September 2/11 10:48 am - MTB World Championships: U23 Men UPDATES

Posted by Editoress on 09/2/11
 

The U23 Men are about to start their World Championship race in Champery Switzerland.

They will do a start loop (3 km) and then 6 full laps of the 4.8 km course.

There are 86 men on the start list  (84 will actually start)  including 6 Canadians:  Leandre Bouchard, Evan Guthrie, Evan McNeely, Mitchell Bailey, Jeremy Martin, and Antoine Caron.  They will all be at a disadvantage by their start orders.....  near the back.

The favourites have to be Switzerland' Thomas Litscher, Italy's Gerhard Kerschbaumer , Poland's Marek Konwa with outsiders being Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands), Sebastien Carabin (Belgium), Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland)

The sun is out and the course is drying up, a bit

The Swiss army, providing services as security and marshals, are proving to be a major problem for the media.  All media with bibs (certain colours get all access, other limited access)  have had run ins with these "idiots'.  They do not repect the rights of photographers, despite being told repeatedly by the UCI and organizers.  They have this tendancy to allow a photographer or videographer access - after being told to do so by an official, but then stand right in front of the camerman, thus blocking the shot.

Lap 1

As they complete the start loop and head out onto the first full lap it is Thomas Litscher (Switzerland) leading Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) at 2 sec.  Diego Rosa (Italy) 3rd at 13 sec

Leandre Bouchard 36th at 1:31, Mitchell Bailey 43rd, Antoine Caron (Canada), 52nd, Jeremy Martin 54th, Evan McNeely 57th, Evan Guthrie 59th

Lap 2

Heading out onto lap 2, Litscher leading with a 12 sec advantage on Kerschbaumer.  Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands) now 3rd at 24 sec. Diego Rosa (Italy) 4th at 28 sec and Marek Konwa (Poland) 5th at 37 sec.  6th is Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) but already at over a minute off the pace.

USA's Stephen Ettinger is top N. Nmerican is 37th at 3:08, Baily top Canuck 41st at 3:20, Martin 48th, Bouchard 50th,  Guthrie 52nd, McNeely 56th, Caron 59th

Lap 3  11:34 am ET

Licher still at the front, with Kerschbaumer 2nd but starting to fall back, now at 37 sec.  Moorlag 3rd at 43 sec, Konawa 4th at 1:11, Rosa 5th at 1:24

Ettinger 30th at 4:03, Baily 42nd, Martin 46th, Bouchard 49th, Guthrie 51st, McNeely 56th, Caron 57th,

Lap 4  11:49 am ET

Licher has extended his lead over 2nd position Kerschbaumer, who has been joined by Moorlag, both are at 1:19 back.  Konawa is also moving up and still 4th but at 1:21.  Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland) is now in 5th at 2:07, Rosa 6th at 2:08, Reto Indergand (Switzerland) 7th at 2:14,

5 min has now passed and only 24 riders have crossed the line to start the  4th lap

Ettinger 26th at 5:13, Martin 41st, Baily 46th, Bouchard 47th, Guthrie 50th, Caron 56th, McNeely 58th

Lap 5 12:03 pm ET

Litscher still leading, but it is no Konawa in 2nd spot at 1:18 back.  Moorlag 3rd at 1:38. Stirnemann 4th at 2:28, Kerschbaumer 5th at s.t..

After 5 min only 12 riders cross the line to head out for the 5th lap.  The leaders are setting a blistering pace.  The same thing happened wiht the U23 women.  Both winners had spent the season competing in the Elite field, and the experience is obviously paying off.

Lap 6 - Last lap  12:18 pm ET

Thomas Litscher (Switzerland) heads out onto the final lap with a comfortable gap of 1:39 on Konawa, Moorlag 3rd at 1:57,  Stirnemann 4th at 3:19, Indergand 5th at 3:32, Kerschbaumer 6th at 3:53

Only  8 riders are under the 5 min gap

Bouchard is now the top N. American, sitting 34th at 9:51.  Martin 35th at s.t.   Kerry Werner (USA) 36th at 9:52, Jack Hinkens (USA)   42nd at 10:57

The rest of the Canadians and American's have been lapped

Finish

Unofficial

1 Thomas Litscher (Switzerland), 1:32:30

2 Marek Konwa (Poland), at 1:42

3 Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands), 2:13

4 Matthias Stirnemann (Switzerland), 3:33

5 Reto Indergand (Switzerland)

Course Profile

Course map (click and open in sep window for larger version)