The Mountain Bike World Cup returned this weekend to Mont Saint Anne in Quebec, Canada. Sundays racing saw a return to form for Julian Absalon who had a nightmare ride at the World Championships in Italy and pulled out before the finish. Following that race many had highlighted what seemed to be a chink in the Frenchmans armour but he silenced all the critics with a commanding performance to dominate the race winning by 2.33 minutes from Canadian Geoff Kabush. Early in the race Absalon dropped the pack to ride clear off the front on a very technical course giving himself the room to ride comfortably. Kabush had a slow start but rode strongly to overtake Spains Hermida who crashed almost immediatly afterwards on the technical singletrack and dropped to 11th overall by the finish. GTs South African Burry Stander had another great race into third with Giant USA rider Adam Craig laying down a marker for the upcoming Olympic games. Absalon’s win returns the World Cup leaders jersey to his shoulders from Swiss World Champion Christoph Sauser who pulled out following a pre-race crash on the course which required 4 stiches, the Swiss rider preferring to rest before Beijing.

Results

1 Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea                                    2.07.44
2 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis                                   2.33
3 Burry Stander (RSA) GT Bicycle                                   4.53
4 Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team                        5.17
5 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team                        5.37
6 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze)                                           6.20
7 Martin Gujan (Swi) Athleticum-MTB-Team                           7.03
8 Seamus Mcgrath (Can)                                             7.34
9 Liam Killeen (GBr) Specialized Factory Racing                    8.30
10 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher                 9.32

Irelands Connor McConvey rode a great race to finish in 33rd place and sits in 72nd overall in the standings.

In the wemons race Canadian Rocky Mountain rider Marie-Helene Premont rode a strong race to finish with 2 minutes 54 seconds over second place Catherine Prendel. Premont is having a great season and now has a huge lead of 310 points in the overall standings. As one of the most consistant riders this year, she must be among the favourites for the Olympic race. Incidentally many of the top racers didn’t show up in Canada preferring to rest before Beijing. These inclucded Irina Kalentieva, Sabina Spitz and World Champion Marguerita Fullana. Back to Canada and Lene Byberg had her stongest ever race to finish third with American Olympian Georgia Gould and former World Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa coming home fifth.

Results

1 Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain                     2.06.30
2 Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna Womens MTB Team                     2.54
3 Lene Byberg (Nor) Specialized Factory Racing                     4.29
4 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Womens MTB Team                         5.07
5 Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team        5.24
6 Mary McConneloug (USA) Kenda / Seven                             6.28
7 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Womens MTB Team                         7.33
8 Elisabeth Osl (Aut) Team Ghost International                     8.42
9 Sabrina Enaux (Fra) Team Lapierre International                 11.33
10 Amanda Sin (Can)                                               12.15