January 31, 2015 (Tabor, CZE) – Simon Andreassen (Denmark), the reigning MTB Worlds junior champ, claimed another world title in style as he soloed in for the victory in the Junior Men’s CX Worlds 5-lap, 15.7km competition. The Dane had a comfortable 40s margin over pre-race favourite Eli Iserbyt (Belgium) who struggled in the cold, wet and slippery conditions. Taking third was Max Gulickx from the Netherlands as he recovered from a miscue near the end to finally pass Gage Hecht (USA) in the final corner as the American had the misfortune to briefly drop his chain.

Canadian Junior cyclocross champ, Willem Boersma from Manitoba, was the top Canuck in 42nd with Oliver Evans also from Manitoba in 43rd, Ontario’s Quinton Disera ended up 52nd after being as high as 25th (unconfirmed mechanical), Liam Mulcahy was 61st and Stefan Ritter finished 70th.

The course seemed to be frozen for the Junior Men which would have resulted in a fast race. But as things got underway and it warmed up the course became more muddy with a number of riders going down. Iserbyt, the overall World Cup winner, and European and Belgian champ, dropped from first to fourth halfway through the race as four leaders emerged.

Meanwhile Andreassen performed flawlessly and was the only rider who hopped the barriers which were placed on a muddy inclining slope. He escaped on his own from the lead group of four leaving Iserbyt to battle with Gulickx and Hecht for the remaining two medals.

The 2014 UCI MTB Worlds Junior champion outclassed the opposition and finished solo to take his second rainbow jersey, celebrating with a wheelie while waving the Danish flag.

Eventually Iserbyt got away from Gulickx and Hecht, finishing as runner-up at 40 seconds behind Andreassen. Gulickx came off the bike briefly allowing Hecht to gap him but he battled back to the American’s wheel just before the final corner where Hecht, 16, suffered an untimely mechanical briefly dropping his chain.

Gulickx didn’t waste any time and attacked taking  the lead on the finishing straight to grab the bronze medal ahead of a dejected Hecht. More than a minute behind Thijs Wolsink (Netherlands) was fifth ahead of Stefano Sala and Jakob Dorigoni both from Italy.

Results

1. Simon Andreassen (Den) Denmark  0:42:24
2. Eli Iserbyt (Bel) Belgium  0:40
3. Max Gulickx (Ned) Netherlands  0:41
4. Gage Hecht (USA) United States Of America  0:44
5. Thijs Wolsink (Ned) Netherlands  1:10
6. Stefano Sala (Ita) Italy  1:27
7. Jakob Dorigoni (Ita) Italy  1:30
8. Eddy Fine (Fra) France  1:34
9. Jarne Driesen (Bel) Belgium  1:53
10. Stegen Van Der Roel (Ned) Netherlands  1:58
11. Gavin Haley (USA) United States Of America  2:00
12. Emile Canal (Fra) France  2:02
13. Daniel Smarzaro (Ita) Italy  2:16
14. William Gascoyne (Gbr) Great Britain  2:18
15. Brannan Fix (USA) United States Of America  2:21
16. Jokin Alberdi (Esp) Spain
17. Alexis Bourmaud (Fra) France  2:28
18. Ludwig Cords (Ger) Germany  2:32
19. Johan Jacobs (Sui) Switzerland
20. Jappe Jaspers (Bel) Belgium  2:34
21. Antonio Folcarelli (Ita) Italy  2:40
22. Matej Ulik (Svk) Slovakia  3:03
23. Lander Loockx (Bel) Belgium  3:11
24. Cooper Willsey (USA) United States Of America  3:14
25. Quentin Simon (Fra) France  3:17
26. Jens Dekker (Ned) Netherlands  3:36
27. Alessio Dhoore (Bel) Belgium
28. Arthur Green (Gbr) Great Britain
29. Kevin Kuhn (Sui) Switzerland  3:38
30. Jon Gil Ranero (Esp) Spain  3:40
31. Marceli Boguslawski (Pol) Poland  3:52
32. Joshua Waters (Gbr) Great Britain  3:55
33. Jaroslav Vojir (Cze) Czech Republic  3:56
34. Mario Junquera (Esp) Spain  4:03
35. Alfie Moses (Gbr) Great Britain  4:04
36. Raphael Schroder (Ger) Germany
37. Martin Matejcek (Cze) Czech Republic  4:12
38. Colin Heiderscheid (Lux) Luxembourg  4:13
39. Cameron Beard (USA) United States Of America  4:14
40. Joel Grab (Sui) Switzerland  4:22
41. Anthon Charmig (Den) Denmark
42. Willem Boersma (Can) Canada  4:29
43. Oliver Evans (Can) Canada  4:32
44. Maximilian Mobis (Ger) Germany  4:33
45. Josef Jelinek (Cze) Czech Republic  4:34
46. Sandy Dujardin (Fra) France  4:44
47. Jonatan Ostlund (Swe) Sweden  4:45
48. Han Devos (Bel) Belgium  4:59
49. Lukas Kunt (Cze) Czech Republic  5:16
50. Dawid Jona (Pol) Poland
51. Jakub Kurty (Svk) Slovakia  5:17
52. Quinton Disera (Can) Canada  5:18
53. Ryo Takeuchi (Jpn) Japan
54. Masaki Yamada (Jpn) Japan  5:25
55. Michel Ries (Lux) Luxembourg  5:26
56. Andreas Lund Andresen (Den) Denmark  5:29
57. Noah Fries (Lux) Luxembourg  5:33
58. Pawel Kostrubski (Pol) Poland  5:44
59. Paul Rudolph (Ger) Germany  5:52
60. Nicholas Smith (Aus) Australia  5:59
61. Liam Mulcahy (Can) Canada  6:01
62. Ted Pettersson (Swe) Sweden  6:23
63. Tarik Haupt (Ger) Germany  6:30
64. Slavomir Kujan (Svk) Slovakia  6:43
65. Kristian Zimany (Svk) Slovakia
66. Noah Barrow (Aus) Australia  6:54
67. Jan Gajdosik (Svk) Slovakia  7:34
68. Jonas Brezina (Cze) Czech Republic  -1 Lap
69. Mark Zathureczky (Hun) Hungary  -1 Lap
70. Stefan Ritter (Can) Canada  -1 Lap
71. Tom Green (Aus) Australia  -1 Lap