Marosi surprises for a win in the men's four cross

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Rain and mud ruled the day in Maribor, Slovenia, for round two of the four cross UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on Saturday. The foul conditions led to an upset in the men's race, with Michal Marosi (RSP 4 Cross) beating World Champion Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox).

The incredibly sloppy conditions meant that riders were sliding and crashing in every round. A strong start at least kept a rider out of the battle behind, but was no guarantee that an error wouldn't take him out anyway. Among the top riders going out in early rounds were Michal Prokop (Agang Racing), Roger Rinderknecht, Cedric Gracia, Mickael Deldycke and Dan Atherton (Commencal).

However, Graves, defending Maribor champion Joost Wichman (RSP 4 Cross) and Tomas Slavik (RSP 4 Cross) all made it through to the final, putting Graves up against a trio of teammates.

Marosi seemed to use the same "wait and see" tactic as women's winner Griffiths (Norco World Racing) in his march to the win - he won only one heat prior to final, after barely qualifying for racing, at 59th out of 64 starters. But it was enough, and he stuck to Graves' wheel out of the gate, and was ready to pounce when a crash by Slavik forced the Australian to hesitate a bit in one of the corners. Once in front, Marosi just held on to take the win.

"That was crazy!," said the Czech rider Marosi. "It was a funny race; anyone could have been first. The course changed every time, so it was like poker, or maybe roulette. First place is so great, that who cares if [you are] wet and dirty!"

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