Absalon tops Schurter in Albstadt World Cup

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Julien Absalon (BMC) took over the series lead in the men's Cross-country World Cup on Sunday with a record breaking 30th World Cup victory in Albstadt, Germany.

The men's race was a battle to the end. Absalon, the defending champion, came into this race as a favourite, however, his constant rival Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) gave no ground.

Four riders finished the first lap together at the front - Absalon, Schurter, Round 1 winner Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) and Florian Vogel (Focus XC). A lap later, Kulhavy and Vogel were still there but starting to show the pressure and, by the third lap it was just Absalon and Schurter.

Absalon tried attacking his rival on the climbs in the final laps but could not drop the Swiss champion. Schurter then attacked before the final descent to the finish and got a small gap, only to crash in the final gravel corner after carrying too much speed. Absalon was then able to get by Schurter to record the 30th World Cup victory of his career.

Kulhavy was dropped by Vogel in the middle portion of the race, only to retake the lead in the final lap for third, followed by Vogel and then Mathias Fluckiger (Stoeckli) in fifth.

"It is always hard to beat him [Schurter]," agreed Absalon, "but I really like this track, this kind of climb it suits me really well. I am really happy also because it was hard for me to start my preparation this year; I started late because of sickness. So I am really happy to be in the rhythm now."

"In the last lap I realized 'oh it's not possible to do a gap', so I knew it would be difficult on the last downhill to beat him. I tried on the last climb, but he passed me just before the last downhill and then I try to go full gas and keep his wheel, but lost only maybe five seconds. After the last downhill, I don't know, he did a mistake on a corner and I passed him, and then full gas to the finish."

Schurter agreed that it was his own fault; "It was a bad mistake. I felt super strong today, I had a good feeling the whole race through and I was just waiting for that last climb. I knew I could pass Absalon in this last uphill, and get a gap on the downhill ... then I just risked it a bit too much. I was thinking too much about the win on last corner and then I went down. One should never think too early about winning the race."

"I'm okay. At first my ankle was a bit painful, but it is probably just scratched."

The men's standings couldn't get much tighter, with Absalon tied at 410 points with Kulhavy (Absalon holds the jersey due to the most recent win), followed by Schurter at 400 points.

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