In the past four years of the World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, there have been only two winners of the men's race - Olympic champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) took the first edition, and Nino Schurter (Scott-Odlo) the last three. Once again, it came down to these two riders on Sunday, for the first round of the 2015 series.
Schurter attacked on the start loop, with Kulhavy, world champion Julien Absalon (BMC), Australian champion Dan McConnell (Trek Factory Racing) and Florian Vogel (Focus XC) the only riders to stay with him. Schurter surged again on the first full lap, and this time only Kulhavy could hang on.
Schurter appeared to be stronger, gapping Kulhavy on the climbs, but the Czech rider would always come back, possibly motivated by the cheers of thousands of his fans around the course. In the final half lap the tables were turned, when Kulhavy attacked and Schurter could not respond. The Czech rider rolled into the finishing arena to stands full of cheering fans, to win by 24 seconds.
Absalon and Vogel first dropped McConnell, and then Absalon went solo mid-race to take third ahead of Vogel, with Mathias Fluckiger (Stoeckli) taking the fifth and final podium spot.
"It was a very exciting race between me and Nino (Schurter) again," agreed Kulhavy, "and I attacked on the hardest climb and Nino stayed with me maybe 5 or 10 seconds before I got away. Then I just controlled my position to the finish. The finish was good and I didn't make any mistakes. The fans were so amazing. They helped a lot and pushed me. It was crazy. I would like to say thanks to them.
"I am really satisfied and it was my big goal this season. I have had a lot of troubles last year, a lot of health problems. So I am really satisfied. I am really, really happy. It is my biggest victory after the Olympic Games and we will celebrate tonight."
Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) | 1:33:27 |
| 2 | Nino Schurter (Switzerland) | 0:00:24 |
| 3 | Julien Absalon (France) | 0:01:16 |
| 4 | Florian Vogel (Switzerland) | 0:02:02 |
| 5 | Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) | 0:02:37 |
| 6 | Ralph Naef (Switzerland) | 0:02:59 |
| 7 | Andrea Tiberi (Italy) | 0:03:04 |
| 8 | Thomas Litscher (Switzerland) | 0:03:13 |
| 9 | Manuel Fumic (Germany) | 0:03:45 |
| 10 | José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) | 0:03:53 |
| 11 | Daniel Mcconnell (Australia) | 0:04:17 |
| 12 | Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) | 0:04:31 |
| 13 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) | 0:04:37 |
| 14 | Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) | 0:05:03 |
| 15 | Fabian Giger (Switzerland) | 0:05:14 |
| 16 | Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) | 0:05:18 |
| 17 | Bart De Vocht (Belgium) | 0:05:19 |
| 18 | Reto Indergand (Switzerland) | |
| 19 | Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) | 0:05:23 |
| 20 | David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Portugal) | 0:05:39 |
| 21 | Stephen Ettinger (United States Of America) | 0:05:50 |
| 22 | Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) | 0:06:05 |
| 23 | Derek Zandstra (Canada) | |
| 24 | Hugo Drechou (France) | |
| 25 | Martin Loo (Estonia) | 0:06:25 |
| 26 | Raphael Gagne (Canada) | 0:06:43 |
| 27 | Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) | 0:06:46 |
| 28 | Mario Luis Miranda Costa (Portugal) | 0:06:48 |
| 29 | Leandre Bouchard (Canada) | 0:06:50 |
| 30 | Jeff Luyten (Belgium) | 0:06:52 |
| 31 | Maxime Marotte (France) | 0:06:59 |
| 32 | Michal Lami (Slovakia) | 0:07:06 |
| 33 | Ruben Scheire (Belgium) | 0:07:19 |
| 34 | Frank Beemer (Netherlands) | 0:07:24 |
| 35 | Karl Markt (Austria) | 0:07:26 |
| 36 | Anton Sintsov (Russian Federation) | |
| 37 | Rourke Croeser (South Africa) | 0:07:31 |
| 38 | Timofei Ivanov (Russian Federation) | 0:07:32 |
| 39 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) | |
| 40 | Tom Meeusen (Belgium) | 0:07:52 |
| 41 | Simon Stiebjahn (Germany) | 0:08:09 |
| 42 | Daniele Braidot (Italy) | 0:08:17 |
| 43 | Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) | 0:08:26 |
| 44 | Nicola Rohrbach (Switzerland) | 0:08:31 |
| 45 | Marc Stutzmann (Switzerland) | |
| 46 | David Valero (Spain) | 0:08:32 |
| 47 | Andrea Righettini (Italy) | |
| 48 | Shlomi Haimy (Israel) | 0:08:33 |
| 49 | Michiel Van Der Heijden (Netherlands) | 0:08:35 |
