Alban Lakata, Gunn-Rita Dahle win MTB Marathon world championships

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Alban Lakata and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja claimed the gold medals at the UCI Marathon World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy, tackling a viciously hilly course over 87km with five mountain passes.

Lakata pulled away to win in 4:24:46 over Swiss rider Christophe Sauser, who was racing in his final event before retirement, with Leonardo Paez (Colombia) in third.

"The race was perhaps one of the best I have done in my life," Lakata said. "I wanted this victory and I felt in good form the very beginning. I did a good job today."

Lakata powered away on a descent, and Paez, who was left fighting for scraps against Sauser, said he didn't realize how large the gap had grown. "The race is always a beautiful one but this time round I had a problem with a little finger and I wasn’t able to be as forceful as I usually am," Paez said. "I did my best because I really wanted it but this injury also got me down a good bit. however I can still be pleased with how things went. Lakata really got away from us going downhill and nobody realised how much lead he was building up."

Sauser struggled in the first half of the race, but was able to rally and pick the perfect time to attack Paez and solo to silver. "In the first two and a half hours of the race I was in difficulty because I wasn‘t able to change the rhythm," Sauser said. "However after the Pordoi singletrack, I realised that I would be able to fight for a medal. I can be a canny rider at times but at other times a bit lazy but on this occasion I timed my overtaking move really well. I am more than happy to close my career with this second place."

In the 60km women's race, Norwegian Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå earned her sixth Marathon world title, besting the defending champion Annika Langvad (Denmark) and Sabine Spitz (Germany).

"Mountain biking is always hard but this course makes it even more difficult," Flesja said "I continued to push to the end as I knew that Annika could always make up time."

Langvad finished a distant three minutes behind, but did enough to keep Spitz back in third. "I am happy with this outcome, also because I have never won a World Championship silver. I lost ground on the first uphill as I was not in the best of shape due to some health problems."

Spitz was also pleased with a medal in her first attempt at the Marathon championship. “I was not sure how to approach the race as I had never raced it before and already after the first climb I knew that I could not keep up with the person ahead!“.

Men's Results

Women's Results