Stander wins cross country in three-up sprint
By Sue George , Mountain Bike Editor published
An outnumbered Kabush hangs in for second
Burry Stander won the three-up sprint at the end of the elite men's cross country race at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. With two against one in the lead trio, the Specialized team dominated the race, taking first, third and fourth. However, the outnumbered Geoff Kabush (Maxxis Rocky Mountain) rode an intelligent race, making it to the final sprint despite Team Specialized's best efforts to drop him en route. Kabush finished second ahead of Todd Wells (Specialized) in third.
Not far behind, Christoph Sauser (Specialized) finished fourth. Roel Paulissen (Cannondale) made a late race surge to ride himself up into fifth place.
Early int he race a group of five riders formed, including Wells, Stander, Kabush, Marco Fontana (Cannondale) and Sauser, at the front, setting a pace that strung the large field out immediately.
Fontana and Sauser were gapped off. "It's tough to plan the start, but we hoped to get all three of us up there," said Wells. "We almost did, but it didn't quite work."
"I was behind Fontana and then got about five to 10m off Kabush, and then I didn't have the top speed to catch back up," said Sauser. "I thought maybe I could catch back on the climb, but I sat down a little too early and then there was a flat part and that was it." On his own on the flat parts, Sauser wasn't as fast as the lead trio, especially with a long, level paved section around the race track on each of the five total laps.
The rest of the race was a battle between the two Specialized men, Stander and Wells, and one Maxxis Rocky Mountain rider, Kabush. Stander and Wells did everything they could to shake Kabush, but the tenacious Canadian rode intelligently to defend his position in their group. Kabush had hoped to get some help against Specialized from the Cannondale riders, but after Fontana faded, he didn't see anything but red at the front for the duration.
"Obviously I wanted to win, but it was a good race," said Kabush. "It was tough going there with just me and the Specialized guys. I wasn't looking behind. I knew I had to stay in the top three. They'd go one-two in the singletrack and wanted to let a gap grow, so I worked to stay second wheel and try to control it and soften them up whenever I could."
"Todd and I were trying the whole time to get a gap on Kabush, but we couldn't. He was riding well today," said Stander.
"I thought for sure we'd be able to shake him," said Wells. "We'd get small gaps on him, and then he'd power back. At one point, we almost got both of us off, but he was too strong. I would attack and Burry would sit on Kabush, then he'd attack and I'd sit on Kabush."
However, both Specialized riders approached the finish with confidence. "I knew at the finish that Burry would beat Kabush in the sprint," said Wells.
"I knew it was going to be a sprint," said Stander. "I did a lot of road racing during my summer - the last couple of weeks. My sprinting has been good. I attacked first, then Todd went over me and Kabush followed him, so it gave me the perfect line-up and I knew when we came into the last straight that I had it."
"Burry led the last singletrack and I kept a bit of a gap. I was hoping to get it down to the last corner when I knew I could get to the finish," said Kabush, "but when Todd went on the inside, I had to cover that. On the last corner, I made my jump, but Burry was able to come by."
Sauser never did catch the lead trio and rode solo for three laps to finish fourth. On the final lap, Paulissen worked his way up significantly to leap away from the chase group of five that he'd joined near the end of the race. He was helped by two teammates, who blocked for him as he rode away for fifth place.
"It was hard today. I had some stomach problems and still do," said Paulissen. "I was suffering the first 40 minutes, and I tried to get in my rhythm. The legs got better though and on the long gravel climb, I went for it."
It was Paulissen's first time racing a 29er on a cross country course. "It was good on the rolling portions of this course. The course wasn't twisty, and the bike was so stable. I would race it again, depending on the course."
