September 7/07 5:44 am - MTB World Championships:U23 Men XC Photos, Report and Results

Posted by Editor on 09/7/07
 

MTB World Championships Fort William, Scotland

Coverage sponsored by Maxxis

Photos

The Under-23 men's cross-country race saw a stunning upset when the overwhelming favourite Nini Schurter (Switzerland) did not repeat as champion, beaten convincingly by Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang. Jaroslav Kulhavy of the Czech Republic took the bronze medal, after last year's bronze medalist Max Plaxton (Canada) was hit by a myriad of mechanical problems on the second and third laps while in third place.

The U23 category did five laps of the surprisingly tough Fort William circuit, and by the end of the first lap the race appeared to be unfolding as expected, with Schurter off the front, some 30 seconds ahead of Fuglsang. Kulhavy, Rene Tann (Germany), Daniel McConnell (Australia) and Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) were a further 20 seconds behind and Plaxton was just over a minute back.

One lap later Schurter was still leading, but the gap wasn't growing, and he was starting to look over his shoulder as Fuglsang closed to 20 seconds. Behind them the battle for the third spot has thinned out to three riders - Tann, McConnell & Plaxton.

It was as they ended the second lap that disaster struck for Plaxton. "I got a slow leak, so I rode it through the finish line on the rim and up to the tech zone real slow. I had a good wheel change and got back into the race in about tenth, and was riding it back up towards the front."

"Then I noticed that I had no rear brake; I tried pumping it but nothing. I stopped at the next tech zone and we changed the pads, so I lost some more time, but it made no difference. I was feeling great, everything was perfect ... I guess these things just happen."

Plaxton eventually limped in, in 28th place.

At the front, Fuglsang was beginning to realize that the rainbow jersey was within his reach.

"I knew that I could take time from Nino on the flats and on the climb. Nino was descending much faster than me, and that is where he got 30 seconds on the first lap. But it's a long race and anything can happen. I just never gave up."

The pair came together early on the fourth lap, with Fuglsang taking over the lead on the climb. They began the last lap with the Danish rider just ahead of the Swiss, but he opened it up drastically on the final climb to win by close to two minutes.

"I gave it everything on the final climb, and then rode the downhill as fat a I could. It was when I got to the bottom of the downhill and looked back and couldn't see Nino that I knew that the championship was mine."

Schurter went to the podium and the press conference with a look of stunned disbelief on his face. "I'm not happy to finish second; I came here to win. Jakob was stronger than me on the climb, and that is why he is world champion. I was in good form, but the course did not suit me so much since it did not have much technical parts."

Race Notes:

- Neal Kindree was Canada's top finisher, in 24th place. Kindree got off to a slow start and was back in the 40's after the first 500 metres, but was able to pick off riders during the long climb. "Generally I'm a slow starter so I expected to lose some spots and have to ride back, but it was pretty easy to pass. I was hoping for a top-10, but I think it was a solid ride, so I'm pretty happy."

- Raphael Gagne had a strong start, moving up to 17th by the end of the first lap. However, he was having problems with chainsuck, which damaged his chain and forced him to stop in the tech zone early in lap two.

"I was feeling really good, but I started to get chainsuck so I had to ride slowly to the tech zone. The repair by Shimano was very slow, and it was not right - as soon as I started to ride it was a problem. So the Maxxis mechanic, Gary, did it correctly but I lost many, many places and was very far back. I'm happy with how my fitness is, it was just bad luck.