Burry Stander (South Africa) was the dominant rider on Friday, as he successfully took his first title in the Under-23 Men's cross-country at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Canberra, Australia.  Alexis Vuillermoz (France) took second at 1:21, with Switzerland's Thomas Litscher winning the bronze medal, 2:46 down.  The top North American was U.S. rider Robbie Squire in 32nd, 11:25 down on Stander.


The start of the U23 race. Rob Jones photo
 

The six lap race saw Litscher attack strongly in the first lap, with Stander glued to his wheel.  A chase group of six formed 25 seconds behind, including Mattias Wengelin (Sweden), Marek Konwa (Poland), Vuillermoz, Peter Sagan, Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) and Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina).

Then Stander opened it up on the Cardiac Arrest climb, and that was it ... the rest of the race was for second as the Number Two rider in the overall World Cup standings steadily increased his lead through the remainder of the race.


Thomas Litscher (9) and Burry Stander rode away quickly. Rob Jones photo 


Vuillermoz overtook a fading Litscher in the third lap, with Sagan and Konwa chasing for third.  As the race continued, the front three continued to distance themselves from the chasers, with Sagan and Konwa managing to hold on for fourth and fifth respectively.


Peter Sagan (Slovakia) 2008 Junior World Champ, is just 19 years old - finished 4th. Rob Jones photo



Alexis Vuillermoz (France).  Rob Jones photo

"Yeah, the couple of days leading up to the race was pretty nerve wracking," admitted Stander, "and today I was just focussed on the start.  I knew it would play a vital part of the race. Unfortunately, we had a really strong headwind so it wa sn't possible to try to take the lead from the beginning.  You had to try to take your chances in the group, and then wait just before the single track to make your move. Fortunately for me, things worked out and I got into the trail second, and from there the race went perfect.  I just tried to keep it smooth, and my Specialized full suspension just worked great out there.  The course was getting tougher and tougher, and really bumpy, and to me it went perfect and I am really really happy."



Burry Stander (South Africa) wins. Rob Jones photo

"[The overnight rain] made the course quite a bit better I think," Said Stander. "The course was getting really loose out there and for the first couple of laps it was really compacted and fast, and towards the end it started getting pretty loose and ridden out again.  I think the rain did it a bit of good. My biggest fear was the start, but they [the Swiss] controlled the race from the beginning after the first straight and they got the first guy into the single track and I almost let another guy go in front of me, and I only just managed to get past the second Swiss guy going into the trail and from there it was perfect.  On the single track there is not much you can do as a team.  On the switchback climb we set such a quick pace that it immediately opened up to the next group."



Robbie Squire (USA) was top N. American. Rob Jones photo 

Squire, who moved up to the U23 ranks this year after racing last year's Worlds as a junior, was pleased with his performance:

"In the first half lap I felt awful, but since the race didn't go out as fast as I expected, I was able to hang in there.  I was thinking at the beginning 'Oh, no, to come all the way to Australia, and ride like this...'  But then I was able to turn it up as the race went on.  I was in a bit of no man's land on the fifth lap, between groups, but then I got my last bottle and was able to punch it for the final lap.  So, I'm very satisfied."

U23 Men - 6 Laps - 38.82 km - Average Speed: 21.68 km/h
1 Burry Stander (South Africa)     1:47:26
2 Alexis Vuillermoz (France)     at 1:21
3 Thomas Litscher (Switzerland)     2:46
4 Peter Sagan (Slovakia)     4:15
5 Marek Konwa (Poland)     4:45
6 Guillaume Vinit (France)     4:59
7 Mattias Wengelin (Sweden)     5:14
8 Fabian Giger (Switzerland)     5:32
9 Lukas Kaufmann (Switzerland)     5:57
10 Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina)     6:31
11 Lachlan Norris (Australia)     7:33
12 Anders Hovdenes (Norway)     7:54
13 Tom Meeusen (Belgium)     8:11
14 Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland)     8:15
15 Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands)     8:28
16 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Australia)     8:31
17 Sepp Freiburghaus (Switzerland)     8:57
18 Markus Bauer (Germany)     9:01
19 Cal Britten (Australia)     9:03
20 Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina)     9:05
21 Simon Scheiber (Austria)     9:16
22 Irjan Luttenberg (Netherlands)     9:36
23 Johannes Schweiggl (Italy)     9:42
24 Robert Gehbauer (Austria)     9:50
25 Marco Minnaard (Netherlands)     9:54
26 Piotr Brzozka (Poland)     10:08
27 Luka Mezgec (Slovenia)     10:19
28 Sebastien Carabin (Belgium)     10:30
29 David Fletcher (Great Britain)     10:46
30 Niels Wubben (Netherlands)     11:01
31 Sergey Nikolaev (Russian Federation)     11:19
32 Robbie Squire (United States Of America)     11:25
33 Marcel Fleschhut (Germany)     11:36
34 Charlton Durie (Australia)     11:37
35 Lukas Sablik (Czech Republic)     11:46
36 Tad Elliott (United States Of America)     11:47
37 Pascal Meyer (Switzerland)     12:45
38 Raphael Gagne (Canada)     12:55
39 Erik Groen (Netherlands)     13:01
40 Cristian Cominelli (Italy)     13:19
41 Fabian Strecker (Germany)     13:22
42 Evgeniy Nikolaev (Russian Federation)     14:16
43 Roman Orlov (Russian Federation)     14:31
44 Manfred Reis (Germany)     -1LAP
45 Sebastian Szraucner (Germany)     -1LAP
46 Carl Jones (New-Zealand)     -1LAP
47 Colin Cares (United States Of America)     -1LAP
48 Nathan Haas (Australia)     -1LAP
49 Vasilis Adamou (Cyprus)     -1LAP
50 Tim Wynants (Belgium)     -1LAP
51 Ashley Hough (New-Zealand)     -1LAP
52 Seiya Hirano (Japan)     -1LAP
53 Scott Green (New-Zealand)     -2LAP
54 Yu Takenouchi (Japan)     -2LAP
55 Keisuke Goda (Japan)     -2LAP
56 Scott Thwaites (Great Britain)     -3LAP
DNF Martin Fanger (Switzerland)     DNF4
DNF Dries Govaerts (Belgium)     DNF4
DNF Daniel Vivanco (Chile)     DNF3
DNF Andy Eyring (Germany)     DNF3
DNF Sherman Paiva (Brazil)     DNF1
DNF Connor Mcconvey (Ireland)     DNF4
DNS Henrique Avancini (Brazil)     DNS
DNS Shlomi Haimy (Israel)     DNS
DNS Martin Loo (Estonia)     DNS