September 8, 2007 (Fort William, Scotland) – Julien Absalon (Fra) has shown yet again that he is the best in the world. He convincingly won the Elite Men’s XC race today out of a 111-rider field. Switzerland managed to pick up the two remaining medals, with Ralph Naef (Sui) in second and Florian Vogel (Sui) in third.

Seamus McGrath (Duncan, B.C.) delivered the best Canadian result with 31st place.

The Elite Men raced six laps, 7.9km per lap, for a total of 47km. The race started under overcast skies with temperatures expected to peak at around 16 C. There was no rain in the forecast, but a light sprinkle began at the end of the first lap and continued on and off throughout the race, keeping things slick on course.

Lap 1

Kabush led the charge out of the start and into the main loop.

By the end of Lap 1, Florian Vogel (Sui) has a 23-second lead over a large, charging chase group containing the two Fumic brothers (Ger), Christoph Sauser (Sui), Jose Antonio Hermida (Spa), defending World Champion Julien Absalon (Fra), Kabush and about a dozen others. Riders are actually leaving the ground in some sections of the rocky downhill, they are carrying so much speed.

A light rain has started to fall. So much for what the weather man said.

Lap 2

At the end of Lap 2, it’s still Vogel in the lead, followed by Hermida and Absalon. A few riders have crossed the gap. Absalon made a pass in the corner heading into the climb to loud cheers. The three are 8 seconds ahead of Roel Paulissen (Bel), who is bridging the gap. Still chasing hard are a group including Sauser, Manuel and Lado Fumic (Ger). Canada’s McGrath in 33rd and Kabush in 34th are about 90 seconds off the front. Federau is around 43rd.

Lap 3

Absalon is well off the front now, crossing the line at the end of Lap 3 at 1:07.53. He has a 17-second lead on the chase group of 7 that includes Hermida, Vogel, Manuel Fumic and Paulissen. McGrath has moved up into 30th place, but is about 2 minutes back. Kabush has dropped back to 36th and is around 3 minutes off the lead.

Lap 4

Absalon has made it to the top of the climb – about 3km – in under 10
minutes. He is giving the field a lesson in climbing.

Absalon is dominating. He now has a 57-second lead on Ralph Naef of Switzerland, who is trying to close the gap. The chase group of 11, which includes Hermida, Vogel, Kessikoff, Paulissen, Manuel Fumic and Peraud, is another 8 seconds behind him. McGrath is up into 29th and is attacking on the singletrack above the finish arena. Kabush is also in the 20s and Federau is in the 30s.

Lap 5

After the descent, it’s still Absalon in the lead, with 53 seconds on Naef, followed by Manuel Fumic. Vogel trails him by 5 seconds, then Paulissen, Kessiakoff, Hermida, Flueckiger.

Lap 6

Going into the final lap, Absalon is leading by 38 seconds over Naef and is looking very strong. At 53 seconds back, Vogel and Manuel Fumic are hanging on for dear life and fighting for the bronze medal. The main chase is back over 90 seconds. McGrath is back in the high 20s and fighting hard at just over 5 minutes. Kabush and Federau are in the 40s. Light rain is falling on and off and the temperatures have dropped.

Absalon’s win is almost certain and Naef will likely get second. The battle for third has become more interesting, however, with four riders involved.

Absalon has successfully defended his title.

