June 9, 2007 (Champéry, Switzerland) – The Elite Men’s XC race is underway in Champéry, Switzerland. It was sunny earlier today but now dark clouds are rolling in which threaten rain. The men begin with a 2km start loop followed by 8 full laps of the 5.25km course. The Swiss fans are out in droves with cowbells and plenty of enthusiam.

Lap 1
At the end of the 2km start loop it’s Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein leading followed by Nino Schurter (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team, in 2nd, Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea in 3rd, Christoph Sauser (Sui) Specialized in 4th, Jader Zoli (Ita) Asd Ktm International Team, is 5th, Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan/Merida Biking Team in 6th, Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International in 7th, and Thomas Frischknecht (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team is in 9th.

Canada’s Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain/Haywood) is working his way up and Kris Sneddon (Kona Les Gets) is near the back of the pack.

Lap 2
As the riders begin the second lap it’s Paulissen, Schurter, Sauser and Absalon in a small group off the front followed by a second small group of three riders that includes José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Esp) Multivan/Merida Biking Team in 5th and two Swisspower riders, Thomas Frischknecht (Sui) and Florian Vogel (Sui).

Sweden’s Fredrik Kessiakoff (Cannondale-Vredestein) is now in 9th. Canada’s Plaxton is in 25th followed by McGrath in 27th with Sneddon in 130th.

Lap 3
The rain has started and now it’s raining hard… at the start of Lap 3 it’s Absalon followed by Sauser leading a group of six riders at the front that includes Hermida and Paullisen. They have a 10 sec gap over a second small group that includes Frischknecht, Kessiakoff, Lukas Flückiger (Sui) Athleticum MTB Team and Florian Vogel (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team.

Canada’s McGrath is in 29th followed by Plaxton now in 39th and Sneddon has DNF’d with a broken chain.

Lap 4
The rain has now stopped and the sun has come out. Schurter is now leading as we start lap 4 followed by Sauser in 2nd, Absalon in 3rd, Vogel in 4th, Paullisen in 5th, Hermida is 6th, Naef is 7th, Ravanel is 8th, Frischknecht is 9th and Zoli is in 10th.

Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team is in 17th, Canada’s McGrath is in 29th while Plaxton has dropped to 50th.

We apologize but we ran into some technical difficulties on site which interrupted our live updates. Here are some brief unofficial results.

Results

1. Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 2:12:44
2. Christoph Sauser (Sui) Specialized 0:50
3. Nino Schurter (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 2:21
4. Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 2:49
5. Ralph Naef (Sui) Multivan/Merida Biking Team 3:17
6. Cédric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre Internationaln 3:41
7. José Hermida (Esp) Multivan Merida Biking Team 3:49
8. Thomas Frischknecht (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 4:18
9. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 4:27
10. Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 4:51
11. Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 5:06
12. Florian Vogel (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 5:13
13. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 5:19
14. Jader Zoli (Ita) Asd KTM International Team 5:45
15. Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 6:03
16. Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Esp) Asd KTM International Team 6:04
17. Lukas Flückiger (Sui) Athleticum MTB Team 6:34
18. Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Esp) Orbea 6:43
19. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 7:02
20. Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) 7:08
21. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Versluys-Landbouwkrediet 7:22
22. Martin Gujan (Sui) 7:25
23. Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Trek-VW 7:28
24. Seamus McGrath (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 7:36
25. Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin Bike Team 8:13
26. Milan Spesny (Cze) Merida Biking Team 8:51
27. Jürg Graf (Sui) Scott Allianz Suisse 8:53
28. Silvio Bundi (Sui) Giant/Athleticum 8:57
29. Stéphane Tempier (Fra) Gewiss Bianchi 9:05
30. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 9:22
31. Marek Galinski (Pol) CC-Polsat-Polkowice 9:33
32. Christoph Soukup (Aut) 9:47
33. Rene Tann (Ger) 9:50
34. Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin Bike Team 9:57
35. Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica 10:09
36. Hannes Metzler (Aut) 10:10
37. Balz Weber (Sui) Bikepark.Ch Tui 10:20
38. Ludovic Dubau (Fra) Team New Cycling 10:24
39. Peter Riis Andersen (Den) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike 10:28
40. Bas Peters (Ned) 10:35
41. Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin Bike Team 10:41
42. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Cannondale-Vredestein 10:46
43. Till Marx (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 10:49
44. Martino Fruet (Ita) 10:54
45. Matthias Flückiger (Sui) 11:04
46. Israel Nunez Baticon (Esp) Massi 11:19
47. Emil Lindgren (Swe) Gewiss Bianchi 12:28
48. Burry Stander (RSA) 12:36
49. Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Esp) Orbea 12:47
50. Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 12:58
51. Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier 13:37
52. Yury Trofimov (Rus) 15:02