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Burry Stander (RSA) Specialized Factory | 1:23:13 |
2 | Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain | |
3 | Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing | 0:00:02 |
4 | Christopher Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing | 0:01:06 |
5 | Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:02:14 |
6 | Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:02:39 |
7 | Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher | 0:02:52 |
8 | Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:02:53 |
9 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:03:17 |
10 | Chris Sheppard (Can) Rocky Mountain/Thule | 0:03:22 |
11 | Carl Decker (USA) Giant Factory Offroad | 0:04:44 |
12 | Barry Wicks (USA) Kona | |
13 | Adam Morka (Can) Trek Canada | 0:05:00 |
14 | Conrad Stoltz (RSA) Specialized Factory Racing | 0:05:01 |
15 | Jason Sager (USA) Team Jamis | |
16 | Benjamin Sonntag (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing | |
17 | Lachlan Norris (Aus) Drapac/Porsche/Giant | 0:05:37 |
18 | Travis Livermon (USA) Champion Systems/Cannondale | 0:06:20 |
19 | Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona | 0:06:26 |
20 | Thomas Turner (USA) Jamis Bicycles | 0:06:34 |
21 | Craig Richey (Can) Aviawest | 0:06:36 |
22 | Andy Schultz (USA) Kenda-Felt | 0:07:07 |
23 | Stephen Ettinger (USA) Mafia Racing | 0:07:14 |
24 | Ryan Woodall (USA) | 0:07:21 |
25 | Rotem Ishay (Isr) Team Jamis | |
26 | Ken Onodera (Jpn) Subaru-Gary Fisher | 0:07:22 |
27 | Spencer Paxson (USA) Team S&M | |
28 | Tad Elliott (USA) Team Sho-Air/Specialized | |
29 | Peter Glassford (Can) | |
30 | Tj Woodruff (USA) Trek Bicycle Store | |
31 | Dana Weber (USA) Trek | 0:07:25 |
32 | Max Knox (RSA) DCM | 0:07:41 |
33 | Robert Marion (USA) American Classic/Kenda | 0:07:56 |
34 | Stefan Widmer (Can) Rocky Mountain Factor | 0:08:09 |
35 | Sean Babcock (USA) Team S&M | 0:08:19 |
36 | Kerry Werner Jr. (USA) Shirks Presented | 0:08:20 |
37 | Simon Jensen (Den) HMTBK | 0:08:31 |
38 | Sam Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher | 0:08:33 |
39 | Tinker Juarez (USA) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:08:36 |
40 | John Bennett (USA) Whole Athlete | 0:09:00 |
41 | Russell Finsterwald (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher | 0:09:05 |
42 | Mitchell Hote (USA) | 0:09:28 |
43 | Pierre Facomprez (Fra) Look Shimano | |
44 | Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Teamgive/Blackbottom | 0:09:33 |
45 | Kalan Beisel (USA) Procycling | |
46 | Eric Emsky (USA) Blue Competition Cycle | 0:09:38 |
47 | Jeffrey Herrera (USA) Hammerheadbikes.Com | 0:09:45 |
48 | Dror Pekatch (Isr) Subaru-Gary Fisher | 0:09:57 |
49 | Vincent Lombardi (Fra) Sho-air/Sonance | 0:10:10 |
50 | Branden Stewart (RSA) DCM | 0:10:12 |
51 | Colin Cares (USA) Kenda/Felt | 0:10:13 |
52 | Yuki Saito (Jpn) Topeak-Ergon | 0:10:17 |
53 | Ben Thompson (USA) Trek MTN Co-Op | 0:10:23 |
54 | Bryan Alders (USA) Pearl Izumi | 0:10:46 |
55 | Aaron Bradford (USA) Specialized/Onsite | |
56 | Erik Tonkin (USA) Kona | 0:10:47 |
57 | Aren Timmel (USA) Team Chico | 0:11:16 |
58 | Scott Frederick (USA) Inland Construction | 0:11:18 |