| 50 | Martin Gujan (Switzerland) | 0:08:39 |
| 51 | Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) | 0:08:41 |
| 52 | Martin Gluth (Germany) | 0:08:53 |
| 53 | Jordan Sarrou (France) | 0:09:08 |
| 54 | Martin Fanger (Switzerland) | 0:09:10 |
| 55 | Mirko Tabacchi (Italy) | |
| 56 | Martino Fruet (Italy) | 0:09:12 |
| 57 | Kerry Werner (United States) | 0:09:14 |
| 58 | Luca Braidot (Italy) | 0:09:32 |
| 59 | Wolfram Kurschat (Germany) | 0:09:36 |
| 60 | Philip Buys (South Africa) | 0:09:47 |
| 61 | Nicholas Pettina (Italy) | 0:09:58 |
| 62 | Marvin Gruget (France) | 0:10:03 |
| 63 | Marcel Wildhaber (Switzerland) | 0:10:07 |
| 64 | Geoff Kabush (Canada) | 0:10:22 |
| 65 | Spencer Paxson (United States) | 0:10:29 |
| 66 | Ricardo Paulo Reis Marinheiro (Portugal) | 0:10:30 |
| 67 | Adam Morka (Canada) | 0:10:36 |
| 68 | Jhonnatan Botero Villegas (Colombia) | 0:10:41 |
| 69 | Moritz Milatz (Germany) | 0:10:44 |
| 70 | Filip Eberl (Czech Republic) | 0:10:49 |
| 71 | Sebastien Carabin (Belgium) | 0:11:02 |
| 72 | Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) | 0:11:10 |
| 73 | Gregor Raggl (Austria) | 0:11:40 |
| 74 | Hans Becking (Netherlands) | 0:11:53 |
| 75 | Markus Bauer (Germany) | 0:12:00 |
| 76 | Matthys Beukes (South Africa) | 0:12:05 |
| 77 | Cristian Cominelli (Italy) | |
| 78 | Ricardo Pscheidt (Brazil) | 0:12:12 |
| 79 | Matthias Wengelin (Sweden) | 0:12:14 |
| 80 | Rubens Valeriano (Brazil) | 0:12:19 |
| 81 | Maximilian Holz (Germany) | 0:12:50 |
| 82 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hungry) | 0:12:53 |
| 83 | Maximilian Vieider (Italy) | 0:13:00 |
| 84 | Daniel Eymann (Switzerland) | 0:13:33 |
| 85 | Michele Casagrande (Italy) | 0:13:58 |
| 86 | Julien Trarieux (France) | 0:14:03 |
| 87 | James Reid (South Africa) | 0:14:16 |
| 88 | Simon Gegenheimer (Germany) | |
| 89 | Cameron Ivory (Australia) | |
| 90 | Paolo Cesar Montoya Cantillo (Costa Rica) | |
| 91 | Erik Groen (Netherlands) | |
| 92 | Evan Guthrie (Canada) | |
| 93 | Tomas Paprstka (Czech Republic) | |
| 94 | Marek Konwa (Poland) | |
| 95 | Michael Stünzi (Switzerland) | |
| 96 | Sergji Rysenko (Ukraine) | |
| 97 | Miguel Martinez (France) | |
| 98 | Gerrit Rosenkranz (Germany) | |
| 99 | Jason Bouttell (Great Britain) | |
| 100 | Evgenii Pechenin (Russia) | |
| 101 | Fabian Paumann (Switzerland) | |
| 102 | Markus Preiss (Austria) | |
| 103 | Jan Nesvadba (Czech Republic) | |
| 104 | Ever Alejandro Gomez (Bolivia) | |
| 105 | Patricio Maximiliano Farias Diaz (Chile) | |
| 106 | Russell Finsterwald (United States) | |
| 107 | Jorgen Flion (Belgium) | |
| 108 | Zdenek Vobecky (Czech Republic) | |
| 109 | Rotem Ishay (Israel) | |
| 110 | Cole Oberman (United States) | |
| 111 | Steffen Thum (Germany) | |
| 112 | Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Germany) | |
| 113 | Marco Ponta (Italy) | |
| 114 | Sebastian Alejandro Miranda Maldonado (Chile) | |
| 115 | Steven James (Great Britain) | |
| 116 | Jan Withaar (South Africa) | |
| 117 | Oleksandr Gerashchenko (Ukraine) | |
| 118 | Matiss Preimanis (Latvia) | |
| 119 | Christopher Maletz (Germany) | |
| 120 | Michal Malík (Czech Republic) | |
| 121 | Zhen Wang (China) | |
| 122 | Matthias Grick (Austria) | |
| 123 | Lysander Kiesel (Germany) | |
| 124 | Luciano Caraccioli (Argentina) | |
| 125 | Milan Damek (Czech Republic) | |
| 126 | Daniel Grossi Soares De Souza (Brazil) | |
| 127 | Kornel Osicki (Poland) | |
| 128 | Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chile) | |
| 129 | David Flaten (United States) | |
| 130 | Emmanuel Castillo (Mexico) | |
| 131 | Kirill Kazantsev (Kazakhstan) | |
| 132 | Artyom Golovaschenko (Kazakhstan) | |
| 133 | Daniel Castillo (Mexico) | |
| 134 | Noe Alejandro Rodriguez Acevedo (Mexico) | |
| 135 | George-Vlad Sabau (Romania) | |
| 136 | Stéphane Tempier (France) | |
| 137 | Raymond Hobeika (Lebanon) | |
| DNF | Henrique Avancini (Brazil) | |
| DNF | Pavel Skalicky (Czech Republic) | |
| DNF | Emil Lindgren (Sweden) | |
| DNF | Martin Haring (Slovakia) | |
| DNF | Kevin Van Hoovels (Belgium) | |
| DNF | Ismael Ventura Sanchez (Spain) | |
| DNF | Sascha Weber (Germany) | |
| DNF | Kristian Hynek (Czech Republic) | |
| DNF | Julian Schelb (Germany) | |
| DNF | Jonas De Backer (Belgium) | |
| DNS | Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) | |
| DNS | Andras Parti (Hungry) |
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