Absalon wins Pietermaritzburg cross country World Cup

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Julien Absalon (BMC) took the 27th victory in his storied career in the elite men's race on Sunday, at the opening round of the cross country UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

The 5.7-kilometre course is completely new from the one riders saw last fall at the world championships, and most riders considered it to be harder. It challenged riders with technical rock gardens and jumps, and gave them no chance to rest with multiple climbs per lap. The heat also took its toll, although the late start to the men's race meant that they missed the fierce heat that the women faced.

The men's race saw world champion Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) make his trademark fast start, with only Manuel Fumic (Cannnondale Factory Racing) able to match him on the first lap. Absalon got caught in traffic early on the race and had to battle his way to the leaders, joining Schurter and Fumic on the second lap.

From this point, the race followed a pattern that has been seen many times, as the two top riders in the world, Absalon and Schurter, rode Fumic off their wheels and then began to test each other. Schurter appeared to be the stronger on the downhills, but that was where he possibly made a mistake, suffering a flat tire that gave his rival an advantage.

While Schurter had to ride slowly on his flat to the technical zone for a replacement wheel, Absalon continued to push hard, aware that Fumic was still less than 30 seconds back. The two-time Olympic champion was successful in holding on to the finish, taking his first win at Pietermaritzburg. Fumic held on for second, with Maxime Marotte (BH-Suntour-KMC) taking third. Schurter managed to improve to finish sixth after his flat.

"It is nice to win the first World Cup [of the year]," saidAbsalon, "especially here because I was pretty disappointed last year because I had two crashes [at the world championships] and I broke my ribs, so I was a bit afraid of this course. Especially the rocky garden where I crashed."

"But all this week, the feeling was good. I had a poor start, so I used a lot of energy during the first lap to overtake about 15 guys. Once I got up to Nino, it was a nice fight though. He was very fast in some of the technical sections, but then he got a flat tire. I knew Manuel [Fumic] was only 15 seconds back, so I had to keep full gas to the end."

In the under 23 race held earlier in the day, Jordan Sarrou (BH-Suntour-KMC) won the men's event.

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano now moves to Cairns, Australia, for round two of both the downhill and cross country, plus the first round of the Eliminator, taking place April 25-27.

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