World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) proved to be the strongest Sunday during the Olympic MTB cross country race in Rio, riding away from the leaders in the closing laps to take the gold medal ahead of Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) and Carlos Coloma (Spain).
Road world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia) put in an impressive opening lap, moving smoothly from the back of the field into the lead group by the end of the first circuit, but his Olympic-medal dream came to a quick end when a flat tire at the beginning of the second lap knocked him out of contention.
Schurter took the early lead with Coloma, but Kulhavy soon joined them as Coloma lost the pace. France's Julien Absalon faded to two minutes back as the leaders set a blistering pace.
Starting the fifth of seven laps, Schurter and Kulhavy had 30 seconds on a two-man chase of Coloma and Maxime Marotte (France), while Switzerland's Mathias Fluckiger was chasing in fifth, more than a minute behind. The lead duo held an initial gap of more than 30 seconds over Marotte and Coloma, who by this time appeared to be racing for bronze.
Schurter left Kulhavy behind as they approached a technical rock section, opening a gap that he would hold until the finish. The Swiss riders started the final lap with a 33-second gap over Kulhavy, while Marotte and Coloma were 1:19 behind.
Schurter continued to open his gap over the final lap, holding a 44-second gap to Kulhavy at the halfway point and 1:50 over Coloma and Marotte.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nino Schurter (Switzerland) | 1:33:28 |
| 2 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) | 0:00:50 |
| 3 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) | 0:01:23 |
| 4 | Maxime Marotte (France) | 0:01:33 |
| 5 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Colombia) | 0:02:16 |
| 6 | Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) | 0:02:24 |
| 7 | Luca Braidot (Italy) | 0:02:57 |
| 8 | Julien Absalon (France) | 0:03:15 |
| 9 | David Valero Serrano (Spain) | 0:03:32 |
| 10 | Victor Koretzky (France) | 0:03:59 |
| 11 | Ruben Scheire (Belgium) | 0:04:08 |
| 12 | Anton Sintsov (Russian Federation) | 0:04:10 |
| 13 | Manuel Fumic (Germany) | 0:04:11 |
| 14 | Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) | 0:04:50 |
| 15 | José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) | 0:04:53 |
| 16 | Daniel McConnell (Australia) | 0:05:14 |
| 17 | Grant Ferguson (Great Britain) | 0:05:42 |
| 18 | Jens Schuermans (Belgium) | 0:06:02 |
| 19 | Andrea Tiberi (Italy) | 0:06:05 |
| 20 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) | 0:06:57 |
| 21 | Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) | 0:07:06 |
| 22 | Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) | 0:07:43 |
| 23 | Henrique Avancini (Brazil) | 0:07:50 |
| 24 | Andras Parti (Hungary) | 0:07:52 |
| 25 | Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) | 0:08:33 |
| 26 | Alan Hatherly (South Africa) | 0:08:35 |
| 27 | Leandre Bouchard (Canada) | 0:09:15 |
| 28 | Moritz Milatz (Germany) | 0:09:46 |
| 29 | Shlomi Haimy (Israel) | 0:10:02 |
| 30 | Rubens Donizete Valeriano (Brazil) | 0:10:33 |
| 31 | Dimitrios Antoniadis (Greece) | 0:10:49 |
| 32 | Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong, China) | 0:11:13 |
| 33 | Andrey Fonseca (Costa Rica) | 0:11:26 |
| 34 | Simon Andreassen (Denmark) | 0:14:16 |
| 35 LAP | Peter Sagan (Slovakia) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
| 36 LAP | Scott Bowden (Australia) | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
| 37 LAP | Samuel Gaze (New Zealand) | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
| 38 LAP | Howard Grotts (United States of America) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
| 39 LAP | Tiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira (Portugal) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
| 40 LAP | Raphael Gagne (Canada) | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
| 41 LAP | Nathan Byukusenge (Rwanda) | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
| 42 LAP | James Reid (South Africa) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
| 43 LAP | Zhen Wang (People's Republic of China) | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
| 44 LAP | David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Portugal) | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Lars Forster (Switzerland) | Row 44 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Alexander Gehbauer (Austria) | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Peter Lombard II (Guam) | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Rudi van Houts (Netherlands) | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Phetetso Monese (Lesotho) | Row 48 - Cell 2 |
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