Schurter wins fifth elite cross-country world championship title

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Nino Schurter (Switzerland) joined Julien Absalon (France) in a very special club on Sunday, when he matched Absalon with five Elite world titles at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. Schurter took the win in front of local favourite Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic), with Absalon coming in third.

Over 23,000 fans came out to watch the men's race bring the Championships to a conclusion, and they saw some exciting racing over the course of the week.

Kulhavy was very aggressive from the start of the race, opening a gap with Schurter and fellow Czech rider Ondrej Cink by the end of the start lap. Absalon, starting a little slower, gradually bridged up to the leaders, joining them on the third lap of the six lap race. Schurter decided a lap later that it was time turn up the heat and launched an attack on one of the steep climbs. Absalon and Kulhavy tried to follow, shedding Cink, but couldn't make the connection.

The two chasers stayed together until the last lap, when Kulhavy was able to get away on a climb, coming into the finish 17 seconds behind Schurter, with Absalon at 30 seconds.

"I'm super happy about this race, it was a nice win," said Schurter. "It was a nearly perfect race for me. Jaroslov went fast out from the start and I was able to go with him and draft quite nicely behind him. When Absalon joined us I thought well now it's better to attack and see if the others could respond. It is amazing, the crowd go wild when he [Kulhavy] comes by. That's really great atmosphere here. It is always nice to battle with Absalon, and the best feeling is to beat those two. I am really happy about this win."

Schurter now joins Absalon with five Elite titles, and each of them hold a total of eight individual titles, including Junior and Under-23 wins. However, as Schurter pointed out, "there is still the matter of the two Olympic gold medals that Julien has, so I have some catching up to do."

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