It was a hot day for the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Montebelluna. The women started at 9:30am, with the men at 10am.
With temperatures reaching over 30 degrees, fluid intake was essential. Thankfully the 115km course had eight feed zones today. Good planning would be required by the larger teams, and a lot of volunteers to keep riders fed and watered.
In the mens race, a large group came through the first feed zone together. Perhaps many of them were racing on a promise? The were 10 minutes up on the fastest estimates. By the second feed at 31km it was still flat out, with Konny Looser (SUI) driving the pace.
The group thinned a little by the 40km and 56km mark. The cracking pace proving too much for some.
By the fifth feed zone at 63km, the front super group had blown apart, and by the sixth feed zone the front group had settled at Absalon, Kulhavy, Sauser and Bohme. Soon after Bohme dropped off the pace a little and was alone. Coming into the final part of the race Sauser was clear, and then Kulhavy, Celestino and Bohme were together. Absalon had apparently blown up.
This was pieced together from Twitter feeds, but the full results can be viewed online
Mens
1 SAUSER Christoph SUI SWITZERLAND / SUISSE 4:24:48 0:00:00.
2 KULHAVY Jaroslav CZE CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQ 4:27:58 0:03:10.
3 CELESTINO Mirko ITA ITALY / ITALIE 4:30:30 0:05:42.
4 BOHME Tim GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:31:53 0:07:05.
5 KASS Jochen GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:35:19 0:10:31.
6 LAKATA Alban AUT AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE 4:35:30 0:10:42.
7 DE BERTOLIS Massimo ITA ITALY / ITALIE 4:36:02 0:11:14.
8 VASTARANTA Jukka FIN FINLAND / FINLANDE 4:37:06 0:12:18.
9 MENNEN Robert GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:37:17 0:12:29.
10 TRAYTER Alemany Marc ESP SPAIN / ESPAGNE 4:37:50 0:13:02.
Womens
1 LANGVAD Annika DEN DENMARK / DANEMARK 4:20:32 0:00:00.
2 SPITZ Sabine GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:22:28 0:01:55.
3 SÜSS Esther SUI SWITZERLAND / SUISSE 4:23:55 0:03:22.
4 SUNDSTEDT Pia FIN INLAND / FINLANDE 4:26:04 0:05:31.
5 BRANDAU Elisabeth GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:26:06 0:05:33.
6 BIGHAM Sally GBR GREAT BRITAIN / GRANDE-BR 4:29:25 0:08:52.
7 DAHLE flesjaa Gunn-Rita NOR NORWAY / NORVEGE 4:31:47 0:11:14.
8 MATA Monique Pua USA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / 4:32:23 0:11:50.
9 S L LNER Birgit GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:33:37 0:13:04.
10 GAESSLER Nina GER GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE 4:37:04 0:16:31.