Featured Stories

UCI MTB Worlds 2008 – XC Elite Men Live Updates, Full Results and Photos

June 22, 2008 (Val di Sole, Italy) – Under a brilliant sun with temperatures in the high 20s the XC Elite Men’s race is about to begin. There are 105 riders on the start line and the men will complete seven (7) laps of the 6.2km circuit. Riding for Canada are Geoff Kabush (BC), Seamus McGrath (ON), Derek Zandstra (ON), Max Plaxton (BC).

Lap 1
Florian Vogel (Sui) takes the lead with Christoph Sauser (Sui) in second just behind him at the 1/2 way point on lap 1. Roel Paulissen (Bel) is in 3rd at 4 sec. Lado Fumic (Ger) is 4th and Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) is 5th at 8 sec. with defending world champ Julien Absalon (Fra) in 6th, José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) in 7th and Jakob Fuglsang (Den) in 8th – Canada’s McGrath is 20th, Kabush is 35th and Zandstra is 72nd.

Lap 2
Sauser has taken over the lead on lap 2 with Vogel right behind him as Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) moves into 3rd at 5 sec. and Absalon takes over 4th at 9 sec. with Hermida in 5th at 17 sec. In 6th it’s Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) at 18 sec. with Fuglsang in 7th, Fontana 8th, Paulissen 9th and Christoph Soukup (Aut) 10th – McGrath is 14th at 1:04, Kabush is 39th and Zandstra is 61st and Plaxton is 68th.

1/2 way through the lap Vogel jumped ahead of Sauser as Kessiakoff tightened his position to 1 sec. while Absalon hangs in at 4th with Peraud now in 5th and Hermida 6th – Spain’s Inaki Lejarreta is trying to move up while Plaxton is now in 55th at 2:57 with Zandstra in 56th.

Lap 3
Vogel and Sauser continue to lead as the riders start the third lap with Kessiakoff close behind at 5 sec., Absalon is 4th at 9 sec. with Hermida regaining 5th at 17 sec and Peraud in 6th at 18. Fuglsang holds on to 7th at 26 sec with Fontana 8th, Paulissen 9th and Soukup 10th.

At the halfway point it’s still Sauser and Vogel with Kessiakoff in 3rd dropping back to 19 sec. with Absalon in 4th at 51 sec. as Fuglsang moves into 5th at 1:25 and Soukup is now with him with Hermida right there as well in 7th. Liam Killeen (GBr) has joined up as well into 8th overall with Lejarreta in 9th and Peraud has dropped back into 10th. Canada’s McGrath is 20th at 2:25 with a group of 5 riders, Kabush is in 34th at 3:12, and Zandstra is 42nd and Plaxton is 44th.

Lap 4
At the start of lap 4 Sauser has gapped Vogel and now has a 9 sec. lead. It’s really hot out but the riders are keeping the pace up. Kessiakoff is 3rd at 55 sec. and Absalon is 4th at 1:17. Killeen is 5th now at 2:00 and Soukup and Fuglsang are with him as Lejarreta is 8th at 2:09 with Hermida in 9th and Kulhavy is 10th. Kabush is 32nd at 3:49 as McGrath has dropped back to join him in 33rd with Zandstra in 39th at 5:05 and Plaxton 42nd at 5:13.

At the 1/2 point it’s Sauser running away with it – he’s never been world champ and he wants it. Vogel is second at 40 sec. with Kessiakoff in 3rd at 1:32 but not for long as Absalon is gaining on him at 1:38.

Lap 5
Sauser’s looking strong and calm as he charges ahead and Vogel is now at 1:10. Absalon has taken over third at 1:52 and looks determined – has he left it too long to make his move with 3 laps to go?

Fuglsang is now in 5th at 2:51 with Soukup and Killeen with him Ralph Näf (Sui) now in 8th at 3:03, Paulissen 9th at 3:12 and Lejarreta 10th at 3:23. Canada’s Kabush has moved up to 24th at 5:23 with McGrath in 25th and they’re in a group of 6 riders – Plaxton’s at 6:40 in 32nd and Zandstra may have a mechanical and is now 66th.

At the 1/2 way point on lap 5 here’s the top 10…

1. Sauser
2. Vogel 1.39
3. Absalon 2:17
4. Kessiakoff 2:58
5. Soukup 3:23
6. Killeen st
7. Näf st
8. Paulissen 3:35
9. Fuglsang st
10. Lejarreta 3:53

24. Kabush 5:52
25. McGrath st
33. Plaxton


Lap 6
Switzerland’s Christoph Sauser has a commanding lead on the next to final lap with Vogel in second at 2:03 being chased down by current world champ Absalon at 2:56. Kessiakoff is 4th at 3:41, Näf is 5th at 3.50 with Killeen and Soukup right with him. Canada’s Kabush is now in the top 20 in 19th at 6:33 while McGrath is 22nd still in group of around 6-8 riders.

At the 1/2 way point on lap 6 Näf is 4th at 3:55 and gaining on Absalon in 3rd at 3:39 – if he catches him the Swiss will own the top three spots on the podium. Kabush is now 18th, McGrath 24th.

Lap 7 Final
Sauser’s in front having just clocked the fastest lap so far at 16:40 – this is the final lap. Vogel is in 2nd at 2:49 and Näf is 3rd at 4:04.

