Nino Schurter (Switzerland) joined Julien Absalon (France) in a very special club on Sunday, when he matched Absalon with five Elite world titles at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. Schurter took the win in front of local favourite Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic), with Absalon coming in third.
Over 23,000 fans came out to watch the men's race bring the Championships to a conclusion, and they saw some exciting racing over the course of the week.
Kulhavy was very aggressive from the start of the race, opening a gap with Schurter and fellow Czech rider Ondrej Cink by the end of the start lap. Absalon, starting a little slower, gradually bridged up to the leaders, joining them on the third lap of the six lap race. Schurter decided a lap later that it was time turn up the heat and launched an attack on one of the steep climbs. Absalon and Kulhavy tried to follow, shedding Cink, but couldn't make the connection.
The two chasers stayed together until the last lap, when Kulhavy was able to get away on a climb, coming into the finish 17 seconds behind Schurter, with Absalon at 30 seconds.
"I'm super happy about this race, it was a nice win," said Schurter. "It was a nearly perfect race for me. Jaroslov went fast out from the start and I was able to go with him and draft quite nicely behind him. When Absalon joined us I thought well now it's better to attack and see if the others could respond. It is amazing, the crowd go wild when he [Kulhavy] comes by. That's really great atmosphere here. It is always nice to battle with Absalon, and the best feeling is to beat those two. I am really happy about this win."
Schurter now joins Absalon with five Elite titles, and each of them hold a total of eight individual titles, including Junior and Under-23 wins. However, as Schurter pointed out, "there is still the matter of the two Olympic gold medals that Julien has, so I have some catching up to do."
Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Schurter (Switzerland) | 1:28:20 |
| 2 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) | 0:00:17 |
| 3 | Julien Absalon (France) | 0:00:30 |
| 4 | Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) | 0:02:25 |
| 5 | Stéphane Tempier (France) | 0:02:30 |
| 6 | Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) | 0:02:35 |
| 7 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) | 0:03:01 |
| 8 | David Valero (Spain) | 0:03:17 |
| 9 | Maxime Marotte (France) | 0:03:22 |
| 10 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spain) | 0:03:45 |
| 11 | José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) | 0:03:47 |
| 12 | Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) | 0:03:57 |
| 13 | Jordan Sarrou (France) | 0:04:01 |
| 14 | Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) | 0:04:26 |
| 15 | Christian Pfäffle (Germany) | 0:04:29 |
| 16 | Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) | 0:04:34 |
| 17 | Manuel Fumic (Germany) | 0:04:44 |
| 18 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) | 0:04:45 |
| 19 | Alexander Gehbauer (Austria) | 0:04:55 |
| 20 | Leandre Bouchard (Canada) | 0:05:04 |
| 21 | Howard Grotts (United States of America) | 0:05:30 |
| 22 | Henrique Avancini (Brazil) | 0:05:40 |
| 23 | Florian Vogel (Switzerland) | 0:05:42 |
| 24 | Moritz Milatz (Germany) | 0:05:44 |
| 25 | Andrea Tiberi (Italy) | 0:05:56 |
| 26 | Karl Markt (Austria) | 0:06:04 |
| 27 | Reto Indergand (Switzerland) | 0:06:09 |
| 28 | Lars Forster (Switzerland) | 0:06:12 |
| 29 | David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Portugal) | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
| 30 | Jeff Luyten (Belgium) | 0:06:23 |
| 31 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) | 0:06:33 |
| 32 | Jens Schuermans (Belgium) | 0:06:43 |
| 33 | Derek Zandstra (Canada) | 0:06:45 |
| 34 | Jan Nesvadba (Czech Republic) | 0:06:49 |
| 35 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Germany) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
| 36 | Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) | 0:06:54 |
| 37 | Anton Sintsov (Russian Federation) | 0:06:55 |
| 38 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Netherlands) | 0:06:57 |
| 39 | Daniel McConnell (Australia) | 0:07:00 |
