World Mountain Bike Championships Day 4

 

Friday 7 September

Cross-Country - Under-23 Male

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

The fans are having a ball, despite the weather

 

One of the most discussed features of the World MTB Champs so far has been the weather. It teased us with some gorgeous sun yesterday afternoon but unfortunately as the rest of the country now basks in said sun, Fort William has it's own little weather pattern and guess what? Yes it's raining again.

Big event of the afternoon was the under 23 Men's Cross-Country race, with Ian Bibby, Ian Field and Ross Creber flying the flag for GB. Hopes were high after the success of Dave Fletcher the previous day in the Men's junior race. With 93 riders lined up, you just knew that there was going to be carnage on the course and those that got through it in one piece would do well. Hot favourite today was yet another Swiss rider, Nino Schurter, who a few days previously had helped his team to their first Gold medal of the week in the XC relay race.

He didn't disappoint and soon, it was Nino coming through at the end of the first lap with a small gap. Close behind and chasing hard, were Jakob Fuglsang, Jaroslav Kulhavy and a small train of riders keen to get up to the storming Schurter. High in the mix was Ian Bibby coming through, riding a well-balanced race plan in 10th spot. Next GB rider through was Ian Field, who spent his first lap battling through from 81st spot on the grid.

Left, the typically hairy start. Right, Ross Creber comes in after lap one, battered and bleeding

Uncharacteristically there was no sign of Ross Creber, who is normally hot on the heels of team mate Bibby. We all hoped he hadn't suffered the fate of his brother the previous day with a puncture. Then just as we'd given up hope he came into view, bloody and looking distressed, but determined to get back into the race. However half a lap later and he was pulled from the race by team manager Phil Dixon, who thought his injuries were impeding him and was not in his best interests to continued, so Ross had to climb off and was rushed to the medical centre for immediate treatment. I spoke to him later, he was gutted to have been pulled, especially has he'd worked so hard for this, he told me:

"Sadly both my brother and myself haven't had a good couple of days. There was a crash at the start, right on the line and I managed to get round that and moved my way up quite nicely and on the first descent on the transition section I was held up loads, I tried going on the inside on a real fast bend and the rider just shut the door on me and wouldn't let me through, there was no option but to hit a tree stump or try to hang on. I was just down. I couldn't help it, he just brought me off. I rode on and I wasn't going to give up, but Phil pulled me out, he told me to stop. It's just so gutting with all the work I've done on the course, I know my form was good and it all ends like that. I know the descent so well, I was just held up, held up and I was just going to jump past a few guys, but I got stuffed.
I had no problem with the gridding, I worked well through the pack and was where I wanted to be on the first lap, but I never had chance to get any further. But these things happen it wasn't my fault and my injuries are pretty damn bad as well, it's the most pain I've been in for a while. I'll be back fighting in 2 weeks time in the next round of the NPS."

Meanwhile back in the race, and still it was Schurter who was making all the headway, still out alone, but by lap 4 he was joined by Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang and together they opened up a lead of over 3 minutes on the chasing riders.

Ian Bibby going well early in the race

By the top of the climb it seemed that Schurter's fast start had started to rebound on him as it was Fuglsang, who came through first, a position he held to the line, where we were treated to the best display of happiness we'd seen for a while!

Schurter came in close behind for Silver with Kulhavy picking up the bronze. For the rest of the GB team it was a mixed race. Field rode a blinding race considering his lack of racing this year; this was only his fifth outing of the season due to injury. He managed to secure 30th spot, not bad considering the amount of carnage he'd had to claw his way through to get such a result.

Bibby's early good position boded well, but things began to go wrong in the latter stages of the race: his feeding plan seemed not to be working and he unfortunately started to run out of steam, finishing with a valiant 23rd spot. He was gutted not to have held his top 10 position but knew he'd done his best on the day. I caught up with in the GB barracks, where he looked shattered and told me he was desperately refuelling and had never felt this hungry after a race:

"It was a bit of a disaster with my feeding really, I was alright on the first few lap, thinking I could hold my position if not move up quite easily and then I started getting really, really hungry which I've never experienced before in a race. I don't know what happened really. I don't know whether I didn't feed enough I just felt really hungry. I was riding in the top 10 for the first 2 or 3 laps and there was only 30secs to a group for 4th, so I was hoping to start picking riders off and pull through. Then I don't have a clue what happened.