Results

1. Julien Absalon (France) 2.17.06
2. Ralph Näf (Switzerland) 0.25
3. Florian Vogel (Switzerland) 0.54
4. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden) 1.01
5. Manuel Fumic (Germany) 1.04
6. Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 1.08
7. Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) 1.19
8. Roel Paulissen (Belgium) 2.03
9. Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) 2.06
10. José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) 2.09
11. Christoph Soukup (Austria) 3.1
12. Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) 3.14
13. Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spain) 3.24
14. Peter Riis Andersen (Denmark) 3.3
15. Milan Spesny (Czech Republic) 3.34
16. Sven Nys (Belgium) 3.36
17. Moritz Milatz (Germany) 3.45
18. Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) 3.48
19. Lado Fumic (Germany) 4.03
20. Marek Galinski (Poland) 4.08
21. Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spain) 4.14
22. Adam Craig (United States Of America) 4.51
23. Jürg Graf (Switzerland) 5.07
24. Yury Trofimov (Russian Federation) 5.17
25. Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium) 5.23
26. Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) 5.24
27. Jochen Kass (Germany)
28. Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spain) 6.12
29. Wolfram Kurschat (Germany) 6.23
30. Thomas Frischknecht (Switzerland) 6.42
31. Seamus McGrath (Canada)
32. Martin Gujan (Switzerland) 6.46
33. Jeremiah Bishop (United States Of America) 6.47
34. Stefan Sahm (Germany) 7.2
35. Oliver Beckingsale (Great Britain) 7.26
36. Bart Brentjens (Netherlands) 7.31
37. Karl Markt (Austria)
38. Tony Longo (Italy) 7.4
39. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (United States Of America) 8.18
40. Bas Peters (Netherlands) 8.36
41. Hannes Metzler (Austria) 8.39
42. Ian Wilkinson (Great Britain) 8.43
43. Massimo De Bertolis (Italy) 8.51
44. Liam Killeen (Great Britain) 9.01
45. Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Colombia) 9.16
46. Todd Wells (United States Of America) 9.25
47. Chris Jongewaard (Australia) 9.31
48. Mirko Pirazzoli (Italy) 9.45
49. Martino Fruet (Italy) 10.12
50. Geoff Kabush (Canada) 10.21
51. Igor Bogdan (Ukraine) 10.4
52. Jelmer Pietersma (Netherlands) 10.46
53. Johann Pallhuber (Italy) 10.58
54. Karl Platt (Germany) 11.21
55. Paul Oldham (Great Britain) 11.45
56. Kenji Takeya (Japan) 11.46
57. Miha Solar (Slovenia) 12.1
58. Sid Taberlay (Australia) 12.29
59. Yader Zoli (Italy) 12.39
60. Michael Broderick (United States Of America) 12.47
61. Nicholas Craig (Great Britain) 12.59
62. Ricky Federau (Canada) 13.13
63. Julio Humberto Caro Silva (Colombia) 13.33
64. Cristobal Silva (Chile) 13.47
65. Luciano Caraccioli (Argentina) 13.5
66. Marcus Roy (New Zealand) 14.04
67. Klaus Nielsen (Denmark) 15.03
68. Sergiy Rysenko (Ukraine) 15.43
69. Carl Decker (United States Of America) 16.54
70. Marc Bassingthwaighte (Namibia) 17.02
71. Filip Eberl (Czech Republic) 17.15
72. Taavi Selder (Estonia) 17.28
73. John Paul Pearton (South Africa) 17.38
74. Dylan Cooper (Australia) 17.43
75. Valeriano Rubens Donizeti (Brazil) 18
76. Bilal Akgul (Turkey) 18.08
77. Maxim Gogolev (Russian Federation) 18.2
78. Andras Parti (Hungary) 20.45
79. Keiichi Tsujiura (Japan) 21.21
80. Johan Van Zyl (South Africa) 21.27
81. Barry Wicks (United States Of America) 21.56
82. Eero Jappinen (Finland) 23.04
83. Alexey Medvedev (Russian Federation) 25.3

One lap behind

84. Lenart Noc (Slovenia)
85. John Jairo Botero Salazar (Colombia)
86. Stuart Houltham (New Zealand)
87. Martin Kraler (Austria)
88. Javier Puschel (Chile)
89. Caspar Austa (Estonia)
90. Michael Northcott (New Zealand)
91. Muammer Yildiz (Turkey)
92. David Leiman (South Africa)

Two laps behind

93. Milan Barenyi (Slovakia)
94. Justice Makhale (South Africa)
95. Yilmaz Kanat (Turkey)
96. Dzintars Ozolins (Latvia)
97. Dror Pekatch (Israel)

Three laps behind

98. Ivica Mesaric (Croatia)
99. Pavao Roset (Croatia)
DNF Cédric Ravanel (France)
DNF Kashi Leuchs (New Zealand)
DNF Robin Seymour (Ireland)
DNF Marti Gispert Labarta (Spain)
DNF Mannie Heymans (Namibia)
DNF Kevin Evans (South Africa)
DNF Marcin Karczynski (Poland)
DNF Simon Richardson (Great Britain)
DNF Eric Drower (New Zealand)