Russia's Irina Kalentieva overcame early mechanical problems to win her second world title in three years on Saturday in the Elite Women's cross-country at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Canberra, Australia. Kalentieva caught early leader Lene Byberg of Norway on the last lap of the six lap race, and broke away to win in a time of one hour, 43 minutes and 20 seconds. Byberg finished 13 seconds behind for the silver medal, with American Willow Koerber taking bronze at 52 seconds. Two other americans had strong results - Heather Irmiger in 10th, and Katie Compton in 14th.  Russia's Irina Kalentieva celebrates victory. Rob Jones photo Although conditions were clear and sunny, a stiff breeze was blowing up the long false flat that led into the first climb of the lap. This meant a conservative start for the race, with a group of six riders completing the first lap together - Byberg, Cécile Rode Ravanel (France), Eva Lechner (Italy), Catharine Pendrel (Canada), Sabine Spitz (Germany) and Koerber. Kalentieva was a few places back, after suffering problems with chain suck that she had to stop and deal with.
 Lene Byberg was race leader, until the final 1/2 lap . Rob Jones photo
Spitz led the inital move up the climb on lap two, but Byberg overtook her and began to distance herself from the rest. Through the rest of the lap and lap three Byberg continued to lead and open a gap on Koerber, Spitz and Ravanel. Pendrel was struggling to hold onto fifth, and at the end of the lap Kalentieva had moved up to join her.
 Irina Kalentieva caught Koerber just as the end of the 5th lap. Rob Jones photo
The Russian rider20had cleared solved her technical problems, and moved up impressively through her rivals, pulling back 30 seconds to start the last lap in third behind Byberg and Koerber. She caught Koerber on the first technical climb and went straight past, to join Byberg with a half a lap to go. Byberg tried an attack, but Kalentieva caught back easily, and then launched her own attack into the final singletrack, to pull away for her second world title. Byberg rolled in 13 seconds later, visibly disappointed.
 Willow Koerber rode a 29er. Rob Jones photo
"Today was unbelievable," exclaimed Kalentieva. "I had a good start. I was in the front on the climbing, and then on the downhill something happened with the chain - I don't know what - so I had to stop and repair the chain. It was about one minute, or one and a half minutes, I am not sure. Anyway, I gave everything today, because I wanted to be World Champion again here. It was my dream, and it came true, and I am very satisfied and very, very happy."
"It was a very technical course. In Europe we also have technical courses but here with the big stones and so on it seems more technical here than in Europe but 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. I did a good job: I made less mistakes on the uphill and20downhill, 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, and I lost time, many times, but anyway I am the World Champion now, and it happened!"
Catharine Pendrel tows the pack, Rob Jones photo Byberg, who won her first World Cup this season, and leads the overall standings, was in a little bit of shock after having the title snatched away from her. "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."
