Schurter Ends Swiss Drought
Mountain Bike World Championships
Val di Sole, Italy, June 17-22, 2008
Report & Images: Rob Jones
Link: Mountain Bike Worlds Home Page
Day4 - XC U23 Men
Above: Left: Schurter in jubulant mood. Right: South Africa's Burry Stander on the limit
Nino Schurter ended the Swiss drought of three days at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy by regaining the Under-23 men's title he relinquished last year to Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark. The six lap race was down to two men by the middle of the first lap - Schurter and this year's breakthrough rider, Burry Stander (South Africa). Ian Bibby took the top British placing, in 27th place, 16 minutes and nine seconds behind Schurter. Ross Creber finished 47th, one lap down, while David Fletcher (57th) was two laps behind and Ian Field did not finish.
Above: Left: GB's Ian Bibby came in 27th, while Ross Creber (right) came in 47th
Schurter and Stander have been the class of the U-23 field all season, finishing on the podium at World Cups against elite riders. The duo looked like they were in a two-up time trial as they rode away from the field. The pair seemed content to work together for the first four laps, opening a gap of nearly two and a half minutes on third place Matthias Fluckiger (Switzerland) by this point, with the rest of the field at least a minute further back and fading.
Schurter decided it was time to go halfway through lap five, attacking twice in the second half of lap five before dropping his South African rival for good. Starting the final lap, he had 24 seconds on Stander, which was extended to 41 by the finish. Fluckiger came in a distant third, 3:46 down.
Results
U23 Men - 34.9km
1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 1:44:34
2 Burry Stander (South Africa) + 41
3 Matthias Flückiger (Switzerland) +3:46
4 Fabian Giger (Switzerland) +4:54
5 Stéphane Tempier (France) +5:55
6 Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina) +8:26
7 Raphael Gagne (Canada) +8:46
8 Frank Beemer (Netherlands) +9:00
9 Pascal Meyer (Switzerland) +9:22
10 Robert Gehbauer (Austria) +9:50
11 Marc Colom (France) 10:32
12 Bjorn Brems (Belgium) 10:40
13 Maxime Marotte (France) 11:25
14 Alexis Vuillermoz (France) 11:30
15 Rotem Ishai (Israel) 11:32
16 Piotr Brzozka (Poland) 12:19
17 Dries Govaerts (Belgium) 12:32
18 Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) 12:38
19 Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden) 13:23
20 Jelmer Jubbega (Netherlands) 13:41
21 Connor Mcconvey (Ireland) 13:44
22 Lachlan Norris (Australia) 14:06
23 Johannes Schweiggl (Italy) 14:36
24 Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) 15:07
25 Ken Onodera (Japan) 15:19
26 Renay Groustra (South Africa) 16:01
27 Ian Bibby (Great Britain) 16:09
28 Rob Vangenechten (Belgium) 16:20
29 Alessio Zamuner (Italy) 16:38
30 Niels Wubben (Netherlands) 16:52
31 Periklis Ilias (Greece) 18:39
32 Denis Vorontsov (Russian Federation) 19:24
33 Cristian Cominelli (Italy) 19:39
34 Shlomi Haimy (Israel) 20:35
35 Martin Kostelnicak (Slovakia) -1Lap
36 Nieck Busser (Netherlands) -1Lap
37 David Joao Serralheiro Rosa (Portugal) -1Lap
38 Irjan Luttenberg (Netherlands) -1Lap
39 Anders Hovdenes (Norway) -1Lap
40 Ola Kjören (Norway) -1Lap
41 Tim Allen (United States Of America) -1Lap
42 Henrique Avancini (Brazil) -1Lap
43 Tim Wijnants (Belgium) -1Lap
44 Adrian Brzozka (Poland) -1Lap
45 Hans Becking (Netherlands) -1Lap
46 Samuele Porro (Italy) -1Lap
47 Ross Creber (Great Britain) -1Lap
48 Patrik Gallati (Switzerland) -1Lap
49 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Australia) -1Lap
50 Yu Takenouchi (Japan) -1Lap
51 Martin Skopek (Slovakia) -1Lap
52 Josef Kamler (Czech Republic) -1Lap
53 Uwe Hochenwarter (Austria) -1Lap
54 Felix Euteneuer (Germany) -1Lap
55 Guillaume Vinit (France) -1Lap
56 Umberto Corti (Italy) -1Lap
57 David Fletcher (Great Britain) -2Laps
58 Heiko Gutmann (Germany) -2Laps
59 Sebastien Carabin (Belgium) -2Laps
60 Martin Loo (Estonia) -2Laps
61 Zsolt Szlobodnyik (Hungary) -2Laps
62 Andriy Gumenyuk (Ukraine) -2Laps
63 Evgeny Vitmanovskiy (Russian Federation) -2Laps
64 Tiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira (Portugal) -2Laps
65 Luka Homovec (Slovenia) -2Laps
66 Sergio Pulido Rodriguez (Spain) -2Laps
67 Mitchell Peterson (United States Of America) -2Laps
68 Luka Mezgec (Slovenia) -2Laps
69 Jo Thorson Nordskar (Norway) -2Laps
70 Vero Lüscher (Germany) -2Laps
71 Joshua Samuel Barley (New-Zealand) -2Laps
72 Marco Minnaard (Netherlands) -2Laps
73 Carlos Rodrigo Sigre (Argentina) -2Laps
74 Marios Athanasiades (Cyprus) -2Laps
75 Carlos Maria Corso (Argentina) -2Laps
76 Lucian Logigan (Romania) -2Laps
77 Ricardo Javier Hazbun Velazquez (Chile) -2Laps
78 Andriy Khripta (Ukraine) -2Laps
79 Lorenzo Martelli (Italy) -2Laps
80 Andy Eyring (Germany) -2Laps
81 Vasilis Adamou (Cyprus) -3Laps
82 Matjaz Budin (Slovenia) -3Laps
83 Abdulkadir Kelleci (Turkey) -3Laps
84 Matyas Kusz (Hungary) -3Laps
85 Colin Cares (United States Of America) -3Laps
86 Idan Shapira (Israel) -3Laps
87 Dani Simcic (Croatia) -3Laps
88 Seiya Hirano (Japan) -3Laps
89 Rodrigo Adrian Darnay (Argentina) -3Laps
DNF Dariusz Batek (Poland)
DNF Sam Jurekovic (United States Of America)
DNF Georgios Pattes-Toumanis (Greece)
DNF Mattias Wengelin (Sweden)
DNF Nicola Rohrbach (Switzerland)
DNF David Lozano Riba (Spain)
DNF Ian Field (Great Britain)
DNF Rodolfo Andres Torres (Colombia)
DNF Mattias Nilsson (Sweden)
DNF Martin Fanger (Switzerland)
DNF Davide Di Marco (Italy)
DNF Markus Bauer (Germany)
DNF Maximiliano Daniel Franzoi (Argentina)