Where is Absalon…? Killeen is 4th at 4:35, Kessiakoff is 5th at 4:41, Soukup has the same time, Fuglsang is right there with Paulissen in 8th at 5:12, Lejarreta is 9th at 5:32 and Oliver Beckingsale (Gbr) is 10th at 6:26.

Sauser wins as the Swiss sweep the podium.

Results

1. Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 1.58.26
2. Florian Vogel (Switzerland) 2.55
3. Ralph Näf (Switzerland) 4.20
4. Liam Killeen (Great Britain) 4.43
5. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden) 4.48
6. Christoph Soukup (Austria) 5.08
7. Roel Paulissen (Belgium) 5.40
8. Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spain) 6.04
9. Moritz Milatz (Germany) 6.52
10. Oliver Beckingsale (Great Britain) 6.58
11. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 7.15
12. Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) 7.27
13. Johann Pallhuber (Italy) 7.53
14. Martin Gujan (Switzerland) 8.05
15. Todd Wells (United States Of America) 8.10
16. Geoff Kabush (Canada) 8.16
17. Marek Galinski (Poland) 8.24
18. Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spain) 8.29
19. Andrea Tiberi (Italy) 8.49
20. Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) 9.26
21. Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spain) 9.39
22. Cédric Ravanel (France) 9.58
23. Lado Fumic (Germany) 10.04
24. Seamus Mcgrath (Canada) 10.18
25. Rubens Donizeti Valeriano (Brazil) 10.33
26. Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (Colombia) 10.52
27. Thomas Frischknecht (Switzerland) 11.35
28. Bas Peters (Netherlands) 11.45
29. Chris Jongewaard (Australia) 12.01
30. Evgeniy Pechenin (Russian Federation) 12.39
31. Paolo Montoya (Costa Rica) 12.42
32. Daniel Mcconnell (Australia) 13.06
33. Sergiy Rysenko (Ukraine) 13.17
34. Jelmer Pietersma (Netherlands) 13.38
35. Edivando De Souza Cruz (Brazil) 14.18
36. Bart Brentjens (Netherlands) 14.28
37. Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) 14.29
38. Ji Jianhua (People’s Republic of China)
39. Alban Lakata (Austria) 14.32
40. Jochen Kass (Germany) 14.50
41. Peter Riis Andersen (Denmark) 15.08
42. Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium) 15.49
43. Yader Zoli (Italy) 16.27
44. Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) 16.33
45. Adam Craig (United States Of America) 16.57

1 Lap behind

46. Andras Parti (Hungary)
47. Kashi Leuchs (New Zealand)
48. Frank Schotman (Netherlands)
49. Jeremy Horgankobelski (United States Of America)
50. Klaus Nielsen (Denmark)
51. Mannie Heymans (Namibia)
52. Kenji Takeya (Japan)
53. Mirko Pirazzoli (Italy)
54. Kohei Yamamoto (Japan)
55. Yury Trofimov (Russian Federation)
56. Barry Wicks (United States Of America)
57. Giuseppe Lamastra (Italy)
58. Wolfram Kurschat (Germany)

2 Laps behind

59. Mario Alberto Rojas (Colombia)
60. Jiri Friedl (Czech Republic)
61. Javier Eduardo Puschel (Chile)
62. Niall Davis (Ireland)
63. Milan Barenyi (Slovakia)
64. Julio Humberto Caro Silva (Colombia)
65. Emil Lindgren (Sweden)
66. Karl Platt (Germany)
67. Marc Bassingthwaighte (Namibia)
68. Michael Broderick (United States Of America)
69. Robson Da Silva Ferreira (Brazil)
70. Roland Plank (Austria)

3 Laps behind

71. Samuel Schultz (United States Of America)
72. Ben Melt Swanepoel (South Africa)
73. Octavio Vicente Chetto (Mexico)
74. Tudor Oprea Ovidiu (Romania)
75. Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong, China)
76. Igor Bogdan (Ukraine)
77. Kazuhiro Yamamoto (Japan)
78. Bojan Djurdjic (Serbia)
79. Boris Popovic (Serbia)
80. Johan Van Zyl (South Africa)

4 Laps behind

81. Matej Lovse (Slovenia)
82. Justice Makhale (South Africa)
83. Robert Kordez (Slovenia)
DNF Julien Absalon (France)
DNF José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain)
DNF Jeanchristophe Peraud (France)
DNF Manuel Fumic (Germany)
DNF Milan Spesny (Czech Republic)
DNF Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland)
DNF Jürg Graf (Switzerland)
DNF Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain)
DNF Hannes Metzler (Austria)
DNF Sven Nys (Belgium)
DNF Tony Longo (Italy)
DNF Sid Taberlay (Australia)
DNF Derek Zandstra (Canada)
DNF Max Plaxton (Canada)

DNF John Jairo Botero Salazar (Colombia)
DNF Alexey Medvedev (Russian Federation)
DNF Takahiro Ogasawara (Japan)
DNF Luciano Caraccioli (Argentina)
DNF Julian Alfonso Becerra Medina (Colombia)
DNF Marco Pazzini (San Marino)
DNS Karl Markt (Austria)
DNS Marcin Karczynski (Poland)





Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.


Pedal Magazine