McConnell sprints to victory in Albstadt cross country

The opening World Cup in Albstadt, Germany ended in a sprint without any of the usual favorites. Dan McConnell (Trek Factory Racing) surprised everyone, including himself, by out-sprinting Sergio Mantecon Guiterrez (Wildwolf Trek) in the final meters of the race. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) led the chase to finish in third place.

"I've only been top 20 once. All of the sudden, I come out and win. It's going to take awhile to sink in," said McConnell to Redbull.tv after the race. "It's ridiculous. I'm just speechless."

McConnell became the first Australian rider since Cadel Evans in 2000 to win an elite cross country World Cup. He made an incredible come from behind effort in the final lap to take the win.

The men's seven-lap race began after the rain from earlier in the day had stopped, but the damage had been done, leaving the course so slick and treacherous on the downhills that one major jump was closed after a lap for safety reasons.

After a moment of silence to remember the late Burry Stander, who had finished second overall in the World Cup in 2012 and was killed in a training accident in January of 2013, the colorful peloton of racers flew off the start line.

"I tried to go hard the first half lap and get a good position. I tried to settle into my pace," said McConnell.

At first, the race seemed like it would be business as usual. World champion Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) and his teammate Florian Vogel shot off the front on the start, getting a large gap early on with Marek Konwa (Superior Brentjens) joining them. Other favorites like Julien Absalon (BMC) and Kulhavy were not much further back. However, in the super slick conditions, crashes were happening everywhere and placings shuffled dramatically at first.

Schurter's mechanic reported that he had a problem with his fork; the world champ would end up out of the top 10 after stopping for assistance in the tech zone. He continued racing and finished 18th.

With Schurter out of the picture, it looked like it would be Absalon's lucky day. The French BMC rider dominated from lap 2 as he rode off the front, first with Mathias Flueckiger (Stockli), then solo. A two-time Olympic champion, Absalon set the fastest laps times for laps two through four. The French rider, who holds the record for men's World Cup wins at 25, looked to be well on his way to his 26th win, when he suffered a mechanical problem and was forced to drop out.

The tragedy struck on lap five, when Absalon broke his bike - possibly snapping a dropout. His minute-plus lead evaporated instantly after the terminal mechanical. He was forced to run with his bike with his back wheel dangling from the frame, but he was too far from the tech zone to save the day and soon abandoned the race, clearly frustrated at the lost opportunity.

With Absalon's departure, Giger, who had been chasing solo in second place, was suddenly in the front of the race on his own; however, just a few seconds back, he was chased by Mantecon Gutierrez, Maxime Marotte (BH - SR Suntour - KMC) and Lukas Flückiger (BMC Mountainbike Racing Team).

Mantecon then overtook Giger, who was starting to fade, and opened up a gap. Marotte also caught and passed Giger with one lap to go. Kulhavy, Lukas Flueckiger and McConnell followed just 10 seconds later and would also pass the Swiss rider.

With one lap to go, a handful of men had a realistic shot at the win. Mantecon's lead was tenuous, and Kulhavy fired up the diesel and surged to close the gap, bringing McConnell with him.

McConnell, whose previous best World Cup result was 20th, started the last lap in sixth place, 29 seconds behind Mantecon. He steadily picked up places on the first long climb of the lap.

Kulhavy appeared to struggle on a climb, so McConnell went around him and danced away, just behind Mantecon and setting up a final sprint between the Australian and the Spaniard, neither of whom had ever won a World Cup.

McConnell clearly had more energy at the end and out-sprinted the flagging Spaniard for the win. Kulhavy rolled in for third 11 seconds after Mantecon.

"I did not expect this," said McConnell. "I came into this looking for a solid top-15, so it's unbelievable. On the climb [on the last lap], I made contact with the group of second through fifth, and then moved into second through the feedzone. I could see Sergio in front of me, and at that stage just gave it everything, and caught him through the grass section at the bottom of the descent."

"I got into the last corner with a little bit of a gap and nothing was going to get past me at that point, I was running on adrenalin."

Marotte and Lukas Flueckiger (BMC) rounded out the podium.

Race notes

- It was so slippery that officials closed the A-line over the jump for part of the men's race.

- The race was without local favorite Manuel Fumic (Cannondale), who crashed and broke his collarbone during training earlier this week.

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