June 7, 2008 (Fort William, Scotland) – The men’s XC race has just started. The 92 riders entered will complete six (6) laps of the 7km course with the first lap being slightly modified from the rest. It is currently sunny and around 20 degrees – quite pleasant for Scotland. The course is quite loose and rocky with a very long initial climb followed by a big descent. Close to the finish, there is a long, flat gravel road section, where drafting could play a strategic role, before riders hit a final section of singletrack before the line. Three Canadians are entered – Geoff Kabush (Can) Maxxis, Seamus McGrath (Can) Fuji and Mathieu Toulouse (Can) Maxxis.

Lap 1
At the end of the first lap of six, the field is still largely together, with Florian Vogel (Sui) Swisspower in the lead with a lap time of 19:52. He is followed by teammate Nino Schurter (Sui) Swisspower in 2nd and Burry Stander (RSA) G.T. in 3rd. Juerg Graf (Sui) Swisspower is 4th, Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 5th, Jose Antonio Hermida (Spa) Multivan-Merida 6th, Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Lapierre 7th, Todd Wells (USA) G.T. 8th, Lukas Flueckiger (Sui) Athleticum 9th, Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin-Trek 10th, Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 11th, and Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 12th.

Kabush is riding in the 60’s , and apparently had some bad luck, according to the announcer.

Lap 2
Just a note – World Cup leader, Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea is absent from today’s updated start list. He’s likely leaving this one out due to Olympic preparations as he makes his bid to defend as Olympic Champion.

After two laps, Graf has taken the lead of the front group, follwed by Stander in 2nd, Vogel in 3rd, Ravanel 4th, Schurter 5th, Christoph Sauser (Sui) Specialized 6th, Wells 7th, Flueckiger 8th, Martin Gujan (Sui) Athleticum 9th, Jongerwaard 10th, Fontana 11th, Fuglsang 12th. McGrath is top Canuck in 13th, while Kabush has moved up to 50th, and is 2.27 back. Toulouse is in 58th at 3.05. Hermida has flatted and Adam Craig (USA) Giant also seems to have had a mechanical issue.

Lap 3
At the halfway point, Vogel has taken the lead again of the front group of six riders. Schurter trails him in 2nd, Sauser is sitting in 3rd, Fuglsang 4th, Stander 5th, and Graf 6th. The chasers are 42s back, led by Gujan in 7th, Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 8th, Wells 9th, Sven Nys (Bel) 10th! The cyclocross star is heading to the Olympics to compete in the MTB discipline, and it appears he’s holding his own. McGrath is still 13th at 51s, Craig is 16th (sporting a bloody knee), Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher has a rear flat in 17th, Hermida is chasing back after his puncture. He’s 2.34 back and in 32nd place. Kabush is also chasing hard and has moved up to 37th at 2.59. Toulouse is 53rd, 4.19 back.

Lap 4
After four laps, Sauser has taken charge of the breakaway group, which still contains the same six riders. Vogel sits 2nd, Schurter 3rd, Fuglsang 4th, Stander 5th, and Graf 6th. The gap to the chase is widening and is now around one minute. Gujan leads the chase in 7th, Wells 8th, Christoph Soukup (Aut) 9th, McGrath have moved up to 10th, and much to the delight of the crowd, Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) is the top UK rider in 11th.

Nys is still up there, but has slid to 13th. Craig is 16th, 1.39 back. Hermida is up to 22nd place at 2.40 from the lead, and Kabush is not far behind, still chasing up the field, now in the low 30s.

Lap 5
The men have finished their 5th lap, and are now going into the final lap. After 5, it’s still Sauser leading a group of three riders. Schurter is 2nd and Vogel 3rd. Then there’s a 27s gap to Fuglsang in 4th. Stander is 5th, 46s back. The main chasing group contains 8 riders, trailing by 1.17. In that group are Soukup in 6th, Graf 7th, Peraud 8th, Beckingsale 9th, Fredrick Kessiakoff (Swe) Full Dynamix 10th, Gujan 11th, Nys 12th, and Wells 11th. McGrath is 12th, 2:03 back. Craig is 17th at 2.45, Kabush is 21st at 3.38, and Toulouse is 45th, 6.55 back.

Lap 6 Final
And it came down to a sprint finish for the win between teammates Vogel and Schurter! Vogel took it with a total time of 2:06.27. Schurter 2nd, Sauser 8s back in 3rd. Nys moved up to 6th for the finish. Wells was top North American in 13th place. McGrath was top Canuck in 21st at 4.24, followed by Kabush in 24th, 4.55 back.

