Kabush finally claims World Cup win

Canadian champion Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) finally make that step to the top of the podium on home soil in round six of cross-country series of the Mountain Bike World Cup. Kabush won in the most grueling conditions of the season in Bromont, Canada.

Julien Absalon (Orbea) continues to lead the men despite finishing a distant 17th after suffering mechanical problems.

"To win here, in my own country, it still hasn't sunk in," said Kabush. "I knew I was riding well, after finishing third a week earlier, and this course really suited me, so I was confident that I could go head to head with Julien.

"This win is the biggest of my career, because with Julien so strong, for anyone to win a World Cup is very hard."

The race began under worse conditions than the women with officials reducing the distance by one lap to six. The rain and 50-plus women racers earlier in the day had churned up the mud, making the climb an even harder grind than usual. The mud also began to impact equipment, with most riders experiencing brake failure at some point in the race as brake pads wore away in the gritty mud..

Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) got off to his usual fast start, and was joined quickly by Absalon, with Kabush steadily making his way up towards the front. Näf dropped back from Absalon on lap two, to be passed by Kabush.

Kabush joined the Olympic champion near the top of the climb, just before Absalon broke his chain. The break put him out of contention as he lost nearly 40 places before rejoining the race.

Kabush was alone at the front. Näf was in a chase group behind with Kabush's teammate Jose Hermida, Florian Vogel (Scott-Swisspower) and Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower). Kabush continued to ride further away from the chasers to finish over 90 seconds in front of Hermida.

Näf held finished in third ahead of Vogel and Lukas Flückiger (Trek World Team). Both Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Team) and Adam Craig (Giant) moved up in the latter half of the race to finish ninth and tenth.

Sam Schultz (Subaru-Gary Fisher) was on the racing very well, but a flat dropped him out of contention.

Brakes were a problem for many riders. "In the final lap and a half I started to lose my brakes completely, and trying to ride through the technical parts became very, very dangerous. I had to slow down a lot, and I think otherwise I could have stayed in second," said Näf.

Hermida, the winner of round one in South Africa, said he also suffered from brake problems. "I was lucky that my brakes stopped working early in the race rather than late, because I stopped then in the technical area and was able to catch people later in the race when their brakes failed," he said.

"I didn't have any of the mechanical problems the other riders were having, so I really have to think my team and the mechanics. I went with the hardtail and the mud tires, and I was able to ride everything with no problems," said Kabush.

Stander has nearly locked up the Under-23 title with his seventh place in Bromont (it would take consecutive wins in the final two races by second placed Alexis Vuillermoz and Stander to get no points).

Absalon's lead in the series standings dropped a few points after his 17th place, however, he is still an almost uncatchable 412 points in front of Hermida. Stander is 20 points behind Hermida.

Kabush moved up the standings from 24th before Mont Ste Anne, to 14th before Bromont and now seventh. In the final two rounds there is likely to be a three-way battle for third between Hermida, Näf and Stander, who are separated by 50 points. And the same for fifth between Wolfram Kurschat (Topeak Ergon), Schurter and Kabush, who are only 40 points apart.

