Absalon wins in Bern

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Julien Absalon (Orbea) and Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) won the Swiss Bike Trophy, a UCI category HC race in Bern on Sunday.

For the first three laps, Absalon and Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) set the pace and no one could follow. However, the expected duel toward the finish never materialized as Schurter was slowed by a tire failure and subsequent wheel change. That left Absalon to take the victory, but Schurter still hung on for second. Christoph Sauser (Specialized) raced to third place.

Absalon and Sauser both repeated their performances of last year. In 2009, they also finished first and third respectively.

In the women's race, Swiss champion Katrin Leumann (Goldwurst-power.ch/Sputnik) dictated the early race pace. She was part of a three-woman lead group with Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) of Russia and the Olympic champion Sabine Spitz (Central Pro) from Germany.

Kalentieva fought the second half of the race alone and won by six seconds. She also won this race in 2007 and 2008. Spitz was second and Leumann finished in third.

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