Results

1. Florian Vogel (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 2:06:27
2. Nino Schurter* (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team
3. Christoph Sauser (Sui) Specialized Factory Racing 0:09
4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 0:46
5. Burry Stander* (RSA) GT Bicycles 0:59
6. Sven Nys (Bel) 1:18
7. Christoph Soukup (Aut) 1:19
8. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 1:20
9. Oliver Beckingsale (Gbr) Giant Mountain Bike Team 1:30
10. Martin Gujan (Sui) Athleticum MTB Team 1:55
11. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 2:13
12. Jürg Graf (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 2:24
13. Todd Wells (USA) GT Bicycles 2:49
14. Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike 3:03
15. Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre Internation 3:14
16. Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 3:35
17. Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 3:52
18. Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike 3:54
19. Milan Spesny (Cze) Merida Biking Team 4:04
20. Karl Markt (Aut) 4:07
21. Seamus McGrath (Can) Fuji 4:24
22. Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 4:27
23. Andreas Kugler (Sui) Fischer-BMC 4:28
24. Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis 4:55
25. José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) Multivan-Merida Biking Team 4:59
26. Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing 5:01
27. Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) Topeak Ergon Racing Team 5:06
28. Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spa) Ecp-Tau Ceramica 5:13
29. Emil Lindgren (Swe) Full-Dynamix-It 5:18
30. Michael Weiss (Aut) 5:26
31. Jochen Kass (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike 5:31
32. Gion Manetsch (Sui) Athleticum MTB Team 5:43
33. Anders Hovdenes* (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 6:08
34. Karl Platt (Ger) Team Bulls 6:19
35. Tim Bohme (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike 6:40
36. Alban Lakata (Aut) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike 6:42
37. Samuel Schultz (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 7:00
38. Sid Taberlay (Aus) 7:06
39. Ian Bibby* (Gbr) 7:15
40. Fabian Giger* (Sui) 7:30
41. Jiri Friedl (Cze) Merida Biking Team 7:54
42. Mattias Wengelin* (Swe) 7:59
43. Mathieu Toulouse (Can) Team Maxxis 7:59
44. Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 8:31
45. Frank Schotman (Ned) 8:41
46. Nicola Rohrbach* (Sui) Central Ghost Pro Team 8:52
47. Alexander Wetterhall* (Swe) 8:59
48. Lukas Flückiger (Sui) Athleticum MTB Team 9:41
49. Connor Mcconvey* (Irl) 9:43
50. Josef Kamler* (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb 9:52
51. Ian Wilkinson (GBr) 9:58
52. Bas Peters (Ned) 10:03
53. Bjorn Brems* (Bel) 10:09
54. Javier Eduardo Puschel (Chi) 10:41
55. Christof Bischof (Sui) 10:54
56. Lachlan Norris* (Aus) 10:59
57. Mattias Nilsson* (Swe) 11:03
58. Ji Jianhua (Chn) 11:10
59. Ian Field* (GBr) 11:13
60. Michael Broderick (USA) 11:37
61. Paul Oldham (GBr) 11:43
62. Gareth Montgomerie (GBr) 12:00
63. Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Beone Chainreaction Mount 12:28
64. Ola Kjören* (Nor) 12:43
65. Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Team Lapierre International 13:06
66. Robert Gehbauer* (Aut) Multivan-Merida Biking Team 13:17
67. David Fletcher* (Gbr) 13:53
68. Paul Van Der Ploeg* (Aus) 13:59
69. Ludovic Mottet (Bel) Windose Houffalize 14:37
70. Rene Tann (Ger) 14:54
71. Calle Friberg (Swe) 15:11
72. Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Trek-VW 15:32
73. Ross Creber* (GBr) 16:22
74. Hannes Metzler (Aut) Giant Mountain Bike Team 16:30
75. Jo Thorson Nordskar* (Nor) Team Etto Hoydahl 17:14
76. Daniel Mcconnell (Aus) 18:33
77. Rob Vangenechten* (Bel) 19:55
78. Lee Williams (GBr) 20:36

-1 lap
79. Rumen Voigt* (Ger)
80. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher
81. Anders Ljungberg (Swe)
82. Tobias Ullmann (Ger) Team XLC Haibike

-2 laps
83. Ricardo Hazbun Velasquez* (Chi)
84. Anthony O’Boyle* (Gbr) Mojo Orange
85. Dror Pekatch (Isr) Subaru-Gary Fisher
DNF Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita)
DNF Thomas Frischknecht (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team
DNF Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan-Merida Biking Team
DNF Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin-Trek Mountainbike
DNF Chun Hing Chan (Hkg)
DNF Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita)
DNS Ralph Näf (Sui) Multivan-Merida Biking Team

*=U23