Jaroslav Kulhavy and Sally Bigham raced to victory on Friday at the Roc d'Azur marathon in Frejus, France.
"It was a good race for us," said Kulhavy. "Susi [Christoph Sauser - ed.] and I were together. It's a nice last race of my season. I'm satisfied with how I rode because my training has not been such good quality since the Olympics." The Czech rider was referring to the many demands for his time that have followed winning the Olympic mountain bike race in London in mid-August.
In the men's race, Jochen Käs launched a bold early attack with Christoph Sauser, and then spent a majority of the day off the front solo, but the German later paid for his efforts and was caught at 53km into the 83km race.
For much of the day, the race seemed to be for second place between Kulhavy, Sauser and Leonardo Hector Paez.
Sauser had to stop twice - once while off the front with Käs to fix his saddle position, which was causing him back pain, and once to straighten a stem after a crash - but both times he chased back up to Kulhavy and Paez.
In the end, Specialized teammates Kulhavy and Sauser were too strong for Paez. After the pair overtook Käs, they rode to the finish together, working to ensure their lead.
"Jaro and I shared the finish together, and I offered him the win," said Sauser who noted how well they powered along the flat sections at the end of the race together. "Jaro is a good sprinter and he won the Olympics that way. I figured I wasn't going to be a better sprinter than Nino." Nino Schurter was the man Kulhavy had outsprinted for the Olympic gold medal.
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The two teammates crossed the line together in 3:23:08. Käs held on for third place, 59 seconds back.
In the women's race, Sally Bigham won in a time of 4:12:07. Her winning margin was an impressive 19:11 over Helene Marcouyre and 24:39 over Rikke Kronvig.