Start of the women's 5 lap race. Rob Jones photo "Normally in races I do the opposite: I get into the top ten 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. I knew it would be a fight on the first tricky stones when it gets narrow, and I knew I needed to be at the front today because it is so hard to pass in some places. My legs were good, so for once I decided=2 0to go fast at the start as well. 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. Every season for the past three years I have been improving slowly, slowly and this year it has been great." As with Byberg, this is Koeber's first world championships medal, and she had no disappointment with finishing third. The American rode a 29er, as did her team mate Heather Irmiger (10th). "At the start I was like, 'whats going on? None of us can ride our bikes!'. Everyone seemed to be crashing into each other and falling over. But you just have to stay patient, as it is five laps, and I managed to escape any big crash or problem with my bike, so I had a great day out there. Just a lot of fun, and the crowds were great. This is my first [International] medal, so I am very excited and pleased." "I guess you could say the start worked in my favour because it ended up well, it all worked out great. I just stayed calm, because in the past I have panicked numerous times and you just waste a bunch of energy, so I was like, okay, whatever is happening in front of me, it will all work out, and I guess it did. I won the last race in the US Cup in New York three weeks ago, so that gave me a lot of confidence, and then I really didn't train too much. I just did a bunch of short fun things, so I would be rested and really ready to race today." Irmiger: "I was in seventh or eighth position at the start, and there were a couple of girls running, sticking their elbows out and one knocked me off my bike and I got a flat! I had to go down that first rocky descent way too slow, and I just hit something too hard because I had no speed. I was able to ride the Hammerhead and everything, but I didn't get off until the tech zone. It probably took six or seven spots to get the tire changed. Then I just clawed my way back into tenth. I am super stoked as it is my best Worlds but it is a little frustrating as I was 'urggh!' I could have been up there with my teammate who got third! But I felt really amazing. I have been fighting a cold all week, but it just totally came round, so I am excited. The bike was unbelievable. It (the 29er) is no longer a choice. It is me, forever!" Katie Compton: "It was a good course for me. I liked the rocks and the techy parts and it was just a really fun, fun course. I had a little trouble in the last couple of laps. I had trouble with some breathing issues, and I just struggled in the last couple of laps. So I need to work on improving that part of my race. It is hard with a bad start to kind of chase in the beginning and then have something go off at the end. The start was hard, you could only move up so far and then there was a crash about halfway up the fire road, and=2 0a little group got off. So I was chasing from the get-go. I've actually been mountain biking a lot, but I am just not as good at mountain biking as I am at Cross. Cross is still my first love and that's my focus. I'd love to do well at mountain biking too and excel at this."  Byberg, Kalentieva, Koerber. Rob Jones photo
WOMEN CROSS COUNTRY - 5 Laps - 32.35 km - Average Spd: 18.78 km/h
1 Irina Kalentieva (Russian Federation) 1:43:20
2 Lene Byberg (Norway) at 0:13
3 Willow Koerber (United States Of America) 0:52
4 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 1:30
5 Anna Szafraniec (Poland) 1:37
6 Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 2:36
7 Cécile Rode Ravanel (France) 3:07
8 Esther Süss (Switzerland) 3:40
9 Eva Lechner (Italy) 3:58
10 Heather Irmiger (United States Of America) 4:12
11 Blaza Klemencic (Slovenia) 5:03
12 Marie-Helene Premont (Canada) 5:15
13 Magdalena Sadlecka (Poland) 5:50
14 Katherine Compton (United States Of America) 6:32
15 Georgia Gould (United States Of America) 7:01
16 Margarita Fullana Riera (Spain) 7:03
17 Petra Henzi (Switzerland) 7:28
18 Anja Gradl (Germany) 7:41
19 Laura Metzler (France) 7:46
20 Katrin Leumann (Switzerland) 7:55
21 Mary McConneloug (United States Of America) 8:31
22 Laura Turpijn (Netherlands) 9:43
23 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 10:11
24 Kate Potter (Australia) 10:13
25 Rie Katayama (Japan) 10:16
26 Amanda Sin (Canada) 10:24
27 Rowena Fry (Australia) 10:42
28 Oksana Rybakova (Russian Federation) 10:42
29 Githa Michiels (Belgium) 10:49
30 Adelheid Morath (Germany) 10:52
31 Janka Stevkova (Slovakia) 12:15
32 Joanna Harrington (Australia) 13:00
33 Pavla Havlikova (Czech Republic) 13:08
34 Katherine O'Shea (Australia) 13:12
35 Nicola Leary (New-Zealand) 13:34
36 Monique Zeldenrust (Netherlands) 13:45
37 Laura Lorenza Morfin Macouzet (Mexico) 14:22
38 Wei Fang (People's Republic Of China) 14:59
39 Judy Freeman (United States Of America) 15:22
40 Jodie Willett (Australia) 15:23
41 Joanna Wall (Australia) 16:08
42 Elena Gogoleva (Russian Federation) 17:52
43 Suzanne Clarke (Great Britain) 18:10
44 Zoe King (Australia) 19:08
45 Jeanette Gerrie (New-Zealand) -2LAP
DNF Nathalie Schneitter (Switzerland)
DNF Marielle Saner-Guinchard (Switzerland)
DNF Maria Osl (Austria)
DNF Mical Dyck (Canada)
DNS Maja Wloszczowska (Poland)
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Nino Schurter wins as Julien Absalon suffers to silver. Rob Jones photo
Nino Schurter (Switzerland), the Olympic bronze medalist and last year's
U23 world champion won the Elite Men's world title on Saturday, three
seconds ahead of Olympic champion Julien Absalon. Schurter's team mate Florian Vogel outsprinted Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos of Spain for the
bronze medal, 58 seconds behind Schurter. Canada's Geoff Kabush was the top North American in fifth, while Todd Wells was the top U.S. rider in eighth, followed by Adam Craig in 18th.
