Schurter takes off with a bang in opening World Cup

Image 1 of 53

The first round of the cross country UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, served notice that riders are entering the season in top form, with the elite men averaging over 20 kilometre per hour for their 31.8-kilometre race.

In the elite men's cross country race, the top three finishers in the 2010 World Cup standings finished in exactly that order, with Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) beating rival Julien Absalon (Orbea) of France by a meager 16 seconds, with Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) of the Czech Republic in third at 1:07. World Champion Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida Mountain Bike Team) and Marco Aurelio Fontana (Cannondale Factory Racing) claimed the final two podium spots.

Constant rivals Schurter and Absalon rode away from the rest of the field, with Kulhavy only able to hold on for the first half of the race before the duo dropped him. Absalon had the power on the climbs, but it was in the all important technical sections where Schurter held the advantage.

In the Treehouse rock garden section, Schurter was noticeably smoother, and it was here on lap five of the six-lap race that the Swiss rider made his move.

"Again, it was a great fight between Julien and me," said Schurter. "We are so close, but I was a little faster in the technical section and was able to get a gap, which I could hold to the finish line. I could see that he was coming back a bit on the climbs on the last lap, but it was just enough to hold on. It is always special to win against Julien."

Schurter entered the last lap 20 seconds ahead of Absalon, a gap which shrunk to only a handful of seconds by the top of the climb before he was able to open it again to finish 16 seconds ahead.

"I expected Nino would do well," said Absalon. "This track suited him very well, and I was having trouble with the rocky section each time. On lap five, I didn't crash, but I hit a tree and lost some time. And after that, we were both going full gas, so there was no chance to catch him."

Full Results