most of the race.
- Racers tackle one of the steep climbs on the dusty Casa de Campo course.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) leads crowd favorite Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida- ESP) as they break away from all other racers.
- Jeremiah Bishop (Trek/VW) leads a pack down a steep grade. He was hampered by leg cramps.
- Kris Sneddon (Kona) rides strong despite suffering a nasty crash
- Jose Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida) leads Julien Absalon (Orbea) down the course's steepest descent.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) got away from Jose Hermida Ramos on the last lap to take his third straight World Cup victory this year.
- Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida) thanks the cheering crowd as he finishes in second place
- A very dirty Jean-Christophe Peraud (Orbea) takes third place.
- A racer is so elated with his finish that he rolls his bike over the line without being on it.
- Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Gary Fisher/Suburu) having his best World Cup race this season by finishing 15th. In the last lap he moved up at least six postitions.
Images by Lejarreta
- The men's peloton round a corner early in the race.
- Ruben Ruzafa Cueto leads Orbea team-mate Julien Absalon.
- The leaders in the men's race pass by some spectators.
- The men take on a small climb on the course.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) pulls out a gap on José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida Biking Team).
- The Orbea team celebrate on the podium.
- Podium (L-R): José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida Biking Team), Julien Absalon (Orbea) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Orbea).
- France's Julien Absalon (Orbea) on the podium.
Images by Luke Webber
- Julien Absalon (Orbea), focussed as always.
- Adam Craig (Giant Mountain Bike Team) was one of many to use ice before the start.
- Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida Biking Team) was lifted into second by the home crowds.
- Christoph Sauser (Specialized Factory Racing) was not so suited to this flatter course.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) cruises through the early stages of the race.
- Julien Absalon (Orbea) delivers victory number three.
Results
1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 2.12.30 (24.72km/h) 2 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 0.12 3 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 0.52 4 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 0.56 5 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 1.02 6 Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 1.12 7 Christoph Soukup (Aut) 1.18 8 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 1.31 9 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 1.38 10 Graf Jürg (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 1.41 11 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 1.51 12 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 2.06 13 Burry Stander (RSA) GT Bicycles 2.27 14 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 2.29 15 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 2.32 16 Ravanel Cédric (Fra) Team Lapierre International 2.39 17 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros10.Com 2.45 18 Todd Wells (USA) GT Bicycles 2.49 19 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 2.57 20 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 3.16 21 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis 3.22 22 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 3.23 23 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 3.35 24 Hannes Metzler (Aut) Giant Mountain Bike Team 3.41 25 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 3.46 26 Yader Zoli (Ita) Giant Italia Team 3.51 27 Seamus Mcgrath (Can) 3.56 28 Tony Longo (Ita) Full-Dynamix-It 4.22 29 Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 4.53 30 Stéphane Tempier (Fra) Gewiss Bianchi 31 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 4.56 32 Karl Markt (Aut) 4.57 33 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 5.12 34 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 5.24 35 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 5.32 36 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 5.58 37 Israel Nunez Baticon (Spa) Massi 6.12 38 Milan Spesny (Cze) Merida Biking Team 6.15 39 Marc Colom (Fra) 6.28 40 Florian Vogel (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 6.35 41 Christof Bischof (Swi) 6.53 42 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) 7.02 43 Martino Fruet (Ita) 7.06 44 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 7.15 45 Karl Platt (Ger) Team Bulls 7.24 46 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 7.27 47 Michael Weiss (Aut) 7.34 48 Peter Riis Andersen (Den) Team ALB-Gold Mountainbike 7.36 49 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Beone Chainreaction Mountainbiketeam 50 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) BH-SR. Suntour 