September 7, 2007 (Fort William, Scotland) — It’s cloudy with a light rain today in Scotland and the U23 Men’s XC event is soon underway. Canada has three riders on the start line Max Plaxton (Victoria, BC), Neil Kindree (Garibaldi Highlands, BC), Raphael Gagne (Québec, QC) – 93 starters, five laps, 7.9km per lap.

Lap 1

The rain is coming down fairly steady now. The Canadians are fairly high up at the start. There was a pile up in the first corner and one of the Belgians went down fairly hard. The riders are now on the start loop – when they finish it’ll be five laps to go.

Lap 2
As the riders complete lap 1 and begin lap 2 Switerland’s Nino Schurter has a good gap on the field. The chase group is about 30 seconds back and includes Canada’s Max Plaxton. There’s lots of jostling for positioning on the slippery rock climb out of the start/finish arena. The rain is still coming down.

Canada’s Plaxton is in 9th place just over a minute back.

Lap 3
At the end of lap 2 and start of the third lap Switerland’s Schurter’s time is 43:50 and he’s still leading. In second is Jakob Fuglsang (Den) at 44:13. The chase group is further back lead by Emil Lindgren (Swe) at 45:50. Canada’s Plaxton is at 45:51 in 4th and right on Lindgren’s wheel. The rain has stopped.

Schurter continues to lead the charge and Fuglsang is now only 5 seconds back. Plaxton had a mechanical (flat) got a new wheel from the support crew and is now sitting back around 10th place.

Lap 4
Fuglsang and Schurter are at the front battling it out 2:49 on the first chase group at the top of the climb. Plaxton is having more mechanical problems and has fallen back. Canada’s Neal Kindree is riding at around 25th position.

Lap 5 Final
The riders are on the last lap. Fuglsang is now leading with Shurter on his rear wheel. Chase group is over 2:55 seconds back. Dariuz Batek (Pol) is leading the group with Jiri Friedl (Cze) close behind. Plaxton is well back in the 30s and struggling with mechanical. A light drizzle is falling.

Results – 42.8 km

1. Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) 1.54.04 (22.51 km/h)
2. Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 1.43
3. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 3.2
4. Jiri Friedl (Czech Republic) 3.24
5. Dariusz Batek (Poland) 3.58
6. Burry Stander (South Africa) 4.25
7. Patrik Gallati (Switzerland) 4.4
8. Emil Lindgren (Sweden) 4.51
9. Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) 5.04
10. Daniel Mcconnell (Australia) 5.46
11. Samuel Schultz (United States of America) 6.09
12. Marc Colom (France) 6.28
13. Pascal Meyer (Switzerland) 6.43
14. Matthias Flückiger (Switzerland) 7.29
15. Alexis Vuillermoz (France) 8.13
16. Robert Gehbauer (Austria) 8.16
17. Fabian Giger (Switzerland) 8.33
18. Cristian Cominelli (Italy) 8.35
19. Dries Govaerts (Belgium) 8.43
20. Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 8.5
21. Conner Mcconvey (Ireland) 8.56
22. Lachlan Norris (Australia) 9.22
23. Ian Bibby (Great Britain) 9.46
24. Neal Kindree (Canada) 9.58
25. François Bailly Maitre (France) 10.16
26. Tim Wijnants (Belgium) 10.23
27. Stéphane Tempier (France) 10.37
28. Max Plaxton (Canada) 11.02
29. Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina) 11.17
30. Ian Field (Great Britain) 11.27
31. Bjorn Brems (Belgium) 12.01
32. Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) 12.2
33. Hans Becking (Netherlands) 12.32
34. Denis Vorontsov (Russian Federation) 12.54
35. Robert Mennen (Germany) 13
36. Frank Beemer (Netherlands) 13.08
37. Martin Kostelnicak (Slovakia) 13.41
38. Umberto Corti (Italy) 14.12
39. Carlos Rodrigo Sigre (Argentina) 14.21
40. Tim Ottens (Netherlands) 14.29
41. Luka Mezgec (Slovenia) 14.38
42. Mario Rojas (Colombia) 14.53
43. Raphael Gagne (Canada) 14.59
44. Ken Onodera (Japan) 15.24
45. Erik Nellen (Netherlands) 15.38
46. Niall Davis (Ireland) 15.47
47. Colin Cares (United States of America) 15.53
48. Hector Daniel Gasco (Argentina) 16.22
49. Andriy Gumenyuk (Ukraine) 16.3
50. Anders Hovdenes (Norway) 16.49
51. Periklis Ilias (Greece) 16.5
52. Andres Ignacio Pereyra (Argentina) 17.1
53. Martin Skopek (Slovakia) 17.57
54. Wilko Rochow (Germany) 18.36
55. Mitchell Peterson (United States of America) 19.01
56. Paolo Montoya (Costa Rica) 20.04
57. Reinis Andrijanovs (Latvia) 20.11
58. Craig Paul (South Africa) 20.45
59. Lorenzo Martelli (Italy) 20.5
60. Marios Athanasiades (Cyprus) 23.52
61. Sam Jurekovic (United States of America) 26.32
62. Tad Elliot (United States of America) 27.2
One lap down
63. Dani Simcic (Croatia)
64. Ervins Smolins (Latvia)
65. Luka Rakusa (Slovenia)
66. Martin Loo (Estonia)
67. Joel Martinez Fernandez (Andorra)
68. Lukas Hanus (Slovakia)
69. Giorgos Fattas (Cyprus)
Two laps down
70. Felipe Avelar (Brazil)
71. Didzis Praulins (Latvia)
72. Jorge Castiblanco Cubides (Colombia)
DNF Rene Tann (Germany)
DNF Andrea Tiberi (Italy)
DNF Ross Creber (Great Britain)
DNF Andi Weinhold (Germany)
DNF David Lozano Riba (Spain)
DNF Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden)
DNF Mario Zubcic (Croatia)
DNF Oleksandr Yakymenko (Ukraine)
DNS Rotem Ishai (Israel)