France’s Julien Absalon took his mountain bike status to new heights yesterday when he became the first rider to defend the men’s Olympic cross country title.
Jean-Christophe Peraud finished second 1 minute, 7 seconds behind to also hand France the silver medal, while Nino Schurter raced ahead of Swiss compatriot and world champion Christoph Sauser late in the race to claim the bronze.
Absalon kept the gold in French hands for the third Olympics in a row — following Miguel Martinez’s victory in Sydney in 2000 — thanks to a commanding display early in the 36km race that left his big rivals trailing.
As early as the second of the race’s hilly, 4.5km laps, Absalon had virtually blown a hole in the medal hopes of a trio of Swiss contenders who had expected to challenge him for gold.
Sauser, whose world championship victory earlier this summer meant Absalon failed to win the world title for the fifth consecutive year, disappeared from the race after three laps, by which time he trailed the Frenchman by 51 seconds.
Before the halfway stage, France began rubbing their hands in anticipation of another cycling one-two — following their gold and silver in the women’s BMX on Friday — when Peraud raced into second place.
After four laps Peraud trailed Absalon by 33 seconds, with Sauser and Schurter in third and fourth.
Given the time to choose a careful track and avoid potential mishaps on the treacherous course, Absalon was racing with purpose and took his lead on Peraud to 54 seconds by the end of lap five.
Italian Marco Fontana came over line third 2 minutes, 13 seconds later among a small group which contained Sauser and Schurter and two other riders.
By the end of the penultimate lap, Fontana had dropped out of the race for bronze as Sauser and Schurter came over the line at 2 minutes, 38 seconds behind Absalon.
The 28-year-old Absalon had blamed the onset of dehydration at the world championships in Italy where he lost the world title to Sauser as the Swiss swept the podium.
Drinking heartily from his water bottle each time he passed the finish, he made an exception at the end of the race, where he came over the line with his arms spread out in triumph in a time of 1 hour, 55 minutes, 59 seconds.
Earlier, Sabine Spitz of Germany took the gold medal in the women’s mountain bike race, adding it to the bronze she won at the Athens Games four years ago.
Spitz finished six laps around the 4.45km course in 1 hour, 45 minutes, 11 seconds. She stopped about 5m from the finish, hopped off her bike and carried it across the finish line.
Spitz managed to get ahead of world champion Margarita Fullana on the first lap and from then on she was on her own.
Spitz, 36, was the 2003 world champion and was competing in her third Olympics. She said she believed that sometimes being a little older was a benefit in mountain biking.
“Mountain biking is a very tough sport mentally, so with age you can get stronger,” she said.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
RSS