| 40 | Shlomi Haimy (Israel) | 0:07:11 |
| 41 | Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) | 0:07:22 |
| 42 | Ruben Scheire (Belgium) | 0:07:39 |
| 43 | Matous Ulman (Czech Republic) | 0:07:46 |
| 44 | Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) | 0:07:54 |
| 45 | Philip Buys (South Africa) | 0:07:59 |
| 46 | Fabian Giger (Switzerland) | 0:08:38 |
| 47 | James Reid (South Africa) | 0:08:45 |
| 48 | Emil Lindgren (Sweden) | 0:08:56 |
| 49 | Martin Loo (Estonia) | 0:09:00 |
| 50 | Stephen Ettinger (United States of America) | 0:09:14 |
| 51 | Andras Parti (Hungary) | 0:09:22 |
| 52 | Bartlomiej Wawak (Poland) | 0:09:25 |
| 53 | Andrew L'Esperance (Canada) | Row 52 - Cell 2 |
| 54 | Raphael Gagne (Canada) | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
| 55 | Luiz Cocuzzi (Brazil) | 0:09:39 |
| 56 | Cameron Ivory (Australia) | 0:09:40 |
| 57 | Dimitrios Antoniadis (Greece) | 0:09:52 |
| 58 | Hans Becking (Netherlands) | 0:10:01 |
| 59 | Gregor Raggl (Austria) | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
| 60 | Luca Braidot (Italy) | Row 59 - Cell 2 |
| 61 | Ivan Seledkov (Russian Federation) | Row 60 - Cell 2 |
| 62 | Paolo Cesar Montoya Cantillo (Costa Rica) | 0:10:43 |
| 63 | Spencer Paxson (United States of America) | 0:11:29 |
| 64 | Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) | 0:11:44 |
| 65 | Matiss Preimanis (Latvia) | 0:12:16 |
| 66 | Rotem Ishay (Israel) | 0:12:26 |
| 67 | Daniele Braidot (Italy) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
| 68 | Geoff Kabush (Canada) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
| 69 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Portugal) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
| 70 | Sakari Lehtinen (Finland) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
| 71 | Andrey Fonseca (Costa Rica) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
| 72 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Colombia) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
| 73 | Kirill Kazantsev (Kazakhstan) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
| 74 | Michele Casagrande (Italy) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
| 75 | Michal Lami (Slovakia) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
| 76 | Grant Ferguson (Great Britain) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
| 77 | Tymur Rusiia (Ukraine) | Row 76 - Cell 2 |
| 78 | Tudor Oprea Ovidiu (Romania) | Row 77 - Cell 2 |
| 79 | Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong, China) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
| 80 | Zhen Wang (People's Republic of China) | Row 79 - Cell 2 |
| 81 | Tomas Paprstka (Czech Republic) | Row 80 - Cell 2 |
| 82 | Abdulkadir Kelleci (Turkey) | Row 81 - Cell 2 |
| 83 | Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina) | Row 82 - Cell 2 |
| 84 | Guy Diaz Groiller (Andorra) | Row 83 - Cell 2 |
| 85 | Lucian Logigan (Romania) | Row 84 - Cell 2 |
| 86 | Seiya Hirano (Japan) | Row 85 - Cell 2 |
| 87 | Sergji Rysenko (Ukraine) | Row 86 - Cell 2 |
| 88 | Yoshitaka Nakahara (Japan) | Row 87 - Cell 2 |
| 89 | Christian Helmig (Luxembourg) | Row 88 - Cell 2 |
| 90 | Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Brazil) | Row 89 - Cell 2 |
| 91 | Daniel Federspiel (Austria) | Row 90 - Cell 2 |
| 92 | Hilvar Yamid Malaver (Colombia) | Row 91 - Cell 2 |
| 93 | Bostjan Hribovsek (Slovenia) | Row 92 - Cell 2 |
| 94 | Gareth Mc Kee (Ireland) | Row 93 - Cell 2 |
| 95 | Ingvar Omarsson (Iceland) | Row 94 - Cell 2 |
| 96 | George-Bogdan Duca (Romania) | Row 95 - Cell 2 |
| 97 | Artyom Golovaschenko (Kazakhstan) | Row 96 - Cell 2 |
| 98 | Sipho Madolo (South Africa) | Row 97 - Cell 2 |
| 99 | Cristian Correa (Chile) | Row 98 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) | Row 99 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Sebastian Alejandro Miranda Maldonado (Chile) | Row 100 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Evan McNeely (Canada) | Row 101 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Dmytro Titarenko (Ukraine) | Row 102 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Tiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira (Portugal) | Row 103 - Cell 2 |
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