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| Story and photos by Rob "Up all night to bring you the news" Jones |
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Cross-country racing got underway Saturday May 28th at the Offenburg World Cup with the Junior races. Jolanda Neff and Jens Schuermans were the women's and men's winners respectively, as each easily pulled away from their competitors to solo in to victory. The rain that has been hammering the region for the past couple of days appears to have moved on, and racers were treated to sun and blue skies, with the temperature rapidly climbing into the high 60's. Alexander Gehbauer extended his lead in the men's Under-23 cross-country World Cup series, with his second straight victory in a blazing fast race.
Lone Canadian entry in a USA sandwich.
After rain earlier in the week, the skies cleared and the sun came out for the start of racing on Saturday. The drying track led to lap times in the sub-16 minute range for the five lap race. A group of 11 riders formed at the front on the first lap, and were still together on lap two. It wasn't until the third lap that the pace began to reduce the numbers at the front.
Gerhard Kerschbaumer, the winner of round one and tied for points with Gehbauer after round two, crashed heavily through the rough, rooty Snake Pit section on lap two and backed off after that, eventually finishing tenth.
Remaining at the front and taking turns setting the pace with Gehbauer were Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Focus MIG), Fabien Canal, Markus Bauer, Matthias Stirnemann, Diego Rosa, Ondrej Cink and American Stephen Ettinger.
Rosa tried an attack in the third lap, but Gehbauer chased him down and the group stayed together until the final climb on the last lap, when it exploded under a series of attacks, with Gehbauer carving out a slim nine second victory over a chase group led by Schulte-Luenzum, who beat Canal for second. Ettinger came in just behind the group for sixth.
Gehbauer now holds a 68 point lead in the World Cup standings over Kerschbaumer, with Schulte-Luenzum a distant 120 points back.
Ettinger moved up from his second row start position to join the leaders on lap two, managing to stay in contention until the final climb. "I had a much better start position than last week," the Washington rider stated, "and it made a big difference passing people. I got up to the leaders, but I was yo-yoing off the back on the climbs, and I just didn't have it for the attacks on the last climb. It would have been great to finish top-5, but I'm really happy with this, it's my best finish ever."
U23 Men, 16.5 miles
1 Alexander Gehbauer (Aut) KTM 1:20:05
2 Markus Schulte-Luenzum (Ger) Focus MIG Team at 0:09
3 Fabien Canal (Fra) GT Skoda Chamonix 0:10
4 Markus Bauer (Ger) 0:10
5 Matthias Stirnemann (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team 0:11
6 Stephen Ettinger (USA) 0:18
7 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Merida Biking Team 0:49
8 Diego Rosa (Ita) Giant Italia Team 1:06
9 Michiel Van Der Heijden (Ned) Rabobank - Giant Off-Road Team 1:24
10 Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Ita) TX Active Bianchi 1:31
OTHERS:
42 Kerry Werner (USA) Team USA 5:16
59 Jack Hinkens (USA) 6:52
Junior Women, 9.5 miles
1 Jolanda Neff (Sui) Switzerland 0:55:57
2 Linda Indergand (Sui) MK - Zentralschweiz at 0:19
3 Johanna Techt (Ger) Germany 0:35
4 Julia Innerhofer (Ita) Italy 2:06
5 Lena Putz (Ger) Germany 2:19
6 Andrea Waldis (Sui) Switzerland 3:22
7 Barbora Machulkova (Cze) Czech Republic 3:40
8 Jenny Rissveds (Swe) Sweden 4:28
9 Eliane Mueggler (Sui) Switzerland 5:24
10 Perrine Clauzel (Fra) France 5:27
OTHERS:
29 Alicia Rose Pastore (USA) Team USA 8:56
43 Shayna Powless (USA) Team USA 11:47
Junior Men, 13 miles
1 Jens Schuermans (Bel) Belgium 1:07:07
2 Lars Forster (Sui) Switzerland at 0:28
3 Dominic Zumstein (Sui) Scott - Swisspower MTB - Racing 0:36
4 Victor Koretzky (Fra) France 0:39
5 Thijs Zuurbier (Ned) Netherlands 1:07
6 Grant Ferguson (GBr) Great Britain 1:15
7 Maxime Urruty (Fra) Scott Les Saisies 1:35
8 Romain Seigle (Fra) Asptt Definitive Gitane 1:35
9 Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Esp) Spain 1:46
10 Loic Doubey (Fra) Asptt Definitive Gitane 2:01
OTHERS:
43 Keegan Swenson (USA) Team USA 5:59
88 Max Houtzager (USA) Team USA 10:10
101 Ryan Geiger (USA) Team USA 12:50
107 Casey Williams (USA) Team USA 14:5
Alexander Gehbauer sets the pace. |
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