Leandre Bouchard (Canada) and Andre Fonseca (Costa Rica) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 3 of 84
Nino Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 4 of 84
Kulhavy, Schurter, Coloma (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 5 of 84
Mix Zone, post race interviews (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 6 of 84
Olympic Champion, Nino Schurter (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 7 of 84
The Race Start (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 8 of 84
Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) leading at Start (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 9 of 84
The Start (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 10 of 84
Nino Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 11 of 84
Carlos Coloma and Nino Schurter (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 12 of 84
Nino Schurter (Switzerland) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 13 of 84
Leandre Bouchard (Canada) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 14 of 84
Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 15 of 84
Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 16 of 84
Having crossed the line, Nino Schurter (Switzerland) circles around to celebrate his gold medal (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 17 of 84
A dissapointed Julien Absalon (France) crosses the line (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 18 of 84
Julien Absalon (France) takes in the race after finishing in 8th (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 19 of 84
Jens Schuermans (Belgium) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 20 of 84
The men's race get's underway (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 21 of 84
Bad luck to break a chain on the start loop - Phetetso Monese (Lesotho) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 22 of 84
Victor Koretzky (France), Kohei Yamamoto (Japan), Daniel McConnell (Australia) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 23 of 84
Peter Sagan moves up on the start loop (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 24 of 84
Jose Hermida (Spain) racing his 6th and probably final Olympics (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 25 of 84
Daniel McConnell (Australia) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 26 of 84
Daniel McConnell (Australia) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 27 of 84
Carlos Coloma (Spain) leading Nino Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 28 of 84
Julien Absalon (France) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 29 of 84
Maxime Marotte (France) and Luca Braidot (Italy) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 30 of 84
Julien Absalon (France) never seemed to get going (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 31 of 84
Peter Sagan (Slovakia) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 32 of 84
Howard Grotts (USA) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 33 of 84
Ruben Scheire (Belgium) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 34 of 84
Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) leads on lap 1 (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 35 of 84
Shlomi Haimy (Israel) was with the leaders until a flat (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 36 of 84
Mathias Fluckiger (Switzerand) leads the chasers (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 37 of 84
Victor Koretzky (France) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 38 of 84
Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Colombia) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 39 of 84
Marco Fontana (Italy) and Peter Sagan (Slovakia) both had flats (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 40 of 84
Peter Sagan (Slovakia) had his hopes dashed by flat tires (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 41 of 84
Grant Ferguson (Great Britain) riding to 17th (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 42 of 84
Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 43 of 84
Victor Koretzky (France) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 44 of 84
Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) congratulates Nino Schurter (Switzerland) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 45 of 84
Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) celebrates his bronze medal ride (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 46 of 84
Silver medallist Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 47 of 84
Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) is thrilled with bronze (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 48 of 84
The men's podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 49 of 84
The men's Olympic MTB race (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 50 of 84
Peter Lombard II (Guam) about to hit the deck (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 51 of 84
Peter Lombard II (Guam) crashes hard (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 52 of 84
Manuel Fumic (Germany) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 53 of 84
Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 54 of 84
Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 55 of 84
Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Image 56 of 84
Samuel Gaze (New Zealand) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 57 of 84
L to r: Jaroslav Kulhavy, Nino Schurter, Carlos Coloma (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 58 of 84
Nino Schurter, Olympic Champion, FINALLY (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Image 59 of 84
the men get ready to start their race.
Image 60 of 84
Andrea Tiberi of Italy
Image 61 of 84
Alexander Gehbauer of Austria
Image 62 of 84
Andras Parti of Hungary
Image 63 of 84
Rubens Donizete Valeriano of Brazil
Image 64 of 84
Leandre Bouchard of Canada
Image 65 of 84
Howard Grotts of the United States
Image 66 of 84
Dimitrios Antoniadis of Greece
Image 67 of 84
Peter Sagan runs with his bike after his puncture
Image 68 of 84
Peter Sagan runs with his bike after his puncture
Image 69 of 84
Nino Schurter goes airborne on his way to Gold.
Image 70 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
Image 71 of 84
Alexander Gehbauer of Austria
Image 72 of 84
Second placed Czech Republic's Jaroslav Kulhavy, winner Switzerland's Nino Schurter and third placed Spain's Carlos Coloma
Image 73 of 84
Peter Sagan runs with his bike after his puncture
Image 74 of 84
The men's race gets underway.
Image 75 of 84
The men's race gets underway.
Image 76 of 84
Nino Schurter on his way to winning gold
Image 77 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
Image 78 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
Image 79 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
Image 80 of 84
Second placed Czech Republic's Jaroslav Kulhavy, winner Switzerland's Nino Schurter and third placed Spain's Carlos Coloma
Image 81 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
Image 82 of 84
Coloma lays on the gorund after the race
Image 83 of 84
Schurter congratulates Kulhavy
Image 84 of 84
Nino Schurter celebrates his Olympic gold medal
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.
Belgian suffers broken rib, shoulder in collision, joins Van Moer on injured list
Cyclingnews Newsletter
Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy
Thank you for signing up to Cycling News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
