April 20,2013 (Monterey, California) – A stacked men’s XC field saw former Olympic gold medalist, Miguel Martinez (Fra) Factory FRM ISD, strike gold again taking the win by 2 seconds over defending champ and yesterday’s Short Track winner, Canada’s Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox Racing).
Another hot and dusty day greeted riders and Kabush was fired up after notching another MTB victory yesterday. He was set to hit the pedals hard with the added uphill climbs in today’s 30km course that differs only slightly to last year’s.
But things don’t always go according to plan as the multi-time Sea Otter winner was up against the “Mig”, who was a dominant force during the mid-to-late 90s and is also a former MTB World champ (2x) including a Junior Worlds MTB title. Martinez, who recently re-launched his mountain bike career with a new team, FRM, was also on fire from the start escaping early on his own for the win in 1:16:21.
Kabush could not contain his rival who is one year older at 37 telling Pedal, “I thought I could reel him in, but I waited probably too long and he never tired out, I thought he would.”
When asked what his strategy was for targeting a double-win this weekend, Kabush added, “I’m feeling really good right now and I was going into the race confident that if I could get out in front that I could take the sprint again. I was working with Christopher Sauser, Lukas Fluckiger, Todd Wells and Max Plaxton for a while, but I waited too long to jump out ahead, and, well, Miguel was pretty fast today – he rode a smart race.”
The field this year was much stronger compared to last season when Sea Otter butted up against the MTB World Cup Series. A distinctly more European flavour was evident both on and off the start line and the Euros left their mark. “Mig” from France, and women’s double winner, Marianne Vos (Rabobank) from the Netherlands were not to be denied.
When asked how he felt to beat this field that included other Sea Otter multi-time winners such as Todd Wells (USA) Specialized, Canadian Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Cannondale), and Christopher Sauser (Sui) Specialized – not to mention Kabush (3x) – he almost jumped up exclaiming, “This is huge for me, I’m 37 and I prove that age can beat youth! I like this course it suits me well. I woke up this morning feeling good sensations, and thought I could compete with the others. And well, I just didn’t look back. I’m really happy for my team and myself… to beat Kabush is always a tough thing as he knows this terrain well…but he will be back.”
Martinez attacked about 4-5km into the race and gained about a minute as a strong chase group formed behind with Kabush, Lukas Fluckiger (Sui) BMC Mountainbike Racing, Christoph Sauser (Sui) Trek Factory Racing, Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Racing and Max Plaxton (Can) Sho-Air/Cannondale.
There was clearly little margin for error and with Sauser and Fluckiger pushing the pace it looked like Martinez might be caught as the gap was down to 30s with about 2km to go. Kabush decided it was time to go and attacked to try and reel in Martinez, but came up 2s short as the Frenchman soloed in for the win pumping his hands 200 meters before the finish line. Wells grabbed third and Fluckiger 4th as Plaxton put on surge at the finish to best Sauser for the final podium taking 5th.
It was a good day for the Canadians as Plaxton’s recovery from knee surgery is clearly going well, while Derek Zandstra (Scott 3Rox Racing) rolled in at 12th; Antoine Caron (Specialized Racing Canada) showed good form in 16th just ahead of perennial top 20 performer, Adam Morka (WFT Coaching) in 17th.
Jeremy Martin (Rocky Mountain Bycicles) just beat Thomas Turner (USA) Jamis at the line for 21st place, while Kris Sneddon (Kona) and Peter Glassford (Trek) came in 28th and 29th respectively. Cameron Jette (Scott 3Rox Racing) from Toronto pulled in at 38th, with Andrew L’Esperance (Norco Factory Team) in 43rd, Cory Wallace (Kona) in 55th, Quinn Moberg (Corsa Cycles) was 66th and Evan Guthrie (Norco Factory Team) placded 72nd out of 100 finishers.
Following Sea Otter many of the XC pros will be competing at the Whisky 500 race and then at the upcoming World Cup races in Europe.
Full results HERE.
Kabush interview will be posted shortly.