May 20/11 18:01 pm - Dalby Cross Country Eliminator : Men: report, results and photos

Posted by Editoress on 05/20/11
 

Results from today's Cross Country Eliminator in Yorkshire, Dalby Forest (GBR)

 

Our coverage brought to you with the support of Velirium

 

The new Eliminator series in the Mountain Bike World Cup had a highly successful debut at the Dalby World Cup on Friday evening.  Twenty six women and 42 men took part in the qualifying time trial, with all of the women and the top 32 men moving on to the Heats competition.  Nathalie Schneitter (Colnago Arreghini Sudtirol) took the women's victory and Paul van der Ploeg (Felt Oetztal X - Bionic) the men's.

After later afternoon rainshowers threatened to impact the event, the skies cleared up and the roads dried out just before the start.  Held in the north Yorkshire town of Pickering, the course took riders on a winding up-and-down course, through a church cemetery and down a set of stairs.  The key was a strong start in the top two positions, since passing was difficult.  Thousands of spectators came out to watch, lining the finishing uphill straightaway.


The men's race saw defending champion Thomas Litscher (Felt Oetztal X - Bionic) appear to be well on his way to another win, as he qualified first and won his intermediate heats easily.  Also riding well were Marco Fontana (Cannondale) and Sepp Freiburghas, which made up the final foursome.

Surprisingly, pre-race favourite Brian Lopes went out in the first round, with Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) the only North American to make it out of the first round.  Also going out early were cross-country World Cup leader Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) and his team mate Florian Vogel.

In the final, Litscher got an uncharacteristically slow start, allowing his team mate to take the lead.  van der Ploeg led from start to finish, with Litscher striving to overtake him on the final climb to the finish, but just falling short.

 

 

 

 

Qualifying
1 Thomas Litscher (Sui) Felt Oetztal X - Bionic Team	1:29.233
2 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing	1:30.230
3 Brian Lopes (USA)	1:31.007
4 Sepp Freiburghaus (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team	1:31.253
5 Daniel Federspiel (Aut)	1:31.407
6 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Aus) Felt Oetztal X - Bionic Team	1:32.257
7 Jochen Kass (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team	1:33.010
8 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain	1:33.143
9 Marco Schätzing (Ger) Team Firebike - Droessiger	1:33.153
10 Steven James (GBr)	1:33.157
11 Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) Versluys - Evenza Team	1:33.403
12 Severin Disch (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team	1:33.903
13 Magnus Darvell (Swe)	1:34.147
14 Nicola Rohrbach (Sui) Elettroveneta - Corratec	1:34.150
15 Ben Thomas (GBr)	1:34.153
16 Milan Dolezal (Cze) GT Czech Team	1:34.160
17 Moritz Milatz (Ger) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	1:34.397
18 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing	1:34.400
19 Mattias Wengelin (Swe)	1:34.900
20 David Collins (GBr)	1:35.007
21 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Rabobank - Giant Off-Road Team	1:35.150
22 Francis Morin (Can) BH - Suntour - Peisey Vallandry	1:35.157
23 Robby De Bock (Bel)	1:35.193
24 Dave Henderson (GBr)	1:35.250
25 Michal Lami (Svk)	1:35.403
26 Fredrik Edin (Swe)	1:35.653
27 Martin Gujan (Sui) Cannondale Factory Racing	1:35.900
28 Nino Schurter (Sui) Scott - Swisspower Mtb - Racing	1:36.143
29 Spencer Paxson (USA) Kona	1:36.247
30 Lukas Flückiger (Sui) Trek World Racing	1:36.393
31 Florian Vogel (Sui) Scott - Swisspower Mtb - Racing	1:36.397
32 John Whittington (GBr)	1:37.163
33 Patrik Gallati (Sui) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team	1:37.233
34 Gareth Montgomerie (GBr)	1:38.007
35 Nicholas Craig (GBr)	1:38.157
36 Mathias Flückiger (Sui) Trek World Racing	1:39.230
37 Adam Craig (USA) Rabobank - Giant Off-Road Team	1:39.397
38 Jiri Ostadal (Cze) GT Czech Team	1:40.263
39 Lukas Kaufmann (Sui)	1:42.397
40 Kenta Gallagher (GBr)	2:20.660
DNF Martin Fanger (Sui) Giant Swiss SR - Suntour
DNF Matthias Waldhart (Aut)
DNS José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Esp) Multivan Merida Biking Team
DNS Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Esp) Giant Italia Team
Top 32 advanced to finals
Big Final
1 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Aus) Felt Oetztal X - Bionic Team
2 Thomas Litscher (Sui) Felt Oetztal X - Bionic Team
3 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing
4 Sepp Freiburghaus (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team
Small Final
5 Jochen Kass (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team
6 Martin Gujan (Sui) Cannondale Factory Racing
7 Marco Schätzing (Ger) Team Firebike - Droessiger
8 Daniel Federspiel (Aut)
1/4 Final
9 Manuel Fumic (Ger) Cannondale Factory Racing
10 Severin Disch (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team
11 Nicola Rohrbach (Sui) Elettroveneta - Corratec
12 Moritz Milatz (Ger) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team
13 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain
14 Steven James (GBr)
15 David Collins (GBr)
16 Lukas Flückiger (Sui) Trek World Racing
1/8 Final
17 Brian Lopes (USA)
18 Kevin Van Hoovels (Bel) Versluys - Evenza Team
19 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Rabobank - Giant Off-Road Team
20 Robby De Bock (Bel)
21 Michal Lami (Svk)
22 Spencer Paxson (USA) Kona
23 Florian Vogel (Sui) Scott - Swisspower MTB - Racing
24 John Whittington (GBr)
25 Magnus Darvell (Swe)
26 Ben Thomas (GBr)
27 Mattias Wengelin (Swe)
28 Francis Morin (Can) BH - Suntour - Peisey Vallandry
29 Dave Henderson (GBr)
30 Fredrik Edin (Swe)
31 Nino Schurter (Sui) Scott - Swisspower MTB - Racing
DNF Milan Dolezal (Cze) GT Czech Team

 

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