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Results
1Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles1:52:39
2José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan Merida Biking Team0:01:31
3Ralph Naef (Swi) Multivan Merida Biking Team0:01:51
4Florian Vogel (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing0:02:10
5Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Trek World Racing0:02:22
6Nino Schurter (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing0:03:35
7Burry Stander (RSA) Specialized Factory Racing0:03:43
8Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spa) Giant Italia Team0:04:39
9Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing0:04:46
10Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team0:05:10
11Ravanel Cédric (Fra) Lapierre International0:05:43
12Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) MSC Bikes0:05:47
13Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing0:06:00
14Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team0:06:06
15Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo0:06:45
16Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Lapierre International0:06:50
17Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea0:07:14
18Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher0:07:27
19Derek Zandstra (Can)0:07:44
20Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Giant Mountain Bike Team0:07:53
21Liam Killeen (GBr) Trek World Racing0:08:05
22Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing0:08:56
23Martin Gujan (Swi) Cannondale Factory Racing0:09:46
24Ludovic Dubau (Fra)0:10:01
25Andrew Watson (Can)0:10:07
26Milan Spesny (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB0:11:02
27Bas Peters (Ned)0:11:41
28Seamus McGrath (Can)0:11:44
29Martin Fanger (Swi) Giant Mountain Bike Team0:11:50
30Marc Colom (Fra)0:12:17
31Maxime Marotte (Fra) BH-Suntour0:12:24
32Christof Bischof (Swi) ISD Cycling Team0:12:28
33Carl Decker (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team0:12:32
34Michael Broderick (USA)Row 33 - Cell 2
35Fabien Canal (Fra) Lapierre International0:13:00
36Stéphane Tempier (Fra) TX Active Bianchi0:13:46
37Rotem Ishai (Isr)0:13:55
38Irjan Luttenberg (Ned)0:14:08
39Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher0:14:10
40Raphael Gagne (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles0:14:15
41Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale Factory Racing0:14:16
42Lukas Kaufmann (Swi)0:14:53
43Renay Groustra (RSA)0:15:26
44Guillaume Vinit (Fra) Team Scott Valloire Galibier0:15:31
45Matthew Hadley (Can)0:16:02
46Niels Wubben (Ned)0:17:25
47Stefan Widmer (Can)0:25:07
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One lap behind
48Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita)
49Barry Wicks (USA) Kona
50Eric Batty (Can)
51Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona
52Benoit Simard (Can)
53Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chi)
54Paul Van Der Ploeg (Aus) Discovertasmania.com
55Andrew Blair (Aus)
56Martin Lazarski (Can)
57Juan Pedro Trujillo Hernandez (Spa) Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo
58Bjorn Brems (Bel) Team Saeco
59Julien Fillion (Can)
60Nathan Haas (Aus) Discovertasmania.com
61Craig Richey (Can)
62Patxi Cia Apezteguia (Spa) Conor - Camping La Siesta
63Ethan Gilmour (USA)
64Robert Mennen (Ger)
65Umberto Corti (Ita) Team CBE Tecnoimpianti A.S.D.
66Cameron Jette (Can)
67Peter Glassford (Can)
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Two laps behind
68Jiri Hudecek (Cze) Scott & Hagget MTB Team
69Pierre Lebreton (Fra) BH-Suntour
70Lachlan Norris (Aus) Discovertasmania.com
71Tristan Cowie (USA)
72Mark Leishman (NZl)
73Andrew Freye (USA)
74Aaron Snyder (USA)
75Stephen Ettinger (USA)
76Travis Livermon (USA)
77Leni Trudel (Can)
78Daniel Sessford (Can)
79Nick Both (Aus)
80Franklin Macky (USA)
81Manuel Prado Gutierrez (CRc)
82Charlton Durie (Aus) Discovertasmania.com
83Josef Kamler (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB
84Paul Robertson (GBr)
85Robbie Squire (USA)
86Ryan Atkins (Can)
87Matous Ulman (Cze) Scott & Hagget MTB Team
88Colin Cares (USA)
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Three laps behind
89Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Lapierre International
90Daniel McConnell (Aus) Torq Performance Nutrition
91Brian Bain (Can)
92Victor Galvez Perez (Chi)
93Connor McConvey (Irl) De Brink-Ten Tusscher
94Christoph Soukup (Aut) Merida Biking Team
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Teams
1Multivan Merida Biking Team67pts
2Specialized Factory Racing64Row 1 - Cell 3
3Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing56Row 2 - Cell 3
4Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles40Row 3 - Cell 3
5Trek World Racing38Row 4 - Cell 3
6Lapierre International35Row 5 - Cell 3
7Giant Mountain Bike Team34Row 6 - Cell 3
8Giant Italia Team23Row 7 - Cell 3
9MSC Bikes19Row 8 - Cell 3
10Trek-Brentjens Mountainbike Racing Team17Row 9 - Cell 3
11Cannondale Factory Racing17Row 10 - Cell 3
12Cemelorca-Trek-Lorca Taller Del Tiempo16Row 11 - Cell 3
13Orbea14Row 12 - Cell 3
14Subaru-Gary Fisher13Row 13 - Cell 3
15Ceska Sporitelna MTB5Row 14 - Cell 3

 

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