59 | Adam Snyder (USA) Team Jamis | 0:11:43 |
60 | Tim Allen (USA) | 0:11:45 |
61 | Ross Schnell (USA) Trek/Crankbrothers | |
62 | Greg Carpenter (USA) 3D Racing | 0:12:01 |
63 | Ethan Gilmour (USA) Giant Factory | 0:12:11 |
64 | Nate Whitman (USA) Cynergy / Specialized | 0:12:17 |
65 | Alex Grant (USA) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:12:24 |
66 | Kevin Smallman (USA) Incycle Bikes/Cannonda | 0:12:56 |
67 | Drew Edsall (USA) Yeti | 0:13:41 |
68 | Spencer Powlison (USA) Mafia Racing-Pabst-Felt | 0:14:41 |
69 | Anthony Slowinski (USA) Backwoods Racing | 0:16:13 |
70 | Troy Wells (USA) Team Clif Bar | 0:17:30 |
-1lap | Lucas Livermon (USA) Inland Construction | |
-1lap | Omer Kem (USA) Team Jamis | |
-1lap | Nicholas Stevens (GBr) Waltworks | |
-1lap | Aaron Snyder (USA) Scott Rc Mountain Bike | |
-1lap | John Nobil (USA) Bear Vly Bikes | |
-1lap | Blake Harlan (USA) Team Jamis | |
-1lap | Bradford Perley (USA) Mafia Racing/Felt/PBR | |
-1lap | Dylan Stucki (USA) Mafia Racing | |
-1lap | Michael Mooradian (USA) Bedford-Spin-Verge | |
-1lap | Aaron Elwell (USA) Highgear/Trek | |
-1lap | Braden Kappius (USA) Clif Bar | |
-1lap | Kenny Burt (USA) | |
-1lap | Alex Boone (USA) Trek MTN Coop | |
-1lap | Nate Byrom (USA) Northstar/Giant | |
-1lap | Justin Maka (USA) Hayes/Spy | |
-1lap | Nitish Nag (USA) Nrl Racing Developmen | |
-1lap | Gabriel Keck (USA) Summit Bicycles | |
-1lap | Brian Astell (USA) Lostcoast Brewery | |
-1lap | Charles Jenkins (USA) KHS 650 Crew | |
-1lap | Mitchell Peterson (USA) Giant | |
-1lap | Nick Weighall (USA) California Giant Berry | |
-2laps | Jeff Blair (Can) Unattached | |
-2laps | Mike Anderson (USA) | |
-2laps | Randall Jacobs (USA) Wheelworks Racing | |
-2laps | Tony Smith (USA) Focus Bikes | |
-2laps | Kyle Stock (USA) Golden Chain Cyclists | |
-2laps | Jason Moeschler (USA) WTB | |
-2laps | Wiley Mosley Mosley (USA) John Quinn / Jerk Racing | |
-2laps | Matt Connors (USA) Bicycle Ranch | |
-2laps | Noah Tautfest (USA) Biyclce Express | |
-2laps | Ben Sullivan (USA) Momentum Endurance | |
-2laps | John Burns (USA) | |
-2laps | Ron Castia (USA) Infovista Cycling Team | |
-2laps | Jeff Kerkove (USA) Topeak-Ergon | |
-2laps | Seamus Powell (USA) Ollett Coaching/Inustr | |
-2laps | Zachary Keller (USA) Form Cycles | |
-2laps | Bob Delp (USA) Vitamin Water/Folsom | |
-2laps | Osias Lozano (Col) | |
-2laps | Garnet Vertican (USA) Giant | |
-2laps | Rob Sousa (USA) Pro Cycling | |
-2laps | Anastasio Flores (USA) Giant Berry Farms | |
-2laps | Andrew Rigel (USA) Mafia Racing/Felt/PBR | |
-2laps | Hal Helbock (USA) Cytomax/Khs | |
-2laps | Eric Batty (Can) Trek Canada | |
-2laps | Evan Plews (USA) www.Evanplews.Com | |
-3laps | Rouke Croeser (RSA) DCM | |
-3laps | Bryan Van Vleet (USA) KHS | |
-3laps | Matt Wittler (USA) Lost Coast | |
DNF | Ryan Trebon (USA) Kona | |
DNF | Sid Taberlay (USA) Sho-air/Specialized | |
DNF | Kat Statman (USA) Feedback Sports | |
DNF | Nick Truitt (USA) Yeti | |
DNF | Drew Mackenzie (Can) Island Racing Club | |
DNF | Jim Hewett (USA) Summit Bicycles |

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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
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