The headwind in the opening section of the lap meant that it was much
better to be in a group than on your own, as Kabush discovered.
"I had a slow leak in my tire," revealed Kabush, "so I had to stop in
the pits for a quick wheel change [on lap three], which lost me a few
seconds. On this course, with the long climb into the head wind, it
meant that I just couldn't catch back onto the front group; I could see
them there for a long time, but it was just so much harder to ride on
your own out there. I guess you could say they were in a road race and
I was in a time trial. Without that, maybe I could have been in medal
contention. But I'm still very pleased, this is by far my best results
at the world championships."
At the start of lap two a sizable group had formed at the lead -
Absalon, Schurter, Vogel, Hermida, Kabush, 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).
 Absalon raced the very technical course with a single chainring. Rob Jones photo
By the start of lap three the group had thinned considerably, down to
Absalon, Schurter, Vogel, Kabush, Hermida, Fontana and Lindgren. It
came apart completely on lap three, when Kabush had his mechanical
troubles, and the lead group dropped to four - Schurter, Absalon, Vogel
and Hermida. Hermida had his own issues on the same lap, when his chain jammed, but was able to chase back up.
The front five were set for the rest of the race, but there was still
almost half the race to go, and the Swiss began to use their numerical
superiority to break things up. Schurter and Absalon began attacking,
and shed Hermida and Vogel on lap five. With the wind, both pairs of
riders stayed together for the rest of the race. At the front, Schurter
and Absalon both launched attacks in the final lap, but neither could
shake the other until a tremendous effort by Schurter in the final feed
zone gained him a couple of seconds. The brilliant move came just
before the last singletrack run in to the finish, with nowhere to pass,
and Schurter was able to hold his gap to the line. Vogel and Hermida
were even tighter, coming down to a sprint that Vogel led out from the
final turn.
"It's an amazing feeling.," stated Schurter. "It was the perfect race
for me, the perfect course - really technical which is what I like - and
I had a great day today. It's an amazing feeling after being the U23
World Champion and then straight to the Elite World Champion. It is an
amazing feeling that this dream has come true for me."
"The whole race I was thinking that I would just try to stay on the back
wheel [of Absalon] and race for silver, because Julien is the strongest
mountain biker. 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."
"I like courses like this: not very long uphills and very technical. It
was maybe the perfect course for me. But maybe without Florian I was
not able to do that, because we were helping each other a lot. He was
breaking Hermida behind and I was able to do no work with Julien. That
was a big advantage for us, and when you are a strong team on such a
course you have an advantage.
It is hard to say, but sure [Vogel] was a big help for me because Julien
was leading a lot and it was good for me as I was keeping a lot of
energy so I was able to attack in the last lap and stay with him until
the end. I think without Florian I think it was not able for me to win
this race."
"I was not in a good position," agreed Absalon. "If it was just me, but
Florian Vogel was in third position which was a good tactic for the
Swiss guys. 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."
