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Absalon rules the World - record breaking win for the legendary Frenchman.
Kate Potter Drops in
Nissan/UCI MTB World Cup XCO – Round 2
Offenburg, Germany, April 25-26 2009
The weekend saw the second round of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Offenburg, Germany. Awarded best cross-country race in 2008 it’s easy to see why it has such a good reputation – a beautiful setting in the Black Forest, a good atmosphere in the arena, great facilities for spectators (a bit short on loos though - ed) and a technical course, loved by the riders, providing an intense variety of challenging sections, obstacles and full throttle singletrack. This is not a course for the faint hearted. The main sections are made all the more daunting by being given names such as Wolfs Drop, World Class Drop and The Snake Pit, as well as Dual Speed and North Shore. Each main point takes on a life of its own with its own commentator, DJ and catering keeping the thousands of spectators entertained as they make their way around the course on the designated Spectator Walking Route.
A sunny start to Sunday and it was time for the main events. Ladies were first off at 10.30 and BMBS regulars and adopted Brits Kate Potter (Cotic-Bontrager) and Mel Spath (Torq-Cycleways) lined up just a few rows behind the biggest names in the sport having had excellent results in South Africa a few weeks ago. Fortunately every rider made it off the start line and around the start loop unscathed.
Current World Champion Marga Fullana (Massi) put the pressure on the rest of the riders right from the off, gaining a small lead during the first lap over a chasing group of Lene Byberg (Specialized), Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon), Elisabeth Osl (Central Ghost), Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Catharine Pendrel (Luna Women’s Team) who had made an impressive start from 52nd.
By lap four the gap had extended to 50 seconds and Fullana looked as if she’d secured the win. But gradually working her way up through the field from 54th was China’s Chengyuan Ren and by lap 5 she had attacked the chasing group of four, accompanied for a while by Pendrel, and then cut Fullana’s lead to just 5 seconds. The chasers pushed hard to try and catch the lead pair but by the final lap Ren had a decisive 50 second lead over 2nd place Fullana and Lene Byberg in third, Kalentieva and Osl followed, with Pendrel finally finishing in sixth whilst home crowd favourite and Olympic Champion Sabine Spitz (Central Ghost) fought hard for 8th. Osl maintains the series lead with Fullana and Kalentieva level on points in second.
Kate Potter was pleased with her 47th place as was Mel in 65th, both ladies admitting they went off a little too fast at the start and faded towards the end. New Zealand based Brit Fiona MacDermid had a good ride and looked exhausted at the end of her 6 laps, finishing just ahead of Mel in 63rd.
Offenburg, Germany, April 25-26 2009
The weekend saw the second round of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Offenburg, Germany. Awarded best cross-country race in 2008 it’s easy to see why it has such a good reputation – a beautiful setting in the Black Forest, a good atmosphere in the arena, great facilities for spectators (a bit short on loos though - ed) and a technical course, loved by the riders, providing an intense variety of challenging sections, obstacles and full throttle singletrack. This is not a course for the faint hearted. The main sections are made all the more daunting by being given names such as Wolfs Drop, World Class Drop and The Snake Pit, as well as Dual Speed and North Shore. Each main point takes on a life of its own with its own commentator, DJ and catering keeping the thousands of spectators entertained as they make their way around the course on the designated Spectator Walking Route.
A sunny start to Sunday and it was time for the main events. Ladies were first off at 10.30 and BMBS regulars and adopted Brits Kate Potter (Cotic-Bontrager) and Mel Spath (Torq-Cycleways) lined up just a few rows behind the biggest names in the sport having had excellent results in South Africa a few weeks ago. Fortunately every rider made it off the start line and around the start loop unscathed.
Current World Champion Marga Fullana (Massi) put the pressure on the rest of the riders right from the off, gaining a small lead during the first lap over a chasing group of Lene Byberg (Specialized), Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon), Elisabeth Osl (Central Ghost), Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Catharine Pendrel (Luna Women’s Team) who had made an impressive start from 52nd.
By lap four the gap had extended to 50 seconds and Fullana looked as if she’d secured the win. But gradually working her way up through the field from 54th was China’s Chengyuan Ren and by lap 5 she had attacked the chasing group of four, accompanied for a while by Pendrel, and then cut Fullana’s lead to just 5 seconds. The chasers pushed hard to try and catch the lead pair but by the final lap Ren had a decisive 50 second lead over 2nd place Fullana and Lene Byberg in third, Kalentieva and Osl followed, with Pendrel finally finishing in sixth whilst home crowd favourite and Olympic Champion Sabine Spitz (Central Ghost) fought hard for 8th. Osl maintains the series lead with Fullana and Kalentieva level on points in second.
Kate Potter was pleased with her 47th place as was Mel in 65th, both ladies admitting they went off a little too fast at the start and faded towards the end. New Zealand based Brit Fiona MacDermid had a good ride and looked exhausted at the end of her 6 laps, finishing just ahead of Mel in 63rd.