 

I've had problems with my stomach, since the Euros really and I thought I'd got it sorted. I think it was only all the crowds out there that kept me going. That was really good. It gave me that extra bit; I wish I could have got a bit better placing. It was pretty frustrating on the descents knowing you could go faster; but you just had to use it as recovery. I felt pretty good, the race plan was going well, I hadn't started too hard, I was expecting to start picking people off. Instead it all went pear shaped. I've never felt so bad after a race. I hope I'll come back next year and have a proper race."

Left, Ian Bibby's face says it all as he arrives at the finish exhausted. Right, Ian Field going well.

 

GB Team Manager Helen Mortimer gave me her reaction to the race:

"It was pretty tough conditions out there today, there was a big field entered. There was a crash at the start, I've just been chatting to Fieldly and he told me it was carnage out there for the first 2 laps, there were so many crashes in front of him, you're gonna get that with a field this size and the course does narrow quite a lot. I think Fieldy and Ross got caught up quite a bit with all that. Bibbs had a fantastic start; he got stuck in and started riding his race plan really well. He had a pretty good race actually, he held his position well he held his head well, there was a lot more pressure on these guys today, a lot bigger crowd for a start. Unfortunately Ross is now in medical hands getting his wounds scrubbed, he had quite a big crash just in front of Fieldy. He cut himself up pretty bad. It's a real shame for the Crebers actually - it's their home country you know Scotland, and they both had pretty bad luck this week. They both did fantastically well despite the bad luck. All I can say is it's only gonna get easier for the team from now on as they build on all these valuable experiences."

Team Coach Phil Dixon also spoke to me:

"It was a very tough race, I wouldn't change how the boys rode it, they rode it as they planned. Bibbs got in the front, he was in the race. At four laps I had him at 3mins 36secs to the head of the race at the top of the climb. He suffered on that last lap and dropped down to 23. Ian Field started in 81st and he came through a lot of crashes and showed some real determination and strength: he's moved through all that race, you can't ask for more than that I'm really pleased."

"Ross was in a bit of a crash, he was very disorientated. Four staff looked at him, he wasn't all there really, it looked a bit risky, but he wanted to carry on as he's a Creber, but for safety reasons I pulled him out at the top of the climb. With the boys really you had 2 different races, you had one coming through and one in the race. Again it's a new experience, being in the front of a World Champs like that. Bibby's riding with the best of the World and Fieldy is moving through."

Ian Field worked his way through from the back

 

Ian Field

This was probably my fifth race of the year, considering all things it was an all right ride. The first two laps were a bit frustrating, being sat behind people for the majority of the climb and when it opened out you were fighting to get past. There's not that much passing, even on the wide section at the top there's only one line. So you had to put in quite a bit of effort to get past in the rough. Then in the singletrack stuff you just had to bide your time and wait for the downhill and try and nip past on the transition sections. On the grid I looked round and there was no one behind me so I know I had a tough job ahead. There was just crash after crash on the first couple of laps. I went hard every time I got a clear bit of track, so I went as hard as I could. I got about 30th, so I took about 50 riders, not bad I guess. I felt all right. Last year I was injured for most of it so hopefully I can put all that behind me know and get a decent winter in my legs."

Results

Under-23 Men Cross-Country
1. FUGLSANG Jakob DEN 1:54:04
2. SCHURTER Nino SUI 1:55:48 +1:43
3. KULHAVY Jaroslav CZE 1:57:25 +3:20
4. FRIEDL Jiri CZE 1:57:29 +3:24
5. BATEK Dariusz POL 1:58:03 +3:58
6. STANDER Burry RSA 1:58:29 +4:25
7. GALLATI Patrik SUI 1:58:45 +4:40
8. LINDGREN Emil SWE 1:58:56 +4:51
9. SKARNITZL Jan CZE 1:59:09 +5:04
10. MCCONNELL Daniel AUS 1:59:51 +5:46
other
23. BIBBY Ian GBR 2:03:51 +9:46
30. FIELD Ian GBR 2:05:32 + 11:27
DNF CREBER Ross GBR
81 riders started

And Finally.......

 

A pre-production Specialized twig-jumper?