"In the last lap I was in front and in the last feed zone, and it was
the last time to do the sprint because after that it was downhill to the
finish line. Nino did a really good attack and it was a little bit
bumpy, and I did a mistake with my chain, and I took five metres and
then it was finished for me. Yes I was expecting it, but not as
strong! After this it was really really fast, and we did the last part
full gas, and it was not possible for me to pass him, because he is a
really fast rider downhill, so it was not possible for me."
"It is difficult to say [who was the strongest rider today]. On this
track and with the wind it was a little bit technical, and the Swiss
guys were the strongest nation, and this is also the race. It is more
difficult to get second like this, but that is the race. It is not
often in mountain biking, but today it was like this."
Vogel made a tactical decision to let Absalon and Schurter go, and
conserve his energy for third. "I was sitting in third all race, so for
me there was no reason to make the pace, because I didn't want to lead
Jose up to Nino. So I was actually in a pretty good position for both
Nino and me, and in the end I realized that Jose had done a lot of work
and he really tried to catch up to Nino and Julien and he wasted a lot
of energy."
"I realized if I am able to get into the last downhill after the feed
zone in first position then it would be really hard for him to overtake
me. I knew how to do it, and I also had some luck as it was a really
fast finish and I nearly crashed on one of the last corners. At first I
wasn't so sure if I should sprint against him because he was leading up
the whole last three laps so I felt a bit sorry but I was selfish enough
to sprint against him!"
Wells was riding a 29er, and rode back to the front after a poor start.
"My ride was pretty good. I had a bad start, maybe 35th at the start,
so I lost maybe a minute on the first lap, and then I could never get
back to the leaders. But I was happy. For this course it is important
to be at the front from the start, because there is a lot of drafting
and you yo-yo on the climbs, so I was happy with how I went. I felt
good, but I had some cramps there on the last couple of laps."
"The 29er worked awesome out here. These bikes roll really fast, they
are good through transitions and they have a lot of traction coming into
sweeping turns, and there are a lot of loose sweeping turns out here, so
the bike was perfect. The technical sections were fine too. The
deflection angle of the bigger wheels (is better) on the rocks: when you
have a 26 inch wheel and you hit a rock, it is a much more abrupt impact
than if you have a bigger wheel which makes the rock smaller."
Craig, on the other hand, wasn't completely satisfied with his ride.
"Average. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad so that's average, right?
Somewhere in the middle? I was hoping to be in the top ten, but I don't
know, with a little more aggression at the start I might have been able
to do that but I was pretty settled in with Emil [Lindgren] and
Jongewaard [Australia] who were riding the same speed as I was the whole race so it was as far forward as I could get. I held my position at the start, but it just would have been sweet if I had moved into the top ten
there. I could have, it just would have meant that I would have been
more aggressive and pedalled harder!"
"The course was sick. Other than the fact that a bunch of dudes were
falling on themselves. Like someone would blow something, and it is so
narrow and one line that you would just have to stand there until they
untangle their foot from their front wheel or whatever, and you would
just be like, 'errr...okay', and then they would get back on and charge
off in front of you again. But, whatever. It was sweet, when you had
open track, so, good enough."
