Kulhavy solos to victory

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The men's six-lap World Cup race in Dalby Forest was a one man show, with Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) getting into the lead after the start loop. Kulhavy would race solo for the duration of the race, taking the victory on Sunday afternoon.  Julien Absalon (Orbea) also spent much of the race on his own and finished second.   Marco Fontana (Cannondale) won the sprint for third ahead of Maxime Marotte (BH - Suntour - Peisey Vallandry) and Manuel Fumic (Cannondale).

A chase group formed behind Kulhavy, with Fontana and his Cannondale teammate Fumic doing much of the work. Round one winner Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower), who won at Dalby last year, was having an uncharacteristically off day and struggled even to stay with the group.

Absalon, after a poor start that put him well back on the start loop, chased back to the group and immediately went to the front, but Kulhavy was gone. Absalon dropped the rest of the chase group on the second lap, and chased hard for the next two laps, but could only close to within 20 seconds of Kulhavy and, by lap four, was losing ground to the big Czech rider.

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Kulhavy and Absalon continued to pull away from the rest of the field, and the chase group disintegrated in the final lap. Fontana out-kicked Marotte for third, and Fumic took the final podium spot ahead of Moritz Milatz (BMC).

"This is a course that suits me," said Kulhavy, who took the World Cup lead from Schurter, only 10 points in front of Absalon. "I knew before the start that this would be a good course for me, and it was my plan to attack right from the start of the race."

Absalon was not too upset after getting second for the second consecutive year.

"Second is okay, I am happy with second. I had a bad start, so by the time I got to the front [of the chasers] Kulhavy was gone. It was a good race for me, and I am only 10 points behind, and next week is Offenburg," a race where Absalon has had a perfect winning record for the last four years.

Race notes

- Kulhavy won the race on a full suspension 29er.  It was the first cross country UCI World Cup win on a 29er.

- World Champion Jose Antonio Hermida (Multivan Merida) had a tough day.  On the third lap, a stick got stuck in his derailleur.  Hermida estimated that he lost 30-40 seconds when he stopped to clear the stick and straighten out his derailleur. "I lost some time on the leaders, but I believed that I could get back to them. But I was not feeling my best and didn't have the strength to connect with the riders (in the main chase group) fighting for the third place."

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