Men
Roel Paulissen
In the afternoon it was time for the men and British stalwart Oli Beckingsale (Giant) lined up behind a who’s who of world mountain biking – past, present and future World XC, Marathon and Olympic champions lined up shoulder to shoulder. There was no sign of Liam Killeen all weekend and we hear his back is still causing problems....fingers crossed for Houffalize and Dalby.
At the gun they went off like a rocket until three quarters of the way through the field there was a huge pile up just after the start line. The main pack were away safely though and when the lead motorbike rounded the final corner of the start loop and rode up the start straight the crowd held their breath, then roared with exhilaration as the bullet train 200 riders long flew past them. A lead group of 11 formed including Julien Absalon (Orbea), Lukas Fluckiger (Trek), World Champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Massi), Roel Paulissen (Cannondale), World Cup leader Hermida (Multivan Merida), Wolfram Kurschat (Topeak Ergon), and Under 23 World Cup leader Burry Stander (Specialized).
The lead changed hands regularly over the first couple of laps, followed closely by a large chasing group including our very own Oli. During lap three Absalon’s sheer power and prowess shone through as despite the blistering pace, he rode off the front on the main climb and created a minute gap over second placed Sauser by the second feed station at Wolfs Drop. The chase group were soon strung out trying to catch the dominant Frenchman but none of them could close the gap and Hermida soon fell off the pace due to a bad cold. Team mates Sauser and Stander tried to get away from the chasing group but Sauser crashed on a technical section leaving Stander, Kurschat, Peraud and the others to fight it out for the remaining podium positions. Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida) and Marco Fontana (Cannondale) had made fantastic progress through the field from 72nd and 71st positions to join the chasing riders.
At the gun they went off like a rocket until three quarters of the way through the field there was a huge pile up just after the start line. The main pack were away safely though and when the lead motorbike rounded the final corner of the start loop and rode up the start straight the crowd held their breath, then roared with exhilaration as the bullet train 200 riders long flew past them. A lead group of 11 formed including Julien Absalon (Orbea), Lukas Fluckiger (Trek), World Champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Massi), Roel Paulissen (Cannondale), World Cup leader Hermida (Multivan Merida), Wolfram Kurschat (Topeak Ergon), and Under 23 World Cup leader Burry Stander (Specialized).
The lead changed hands regularly over the first couple of laps, followed closely by a large chasing group including our very own Oli. During lap three Absalon’s sheer power and prowess shone through as despite the blistering pace, he rode off the front on the main climb and created a minute gap over second placed Sauser by the second feed station at Wolfs Drop. The chase group were soon strung out trying to catch the dominant Frenchman but none of them could close the gap and Hermida soon fell off the pace due to a bad cold. Team mates Sauser and Stander tried to get away from the chasing group but Sauser crashed on a technical section leaving Stander, Kurschat, Peraud and the others to fight it out for the remaining podium positions. Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida) and Marco Fontana (Cannondale) had made fantastic progress through the field from 72nd and 71st positions to join the chasing riders.
The Main Man
Meanwhile, Oli was constantly floating up and down through the pack fighting hard to maintain his position in the top 30, just a few minutes behind the leaders, looking strong to begin with and coping well with the extremely technical sections.
After almost 2 hours of full on racing it was a convincing win by Absalon, though second placed Kurschat had closed the gap slightly to just over a minute, having pulled away slightly from Peraud in third, both passing Stander in the final kilometres of the race. A great result for Naef in 5th completed the podium. Oli finished in a strong 29th, working hard right to finish line to stay in the top 30.
It was a top class weekend of racing with two very different and exciting wins – one riding through the field and timing it to perfection, the other using his wealth of experience and tactical knowledge to get ahead of the group and win from the front. Absalon’s win was his third consecutive win at Offenburg and is a record breaking 18th World Cup victory in elite men’s cross country, beating Thomas Frischknecht previous 17 victories. It also gives him the series lead over Kurschat.
Words & pics Sara Randle
After almost 2 hours of full on racing it was a convincing win by Absalon, though second placed Kurschat had closed the gap slightly to just over a minute, having pulled away slightly from Peraud in third, both passing Stander in the final kilometres of the race. A great result for Naef in 5th completed the podium. Oli finished in a strong 29th, working hard right to finish line to stay in the top 30.
It was a top class weekend of racing with two very different and exciting wins – one riding through the field and timing it to perfection, the other using his wealth of experience and tactical knowledge to get ahead of the group and win from the front. Absalon’s win was his third consecutive win at Offenburg and is a record breaking 18th World Cup victory in elite men’s cross country, beating Thomas Frischknecht previous 17 victories. It also gives him the series lead over Kurschat.
Words & pics Sara Randle
adelansley
dabaldie
