Gehbauer wins second straight Under 23 men's World Cup

Image 1 of 14

Alexander Gehbauer (Austria National Team) extended his lead in the men's under 23 cross country World Cup series at round three in Offenburg, Germany, with his second straight victory in a blazing fast race.

After rain earlier in the week, the skies cleared and the sun came out for the start of racing on Saturday. This led to the track drying out and lap times in the sub-16 minute range for the five-lap race. A group of 11 riders formed at the front on the first lap, and were still together on lap two. It wasn't until the third lap that the pace began to reduce the numbers at the front.

Gerhard Kerschbaumer (TX Active Bianchi), the winner of round one and tied for points with Gehbauer after round two, crashed heavily through the rough, rooty Snake Pit section on lap two and backed off after that, eventually finishing 10th.

Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Focus MIG), Fabien Canal (GT Skoda Chamonix), Markus Bauer (German National Team), Matthias Stirnemann (Thoemus Racing), Diego Rosa (Giant Italia), Ondrej Cink (Merida) and Stephen Ettinger (US National Team) remained at the front and taking turns setting the pace with Gehbauer.

Rosa tried an attack in the third lap, but Gehbauer chased him down and the group stayed together until the final climb on the last lap, when it exploded under a series of attacks, with Gehbauer carving out a slim nine-second victory over a chase group led by Schulte-Luenzum, who beat Canal for second. Ettinger came in just behind the group for sixth.

Gehbauer now holds a 68-point lead in the World Cup standings over Kerschbaumer, with Schulte-Luenzum a distant 120 points back.

Ettinger moved up from his second row start position to join the leaders on lap two, managing to stay in contention until the final climb. "I had a much better start position than last week," the Washington rider said, "and it made a big difference passing people. I got up to the leaders, but I was yo-yoing off the back on the climbs, and I just didn't have it for the attacks on the last climb. It would have been great to finish top-five, but I'm really happy with this, it's my best finish ever."

Full Results

Under 23 men individual World Cup standings after three rounds