Absalon wins by two minutes in Champery

Champery hosted round five of the Swiss Racer Bikes Cup. The weeked was a preview for the World Cup coming up in late July and the World Championships in 2011. Julien Absalon and Marielle Saner-Guinchard won the men's and women's elite races.

In the men's race, World Cup leader Absalon (Orbea) took the lead after the first 2.5-kilometer lap. The 30-year-old Frenchman, built his lead lap after lap. Initially, Thomas Litscher (MIG-Bike-Team) and Moritz Milatz (Multivan Merida) were able to keep up, but eventually, they fell off his pace.

"The course is very beautiful and technical," said Absalon after the finish.

Milatz finished second, and Litscher was third.

"It was good to get familiar with the track, but Absalon was just too strong," said Milatz.

Absalon also won the Lugano / Tesserete and Solothurn rounds; therefore, he took over the series lead from Marcel Wildhaber (Scott Swisspower), who was fifth on the day and the second best Swiss rider after Nicola Rohrbach (SRM Stevens) in fourth place.

Litscher was the best Under 23 rider, followed by Dutchman Henk Jaap Moorlag (Rabo-Giant Offroad Team) and Frenchman Freddy Bertremieux (Aix VTT Thrifty).

"I'm not satisfied with my placing. I was not quite where I wanted to be and took a fall. Things got better as the race went on, and it was a good workout."

Home win for Saner-Guinchard

Marielle Saner-Guinchard (Bikepark.chTeam) used a home-field advantage to win the women's race. The 33-year-old took off ahead of Norwegian Lene Byberg (Specialized).

She built her lead throughout the race and took her first Racer Bikes Cup win of the season.

"It is, of course, great to win on home soil. I was inspired," said Saner-Guinchard.

"It was a beautiful, challenging course," said runner-up Byberg.

Olympic champion and marathon World Champion Sabine Spitz (Central Pro) was third.

In the juniors, three-time World Cup champion Michiel van der Hejiden won the men's race. Since the first round, Roger Walder has been duelling with the Dutchman. Today, he finished second and Fabian Paumann was third.

Last year's junior Swiss champion Matthias Stirnemann was hoping to turn the tables in the amateur and masters race after a second place in Plaffeien as he raced Reto Indergand to take the win. Jonas Loretz was third.

Jolanda Neff won the junior women's race ahead of Vania Schumacher and Linda Indergand.

Full Results