September 13/09 10:27 am - World Cup Champery: Men's XC report, PHOTOS and full results

Posted by Editoress on 09/13/09
 

Burry Stander (Specialized Factory Racing) has become the first South African to win a World Cup cross-country race, when he beat series leader Julien Absalon in a thrilling come from behind victory at Round Seven in Champery, Switzerland.  Absalon's second place locked up the overall title for the French rider with one race remaining, while Stander did the same for the Under 23 title.  Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) took third.  Adam Craig (Giant) was the top North American, finishing sixth, with Canadian champion Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) fading to 21st after riding in the front group for the first few laps.  Other Canadian results include Derek Zandstra (Team Canada) in 34th, Andrew Watson (Team Canada) in 44th, Peter Glassford (Toronto Trek Store) in 85th, Eric Batty (Toronto Trek Store) in 89th, Leni Trudel (Team Canada) in 112th and Jette Cameron (Team Canada) in 123rd.

Photo galleries

Part one

Part two

Alexis Vuillermoz (Lapierre International) led the field of 144 out of the start loop for the first of six laps.  He continued to ride at the front on lap two, but Absalon was reeling him in, and took the lead on lap three, attacking on the main climb.  As Absalon extended his lead to over a minute by the fourth lap, it appeared that the race was unfolding as expected.

However, on lap five the first indication that this might be a historic day occurred when Stander began to slowly pull back the Olympic champion, knocking 20 seconds off the lead.   An interesting and unprecedented situation was happening:  Absalon was fading while Stander was getting stronger.

Going into the final long climb before the technical descent to the finish, Absalon still had a lead of 25 seconds, but while he was struggling, Stander was powering up the climb, catching his rival at the top shortly before entering the singletrack.  Stander swept by Absalon, who could only watch him go, and the recently crowned U23 world champion rolled into the finishing straight 15 seconds ahead of Absalon, punching the air in victory.  Absalon rolled across the line and collapsed at the side of the track, utterly shattered after his ride, and only holding off Näf by nine seconds.  The Flückiger brothers - Lukas and Mathias - for Trek World Racing completed the podium at 28 and 41 seconds respectively.

One difference between Stander and Absalon that may have made a difference, was their different approaches to the long trip back to Europe from Canberra.  Stander went home to South Africa for two days (same time zone as Europe) and then flew up to Switzerland.  Absalon, by contrast, stayed in Sydney for two days, then went to Singapore for two days before flying to Europe.  Absalon's wife said her husband was "exhausted" before the race began.

"For sure, this is a huge victory for me, my first World Cup win.  I had a good week, resting up from Australia, so I think I came into the race well prepared.  The start was pretty fast, so I lost a few spots, but I was able to move up on the first lap, and by lap two I was in a good spot.  For the last two laps, I was hearing that I was getting closer to Julien, so it gave me lots of motivation, especially when I could see him on the climb.  When I caught up to him, I could see that he had nothing left, so I just went."

For Kabush it was a disappointing result, coming off fifth at the world championships.  "I was able to get a good start, and be in a good position, but there wasn't much in my legs.  So, when it really started to go hard on the steep sections of the climb, I had nothing left to give.  Hopefully, it will come around with a weeks rest before the final next weekend."