Schurter wins Olympic MTB cross country gold

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Puncture knocks Peter Sagan out of contention

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Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal

World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) proved to be the strongest Sunday during the Olympic MTB cross country race in Rio, riding away from the leaders in the closing laps to take the gold medal ahead of Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) and Carlos Coloma (Spain).

Road world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia) put in an impressive opening lap, moving smoothly from the back of the field into the lead group by the end of the first circuit, but his Olympic-medal dream came to a quick end when a flat tire at the beginning of the second lap knocked him out of contention.

Schurter took the early lead with Coloma, but Kulhavy soon joined them as Coloma lost the pace. France's Julien Absalon faded to two minutes back as the leaders set a blistering pace.

Starting the fifth of seven laps, Schurter and Kulhavy had 30 seconds on a two-man chase of Coloma and Maxime Marotte (France), while Switzerland's Mathias Fluckiger was chasing in fifth, more than a minute behind. The lead duo held an initial gap of more than 30 seconds over Marotte and Coloma, who by this time appeared to be racing for bronze.

Schurter left Kulhavy behind as they approached a technical rock section, opening a gap that he would hold until the finish. The Swiss riders started the final lap with a 33-second gap over Kulhavy, while Marotte and Coloma were 1:19 behind.

Schurter continued to open his gap over the final lap, holding a 44-second gap to Kulhavy at the halfway point and 1:50 over Coloma and Marotte.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Nino Schurter (Switzerland)1:33:28
2Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic)0:00:50
3Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain)0:01:23
4Maxime Marotte (France)0:01:33
5Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Colombia)0:02:16
6Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland)0:02:24
7Luca Braidot (Italy)0:02:57
8Julien Absalon (France)0:03:15
9David Valero Serrano (Spain)0:03:32
10Victor Koretzky (France)0:03:59
11Ruben Scheire (Belgium)0:04:08
12Anton Sintsov (Russian Federation)0:04:10
13Manuel Fumic (Germany)0:04:11
14Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic)0:04:50
15José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain)0:04:53
16Daniel McConnell (Australia)0:05:14
17Grant Ferguson (Great Britain)0:05:42
18Jens Schuermans (Belgium)0:06:02
19Andrea Tiberi (Italy)0:06:05
20Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy)0:06:57
21Kohei Yamamoto (Japan)0:07:06
22Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic)0:07:43
23Henrique Avancini (Brazil)0:07:50
24Andras Parti (Hungary)0:07:52
25Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina)0:08:33
26Alan Hatherly (South Africa)0:08:35
27Leandre Bouchard (Canada)0:09:15
28Moritz Milatz (Germany)0:09:46
29Shlomi Haimy (Israel)0:10:02
30Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Brazil)0:10:33
31Dimitrios Antoniadis (Greece)0:10:49
32Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong, China)0:11:13
33Andrey Fonseca (Costa Rica)0:11:26
34Simon Andreassen (Denmark)0:14:16
35 LAPPeter Sagan (Slovakia)Row 34 - Cell 2
36 LAPScott Bowden (Australia)Row 35 - Cell 2
37 LAPSamuel Gaze (New Zealand)Row 36 - Cell 2
38 LAPHoward Grotts (United States of America)Row 37 - Cell 2
39 LAPTiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira (Portugal)Row 38 - Cell 2
40 LAPRaphael Gagne (Canada)Row 39 - Cell 2
41 LAPNathan Byukusenge (Rwanda)Row 40 - Cell 2
42 LAPJames Reid (South Africa)Row 41 - Cell 2
43 LAPZhen Wang (People's Republic of China)Row 42 - Cell 2
44 LAPDavid Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Portugal)Row 43 - Cell 2
DNFLars Forster (Switzerland)Row 44 - Cell 2
DNFAlexander Gehbauer (Austria)Row 45 - Cell 2
DNFPeter Lombard II (Guam)Row 46 - Cell 2
DNFRudi van Houts (Netherlands)Row 47 - Cell 2
DNFPhetetso Monese (Lesotho)Row 48 - Cell 2

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