7.40 51 Till Marx (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 7.43 52 Marti Gispert Labarta (Spa) Ecp-Tau Ceramica 7.47 53 David Lozano Riba (Spa) MSC Bikes 8.03 54 Anders Hovdenes (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 8.19 55 Alejandro Diaz De La Pena Lopez (Spa) 8.20 56 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 8.29 57 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 8.32 58 Klaus Nielsen (Den) Team ALB-Gold Mountainbike 8.44 59 Bas Peters (Ned) 8.49 60 Lachlan Norris (Aus) 8.51 61 Derek Zandstra (Can) 8.55 62 Mathieu Toulouse (Can) Team Maxxis 9.20 63 Dariusz Batek (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team 9.38 64 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Versluys-Landbouwkrediet MTB Team 9.50 65 Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn) 9.52 66 Ji Jianhua (Chn) 10.12 67 Matthias Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 10.17 68 Bjorn Brems (Bel) 69 Stefan Sahm (Ger) Team Bulls 10.30 70 Dario Alejandro Gasco (Arg) Massi 10.33 71 Pierre Lebreton (Fra) BH-SR. Suntour 10.42 72 Frank Schotman (Ned) 11.07 73 Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Team Lapierre International 11.25 74 Severin Disch (Swi) 11.32 75 Denis Vorontsov (Rus) 11.41 76 Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-SR. Suntour 11.50 77 Martin Fanger (Swi) 12.04 78 Balz Weber (Swi) Bikepark.Ch BMC 12.13 79 Cristian Cominelli (Ita) Gewiss Bianchi 12.17 80 Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Trek-VW 12.25 81 Patrik Gallati (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 12.56 82 Cristobal Silva (Chi) 13.12 83 Olivier Maignan (Fra) 13.22 84 Lukas Kaufmann (Swi) 13.38 85 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) 13.40 86 Sebastien Carabin (Bel) 13.45 87 Luis Leao Pinto (Por) 14.02 88 Javier Puschel (Chi) 14.15 89 Dmitry Medvedev (Rus) 14.27 90 Michael Broderick (USA) 14.33 91 Vivien Legastelois (Fra) Team Lapierre International 14.41 92 Kristian Hynek (Cze) 15.04 93 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 15.34 94 Juan Pedro Trujillo Hernandez (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros10.Com 15.46 95 Alban Lakata (Aut) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 15.59 96 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) 16.34 97 Patxi Cia Apezteguia (Spa) 16.41 98 Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona 16.48 99 Ruud Rentmeester (Ned) 16.58 100 Ludovic Mottet (Bel) Windose Houffalzie 17.26 101 Diego Rosa (Ita) Giant Italia Team 17.29 102 Ian Field (GBr) 17.53 103 Jose Antonio De Segovia Botella (Spa) 18.16 104 Sergio Pulido Rodriguez (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros10.Com 18.45 105 Nathan Haas (Aus) 19.11 106 Umberto Corti (Ita) Team Cbe Tecnoimpianti A.S.D 19.40 107 Laurent Mineur (Bel) One lap behind 108 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 109 Josef Kamler (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 110 David Rosa (Por) 111 David Escolar Ballesteros (Spa) Sunshine Racers Asv Nals 112 Ricky Federau (Can) 113 Vladislavs Neroznaks (Lat) 114 Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher Two laps behind 115 Jo Thorson Nordskar (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 116 Freddy Betremiaux (Fra) BH-SR. Suntour 117 Gion Manetsch (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 118 Milton Javier Ramos Gamez (Hon) Three laps behind 119 Nicolas Jeantet (Ita) Team Cbe Tecnoimpianti A.S.D 120 Samuele Porro (Ita) Team Cbe Tecnoimpianti A.S.D 121 Dror Pekatch (Isr) Subaru-Gary Fisher Four laps behind 122 Dries Govaerts (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team 123 Joel Martinez Fernandez (And) 124 Frank Beemer (Ned) DNF Nino Schurter* (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team DNF Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It DNF Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein DNF Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica DNF Tim Bohme (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbik DNF Jochen Kass (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbik DNF Marc Trayter Alemany (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica DNF Max Plaxton (Can) Rocky Mountain DNF Jiri Friedl (Cze) Merida Biking Team DNF Magnus Darvell (Swe) DNF Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita) DNF Matous Ulman (Cze) DNF Barry Wicks (USA) Kona DNF Andrea Tiberi (Ita) Giant Italia Team DNF Tim Wijnants* (Bel) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike DNF Pascal Meyer* (Swi) DNF Gareth Montgomerie (GBr) DNF Mitchell Peterson* (USA) DNF Davide Marques (Por) DNF Tobias Ullmann (Ger) Team XLC Haibike DNF Nick Daems* (Bel) DNS Yury Trofimov (Rus) DNS Andreas Kugler (Swi) Fischer-BMC Teams 1 Orbea 111 pts 2 Multivan Merida Biking Team 46 3 Athleticum-MTB-Team 45 4 GT Bicycles 31 5 Swisspower MTB Team 28 6 Cannondale-Vredestein 26 7 Giant Mountain Bike Team 21 8 Fumic.Brothers.International 20 9 Specialized Factory Racing 19 10 