 Julien Absalon. Rob Jones photo
José Hermida. Rob Jones photo
 Nino Schurter, giant killer. Rob Jones photo
 Start: Julien Absalon, Geoff Kabush, Nino Schurter, Florian Vogel. Rob Jones photo
 Nino Schurter and Florian Vogel: two medals for Switzerland. Rob Jones photo
 Florian Vogel. Rob Jones photo
 T odd Wells was 8th. Rob Jones photo RACE NOTES:
Julien Absalon, Geoff Kabush and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) were all riding single front chainrings with chain guides, mated to a SRAM XX rear. "I think it's the way of the future," commented Kabush. "One less thing to go wrong, lighter, ... what's not to like?" - Nino Schurter has now won everything he can at Worlds with gold in Jr, U23, senior and relay - Canadian coach Dan Proulx admitted that in an attempt to combat the plague of mechanicals that have beset the Canadian team all week, he buried a toonie (CDN 2 dollar coin) under the start line. For those of you not versed in hockey lore, this was done at the center line at the Salt Lake Olympics by the ice manager who was a Canadian. Canada won gold in both the men's and women's hockey in Salt Lake.  Absalon, Shurter and Vogel--and a World Championship that will be remembered. Rob Jones photo
Men - 7 Laps -45.29 km - Average Speed: 21.80 km/h
1 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 2:04:39
2 Julien Absalon (France) at 0:03
3 Florian Vogel (Switzerland) 0:58
4 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) 0:58
5 Geoff Kabush (Canada) 2:04
6 Cédric Ravanel (France) 2:35
7 Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) 2:59
8 Todd Wells (United States Of America) 3:06
9 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 3:22
10 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 3:45
11 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) 3:56
12 Stéphane Tempier (France) 4:09
13 Martin Gujan (Switzerland) 4:24
14 Sven Nys (Belgium) 4:30
15 Chris Jongewaard (Australia) 4:35
16 Roel Paulissen (Belgium) 4:44
17 Emil Lindgren (Sweden) 4:51
18 Adam Craig (United States Of America) 5:03
19 Filip Meirhaeghe (Belgium) 5:16
20 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spain) 5:22
21 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spain) 5:23
22 Max Plaxton (Canada) 6:07
23 Moritz Milatz (Germany) 6:36
24 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) 6:45
25 Milan Spesny (Czech Republic) 6:53
26 Jelmer Pietersma (Netherlands) 6:58
27 Tony Longo (Italy) 7:08
28 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) 7:28
29 Samuel Schultz (United States Of America) 7:31
30 Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) 7:32
31 Rubens Valeriano (Brazil) 7:48
32 Daniel Mcconnell (Australia) 8:19
33 Karl Markt (Austria) 8:30
34 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (United States Of America) 9:01
35 Ben Henderson (Australia) 9:16
36 Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) 10:31
37 Derek Zandstra (Canada) 10:46
38 Manuel Fumic (Germany) 11:00
39 Sid Taberlay (Australia) 11:01
40 Michal Lami (Slovakia) 11:07
41 Liam Killeen (Great Britain) 11:16
42 Seamus Mcgrath (Canada) 11:37
43 Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) 11:48
44 Maxim Gogolev (Russian Federation) 11:52
45 Anton Gogolev (Russian Federation) 12:07
46 Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 12:14
47 Jianhua Ji (People's Republic Of China) 12:36
48 Bjorn Brems (Belgium) 12:41
49 Hannes Metzler (Austria) 13:09
50 Pavel Boudny (Czech Republic) 13:18
51 Marc Bassingthwaighte (Namibia) 13:29
52 Fabio Hernando Castaneda Monsalve (Colombia) 13:50
53 Edivando De Souza Cruz (Brazil) 13:52
54 Carl Decker (United States Of America) 14:27
55 Dylan Cooper (Australia) 14:53
56 Periklis Ilias (Greece) 16:46
57 Stuart Houltham (New-Zealand) 16:51
58 Ivan Seledkov (Russian Federation) 17:09
59 Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chile) -1LAP
60 Ricardo Pscheidt (Brazil) -1LAP
61 Andrew Blair (Australia) -2LAP
62 Keiichi Tsujiura (Japan) -2LAP
63 Shufeng Zhang (People's Republic Of China) -2LAP
64 Kirill Kazantsev (Kazakhstan) -3LAP
65 Michael Broderick (United States Of America) -3LAP
66 Alban Lakata (Austria) -5LAP
67 Ken Onodera (Japan) -5LAP
68 Marios Athanasiadis (Cyprus) -6LAP
DNF Bas Peters (Netherlands)
DNF Evgeniy Pechenin (Russian Federation)
DNF Johnny Cattaneo (Italy)
DNF Brendon Sharratt (New-Zealand)
DNF Klaus Nielsen (Denmark)
DNF Michael Northcott (New-Zealand)
DNF Marcin Karczynski (Poland)
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