April 16, 2012 (Houffalize, Belgium) – The rain held off but chilly temperatures served as a reminder as the Elite men’s race got underway in Houffalize as 160 men took to the line on Sunday in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators.  The region has been a regular stop on the MTB World Cup circuit, hosting the world’s best cross-country racers since 1992.

 

At the start it was Germany’s Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) who took the lead up the first climb with Nino Schurter (SCOTT-Swisspower) in 2nd followed by Julien Abaslon (Fra) Orbea in 3rd. Canada’s World Cup veteran Geoff Kabush (SCOTT – 3Rox) was safely in 16th position on the opening climb, staying in front of the chaos behind him. “I knew the biggest hurdle coming into today was going to be the first two minutes,” Kabush told Pedal.  “Luckily I was able to slide up the fence, get a great start, and immediately settle into a rhythm in the top twenty.”

Kabush told Pedal just how significant a good start can be.  “I can’t overstate how important and how big a difference this [a good start] makes at World Cups.” After the completion of the start loop, Kabush remained in 16th while teammate Derek Zandstra (SCOTT – 3Rox) looped through in 53rd.

Although Zandstra had a relatively good call up with the #29 plate, things didn’t go as planned. “The start was my downfall today as I chose the left side and it backed up pretty fast,” explained Zandstra.  “I was in the high fifty’s after that,” after only one minute into the race. Max Plaxton (Canadian National Team) completed the start lap in 60th and Cameron Jette (SCOTT – 3Rox) was 126th as he headed out for four more full laps.

Thru the first lap a group of six riders formed at the front lead by Schurter and Absalon. Down the steep switchback descent, Schurter overtook the Frenchman taking an inside line later dubbed the “Nino” line – something Schurter is known for as he has a knack of finding faster lines in the race. Absalon quickly caught on, bravely riding the Nino line as well, to keep pace with his Swiss rival, or stay ahead, as descending is not his strength.

During the second lap Schurter and Absalon had started to pull away and by the beginning of lap 3 were alone at the front, swapping the lead as Cannondale Factory rider Marco Fontana dangled alone in third. Burry Stander (RSA) Specialized continued in 4th while Fumic held 5th position. Behind Kabush was steadily moving up, and was now sitting in 10th place.

At the start of the last lap Absalon attacked up a small climb and opened up a gap. Schurter tried to close it, and almost crashed in doing so when he lost traction with his rear, 650B wheel, but his efforts were to no avail as Absalon was on fire and stretched his lead to 21 seconds and soon claimed his first World Cup victory of 2012.  Schurter held on for 2nd, while Fontana finished in 3rd place. Stander, despite a crash at the bottom of the last decent, finished in 4th with Fumic rounding out the podium in 5th position.

A rare last lap fade pushed Kabush just outside the top ten in 11th place, but it is a solid result. “I am relatively big compared to a lot of my World Cup competitors but I really felt comfortable right away on the tough climbs today and knew I could have a good result.”

Kabush was on his SCOTT Scale 29er – an ideal weapon of choice for the new course.  “It is a bike that I really felt comfortable on all aspects of the Houffalize course; I felt like I was really able to attack the whole day.”  The 11th place finish is satisfying for Kabush as “it [is] really more of a reflection of how my training has been going,” and he hope to “continue to progress and be fighting for the podium” one of his goals for the year.  Sunday’s result was a nice way to payback the SCOTT – 3Rox staff that had a hard day in the cold and windy conditions.

Zandstra moved up to finish in 40th place while Plaxton was disappointed with his 60th place finish admitting on twitter “there is no winging-it at a World Cup, even moreso a Euro World Cup, and even moreso at Houffalize.”  Rounding out the Canadian men’s results was Jette moving up from his 123rd start position to finish in 93rd place.

Round 3 of the RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup reconvenes in just under one month’s time in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic while most of the Canadian men will be competing in the Sea Otter Classic on April 21.

Full Results HERE.