One Lap Down

53. Gion Manetsch (Sui)
54. Christof Bischof (Sui) Bikin’cyprus Int’l MTB Team
55. Miha Solar (Slo)
56. Alexandre Moos (Sui) Bmc Racing
57. Alban Lakata (Aut) Trek-VW
58. Sergiy Rysenko (Ukr)
59. Marc Trayter Alemany (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica
60. Michael Broderick (USA)
61. Fabian Giger (Sui)
62. Lukas Kaufmann (Sui)
63. Tony Longo (Ita)
64. Marc Colom (Fra)
65. Jan Skarnitzl (Cze)

Two Laps Down

66. Gareth Montgomerie (GBr)
67. Maxim Gogolev (Rus)
68. Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Bh-Sr. Suntour
69. Guillaume Vinit (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier
70. Jelmer Pietersma (Ned) Beone MountainbikeTeam
71. Michael Weiss (Aut) Bikin’cyprus Int’l MTB Team
72. Patrik Gallati (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team
73. Dario Alejandro Gasco (Arg) Massi
74. Denis Vorontsov (Rus)
75. Ivan Planzer (Sui)
76. François Bailly Maitre (Fra) Scott Valloire Galibier
77. Wilko Rochow (Ger)
78. Jiri Friedl (Cze) Merida Biking Team
79. Jelmer Jubbega (Ned) Cannondale-Vredestein
80. Daniel Suter (Sui)
81. Andreas Moser (Sui)
82. Pierre Geoffroy Plantet (Fra) Team Lapierre Internationaln
83. Yannick Bernasconi (Sui)

Three Laps Down

84. Andreas Kugler (Sui) Fischer-Bmc
85. Torsten Marx (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike
86. Robert Mennen (Ger)
87. Mirko Pirazzoli (Ita)
88. Luka Kodra (Slo)
89. Frank Schotman (Ned)
90. Giuseppe Lamastra (Ita)
91. Marcel Wildhaber (Sui)
92. Shaun Lewis (Aus)
93. Michel Luginbuehl (Sui)
94. Tobias Witzak (Ger)
95. Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Esp) Massi
96. Dries Govaerts (Bel)
97. Robert Gehbauer (Aut) Multivan Merida Biking Team
98. Vivien Legastelois (Fra) Team Lapierre International
99. Karl Markt (Aut)
100. Clinton Robert Avery (NZl)
101. Umberto Corti (Ita)
102. Jiri Novak (Cze)
103. Andras Melts (Hun)

Four Laps Down

104. Dylan Cooper (Aus)
105. Kohei Yamamoto (Jpn)
106. Oleksandr Yakymenko (Ukr)
107. Maxime Marotte (Fra)
108. Yevgeniy Yakovlev (Kaz)
109. Tom Meeusen (Bel)
110. Daniel Mcconnell (Aus)
111. Nicolas Vermeulen (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team
112. Lachlan Norris (Aus)
113. Pierre Lebreton (Fra) Bh-Sr. Suntour
114. Andi Weinhold (Ger)
115. Marcus Roy (NZl)
116. Nicola Rohrbach (Sui)
117. Ivan Schalbetter (Sui)
118. Axel Bult (Ned)
119. Peter Coddens (Bel) Lingier-Versluys Team
120. Bjorn Brems (Bel) Dolphin Bike Team
121. Romain Lejeune (Fra) Team New Cycling

Five Laps Down

122. Nuno Oliveira (Por)
123. Daniel Schütz (Sui)
124. Andriy Gumenyuk (Ukr)
125. Daniel Braunsteins (Aus)
126. Oliver Aviles Gilabert (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica
127. Anthony O’boyle (GBr) Mojo Orange
128. Marco Cellini (Ita)
129. Ivan Grabovskyy (Ukr)
130. Jules Chabanon (Fra) Team New Cycling
131. Daniel Marques (Por)

Six Laps Down

132. Tim Bohme (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike
133. Roman Zhientaev (Kaz)
134. Sid Taberlay (Aus) Dolphin Bike Team
135. Kristian Hynek (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB
136. James Fraser-Moodie (GBr)

Seven Laps Down

137. Marios Athanasiades (Cyp) Bikin’cyprus Int’l MTB Team

DNF Moritz Milatz (Ger) Multivan/Merida Biking Team
DNF Oliver Beckingsale (GBr)
DNF Todd Wells (USA)
DNF Marti Gispert Labarta (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica
DNF Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International
DNF Sven Nys (Bel)
DNF Max Plaxton (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood
DNF Dariusz Batek (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team
DNF Jochen Kass (Ger) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike
DNF Martin Kraler (Aut) Gewiss Bianchi
DNF Marcin Karczynski (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team
DNF Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona/Les Gets
DNF Olivier Maignan (Fra) Bh-Sr. Suntour
DNF Martin Fanger (Sui)
DNF Simon Richardson (GBr)
DNF Quincy Vens (Bel)
DNF Joris Boillat (Sui)
DNF Andreas Tiberi (Ita) KTM International Team
DNF Zaher El Hage (Lib)
DNF Calle Friberg (Swe)
DNS Philip Spencer (GBr) Subaru-Gary Fisher
DNS Jeff Hall (USA)