Amid the hot and technical Cross Country course in Australia 75 men and 50 ladies fought for the World Championship.

Last year Chrisptoph Sauser surprised the World by beating 4 time World Champion Julian Absalon who had something of an off day.  Que mass hysteria that Absalon was beatable.  Then the plucky Frenchman went and won the remaining races of the season and the Olympics.  Invincibility back on then.

This year the field lined up knowing that if they played their cards right he was beatable.  With a small field and technical course a large group had already formed at the start of lap 2.  Absalon (France), Schurter (Swiss), Vogel (Swiss), Hermida (Spain), Kabush (Canada), Jean-Christophe Peraud (France), Cedric Ravanel (France), Marco Fontana (Italy), Stephane Tempier (France), Sven Nys (Belgium), Emil Lindgren (Sweden), Daniel McConnell (Australia), Lukas Fluckiger (Switzerland) and Roel Paulissen (Belgium) were all working hard at the front of the race in one big group.

Come lap 3, Absalon, Schurter, Vogel, Kabush, Hermida, Fontana and Lindgren had broken clear but Kabush and Hermida fell back following mechanicals, although Hermida managed to chase back on. With half the race left, the Swiss started to work together to overhaul Absalon, employing road racing team tactics to wear him down.

On lap 5 Absalon and Schurter put in a big attack and managed to pull clear but not from each other until last years Under 223 World Champ Schurter gave it everything through the final feed zone and gaped the Frenchman coming into the final singletrack to claim his first senior World Championship.

“I was never thinking that I could take the win until the last feed zone when I attacked there and saw that I had a small gap of ten metres. From there I was flying down into the finish,” said Schurter.

In the race for the final podium spot Hermida and Vogel emerged into the finishing straight neck and neck with Vogel leading the sprint home.

Speaking afterwards Absalon talked about how the race was lost.   “I was in front and I did most of the race in front, but it is not often like this in a mountain bike race. This track was really fast and it was not possible to go alone because of the wind, and it was technical“.

“Nino did a really good attack and it was a little bit bumpy. I made a mistake with my chain, and I lost five metres and then it was finished for me.”

Vogel actually allowed the other two to go away, conserving his energy for the fight for third. “I was actually in a pretty good position for both Nino and myself. In the end, I realised that José had done a lot of work and he really tried to catch up to Nino and Julien and he wasted a lot of energy.”

Something tells us though that this is not the end of Absalon. Down but not out for the Olympic champion.  Last years World Champion Christoph Sauser

1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 2:04:39
2 Julien Absalon (France) 0:00:03
3 Florian Vogel (Switzerland) 0:00:58
4 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain)
5 Geoff Kabush (Canada) 0:02:04
6 Cédric Ravanel (France) 0:02:35
7 Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) 0:02:59
8 Todd Wells (United States of America) 0:03:06
9 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 0:03:22
10 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 0:03:45

The ladies headed of into the start of five laps with a stiff headwind.  It was a poor start for 2007 World Champion Irina Kalentieva who suffered from bad chain suck on the first lap, loosing a minute and a half as she fixed it.  Meanwhile Lene Byberg (Norway), Cécile Rode Ravanel (France), Eva Lechner (Italy), Catharine Pendrel (Canada), Sabine Spitz (Germany) and Willow Koerber (USA) were working at the front of the race.   Spitz went first but was quickly overhauled by Byberg who began a log solo.  Koeber, Spitz and Ravanel chased hard.  Undeterred behind the leaders, Kalentieva set about working back on eventually bridging right up to Byberg before riding away from here to claim the rainbow jersey.

“It was a very technical course,” said Kalentieva. “In Europe we also have technical courses, but here with the big stones and so on, it seems more technical. It was perfect for me. I think [the mechanical issue with the chain] gave me more concentration, and it gave me more power, because I knew it should not happen today to my chain“.

“I was at the front in the beginning of the race and I felt good,” she said. “I did a good job. I made less mistakes on the uphill and downhill, and I felt good and perfect and that is why on every lap I was able to move forward. It was a very special course with more singletrack and you cannot follow when you go uphill. I lost time, many times, but anyway I am the World Champion now, and it happened!”

A devastated Byberg spoke afterwards of how .

“I kind of had the title in my hands and I lost it in the last half lap. But I just went for it today from the start and just took it from there. It was really hard to ride alone on the flat sections after the feeding zone, and this took a lot of energy. But I just decided to go for it, and maybe one day I can make up the thirteen seconds [to Irina]. I am happy, this is my first International medal and so far I have had a great season, but I am a little bit disappointed also.”

Byberg is currently winning the World Cup series overall.

“Normally in races I do the opposite: I get into the top 10 and then come from behind like Irina did today. But today I just knew it was a great start for me - not straight into a steep uphill, but flat so you can sit there behind in the wind and stay on a wheel. That was my goal for the season: to try to have a good World Championships. It is also a mental thing, the one chance on the one day at the World Championships.”

In third was a thrilled Koerber.

1 Irina Kalentieva (Russian Federation) 1:43:20
2 Lene Byberg (Norway) 0:00:13
3 Willow Koerber (United States of America) 0:00:52
4 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 0:01:30
5 Anna Szafraniec (Poland) 0:01:37
6 Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 0:02:36
7 Cécile Rode Ravanel (France) 0:03:07
8 Esther Süss (Switzerland) 0:03:40
9 Eva Lechner (Italy) 0:03:58
10 Heather Irmiger (United States Of America) 0:04:12