Absalon wins men's cross country at Cairns World Cup

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Julien Absalon (BMC) was the prohibitive favourite for round 2 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Cairns, Australia, especially given the absence of his usual rival, Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo), who is taking a respite from mountain biking to race a few road races.

The chaotic beginning produced two crashes during the start loop of the six-lap race, but the top riders all managed to avoid getting tangled up. One who didn't was American Stephen Ettinger (BMC), who came out the start loop in 43rd place, but rode his way back to 12th by the finish.

Thomas Litscher (Multivan Merida) jumped into the lead in the confusion and rode to an 11-second gap at the end of the first lap, ahead of Marco Fontana (Cannondale Factory) and Sergio Mantecon (Trek Factory Racing), with Absalon and Mathias Fluckiger (Stockli Racing) at 19 seconds.

Absalon was closing on Litscher by the mid point of lap 2 when he flatted his front tire, and dropped to ninth before he was fitted with a new wheel in the technical zone. Fluckiger took up the chase of Litscher, while Absalon began racing back through the field. It was then Litscher's turn to flat in the third lap, which put Fluckiger in the lead, with Maxime Marotte (BH-Suntour-KMC) chasing in second, but being rapidly overhauled by Absalon.

Absalon and Marotte finally made contact with Fluckiger midway through the fifth lap, and Absalon attacked, taking Fluckiger with him as the riders began their final lap. It was merely a matter of time before Absalon attacked again, and he did so on the main climb, almost sprinting away from Fluckiger to then cruise to the finish for the 28th World Cup win of his career, the only man to win this many World Cup cross country races, and tying him with American Julie Furtado and Gunn Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida) for the most wins ever.

"I had the flat in the second lap at the top of the climb," Absalon said, "but it was important to be calm and get down to the tech zone without losing too much time. It was a good course for me, so I knew that I could do well here. But it was important to keep hydrated all race because it was incredibly hot. It is a very good start to the season for me, with two wins, so I just hope that I can continue to do well when we return to Europe for the next races."

Absalon leads the overall World Cup standings with a perfect 500 score of points, followed by Marotte with 320 and Jose Hermida at 310 points.

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