Subaru-Gary Fisher 16 11 Team Lapierre International 15 12 Cemelorca-Seguros10.Com 14 13 Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 13 14 Giant Italia Team 6 15 Full-Dynamix-It 4 16 Gewiss Bianchi 2 World Cup Standings after three events 1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 750 pts 2 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 445 3 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 430 4 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team 378 5 Nino Schurter (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 350 6 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 315 7 Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 308 8 Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 299 9 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 279 10 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spa) Orbea 276 11 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 262 12 Florian Vogel (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 256 13 Christoph Soukup (Aut) 240 14 Jürg Graf (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 239 15 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 230 16 Todd Wells (USA) GT Bicycles 220 17 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis 217 18 Seamus Mcgrath (Can) 212 19 Burry Stander (RSA) GT Bicycles 209 20 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spa) Orbea 208 21 Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 184 22 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 182 23 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 164 24 Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 160 25 Yader Zoli (Ita) Giant Italia Team 158 26 Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 152 27 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 151 28 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 148 29 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 144 30 Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team 130 31 Hannes Metzler (Aut) Giant Mountain Bike Team 125 32 Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 116 33 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team 114 34 Tony Longo (Ita) Full-Dynamix-It 111 35 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Seguros10.com 110 36 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 110 37 Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 105 38 Stéphane Tempier (Fra) Gewiss Bianchi 90 39 Karl Markt (Aut) 89 40 Milan Spesny (Cze) 88 41 Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 88 42 Martino Fruet (Ita) 86 43 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 84 44 Peter Riis Andersen (Den) Team ALB Gold 82 45 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 75 46 Matthias Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 73 47 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 56 48 Till Marx (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 55 49 Michael Weiss (Aut) 53 50 Tim Bohme (Ger) Team ALB Gold 53 51 Gion Manetsch (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team 52 52 Israel Nunez Baticon (Spa) Massi 49 53 Karl Platt (Ger) Team ALB Gold 49 54 Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 48 55 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 47 56 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) 44 57 Frank Schotman (Ned) 39 58 Marek Galinski (Pol) 39 59 Bas Peters (Ned) 37 60 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 36 61 Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita) 34 62 Ricky Federau (Can) 31 63 Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) 30 64 Marc Colom (Fra) 29 65 Lachlan Norris (Aus) 29 66 Jochen Kass (Ger) Team ALB Gold 29 67 Marc Trayter Alemany (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 28 68 Christof Bischof (Swi) 27 69 Davy Coenen (Bel) 27 70 Patrik Gallati (Swi) Swisspower MTB Team 25 71 Derek Zandstra (Can) 20 72 Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) 19 73 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) 18 74 Andreas Kugler (Swi) Fischer-BMC 17 75 Marti Gispert Labarta (Spa) ECP-TAU Ceramica 16 76 Pascal Meyer (Swi) 16 77 David Lozano Riba (Spa) 15 78 Anders Hovdenes (Nor) 14 79 Aleja Diaz De La Pena Lopez (Spa) 13 80 Fabian Giger (Swi) 13 81 Pierre Lebreton (Fra) 12 82 Torsten Marx (Ger) Team ALB Gold 12 83 Klaus Nielsen (Den) Team ALB Gold 10 84 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) 10 85 Lukas Kaufmann (Swi) 8 Teams 1 Orbea 293 pts 2 Swisspower MTB Team 178 3 Cannondale-Vredestein 138 4 Multivan Merida Biking Team 90 5 Athleticum-MTB-Team 87 6 Specialized Factory Racing 86 7 GT Bicycles 83 8 Giant Mountain Bike Team 72 9 Team Lapierre International 62 10 Team Maxxis 41 11 Full-Dynamix-It 36 12 Giant Italia Team 34 13 Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike Racing Team 29 14 Fumic.Brothers.International 25 15 Topeak Ergon Racing Team 17 16 Subaru-Gary Fisher 16 17 Cemelorca-Seguros10.com 14 18 ECP-TAU Ceramica 6 19 Gewiss Bianchi 1 20 Scott Valloire Galibier 1
