July 28, 2012 (Val d’Isère, France) – The rain was coming down at the start of the Men’s Val d’Isère World Cup as Nino Schurter (Sui) Scott Swisspower was battling for the overall WCup title against South Africa Burry Stander (RSA) Specialized. Six laps were on tap with a strong field that included Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea, the two-time defending Olympic champion, and reigning World Champ Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) Specialized. For Canada it’s Geoff Kabush (Can) SCOTT-3Rox Racing looking to keep on form for London 2012.

At the gun, Schurter lead the group up the climb with Marco Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing and SCOTT Swisspower teammate Florian Vogel (Sui) in 3rd.  Segio Mantecon Gutierrex (Esp) Wildwolf – Trek Pro Racing sat in 4th with Stander in 5th.  Schurter was a man on a mission and forced the pace; a pace too high for Stander who dropped back to 10th position.

The leading trio of Schurter, Fontana, and Vogel continued to lead through lap 2 as Absalon wasn’t happy with his tire selection and chose to make a stop in the tech zone to swap over to mud tires; a stop that pushed him back to 10th place.  The lone Canadian in the field Kabush was in 25th position, 1:44 back of the leaders.

At the halfway point, Jose Hermida (Esp) Multivan Merida Biking Team and Lukas Flukinger (Swi) Trek World Racing were chasing the leading trio and trailed by less than 30 seconds. Vogel began to loose touch with Schurter and Fontana and as the 4th lap concluded, Stander crashed on the off-camber creek crossing.

At the start of the penultimate lap, Fontana and Schurter continued to lead, each styling the air they were catching over the fly over while Flukinger took over 3rd position from Vogel and was closing fast.

On the 6th and final lap Fluckiger was charging hard while Schurter began to open a gap on Fontana.  Capitalizing on the fading Fontana, Fluckiger overtook the Italian champ to move into 2nd position to challenge Schurter for the win. In the end, Schurter was able to hold off a charging Fluckiger to take the win and secure the overall World Cup title.  Holding onto 3rd place was Fontana with Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing and Hermida finishing in 4th and 5th place respectively.

Canadian Geoff Kabush had a rough day in the office, finishing in 39th overall.  “I had a bad day – no excuses,” Kabush told Pedal. “It was a difficult day with a lot of suffering on the bike.” Kabush, a seasoned pro with a lot of racing experience knows what he has to do to be on form for London in two weeks time. “Training and preparation for the Olympics has been going great and I will continue to focus on that. I am looking forward to moving on and heading to Bourg d’Oisan where I will be training with the Canadian team for the next week.”

It was a tight battle for the overall World Cup title as it came down to the final round in Val d’Isère. Schurter finished with 1,200 points with Stander in 2nd with a total of 1,058. Third overall was Stander’s teammate Kulhavy (with 865 points) while Marco Fontana and Jose Hermida finished 4th and 5th in the World Cup standings with 830 and 797 points respectively.

Canada’s Max Plaxton (Specialized) who gave Val d’Isère a pass was the top Canuck overall with 472 points followed by Kabush in 21st with 405 points.

The focus of the best mountain biker’s now shifts to the London Olympics with the Men’s MTB race on the final day of competition, August 12th, 2012.

Full results HERE.