Yesterday, 2012 Olympic gold medallist and Czech mountain biking star Jaroslav Kulhavy added the UCI MTB Marathon World Championships title to his list of international titles when he rode away from the rest of the field halfway into the race at Cascades MTB Park. Kulhavy was satisfied with being able to tick off the marathon world title was something that he was relieved to be able to do it.
“I am very happy because it was the last title that I didn’t have and really wanted to get. Today was a big day for me and I was really satisfied because this season hasn’t been that good for me. I was injured and had a lot of technical problems at cross country races so it was really satisfying to win today.”
The front of the race changed consisitently, and the chopping and changing resulted in an enthralling race but following a break from the Czech star after the fifth check point and he put the hammer down as the rest of the field were unable to match his power over the second half of the course.
“It all went to plan today even though the race was really hard,” Kulhavy said following his win. “I decided to attack after the fifth feed zone on the downhill and got a minute gap. I pushed hard to the finish after that and didn’t look back.”
Alban Lakata was a race favourite but was slowed at the start with a twisted chain. But he conceded that Kulhavy was in a league of his own.
“He (Kulhavy) was unbeatable today,” Lakata admitted. “Getting second behind the Olympic champion and ahead of a three-time World Champion, Christoph Sauser, is a great thing for me and I have now got three silver medals and one gold but I am happy about my race today. I didn’t have any serious mechanicals besides a twisted chain which only cost me a few seconds so it didn’t make any difference in the end.”
The race had its fair share of drama as defending World Champion Christoph Sauser suffered a substantial mechanical which cost him a chunk of time and effectively ended his bid to defend his title but he proceeded to work his way back up the field to finish in third.
“First of all congratulations to Jaroslav, it was an awesome ride from him and he showed his form at Euro’s two weeks ago. It was all good today until the portage section of the course and I was on and off the bike the whole time and when I was carrying my bike and hit a rock with my chain ring and it took me forever to get it back working,” Sauser explained.
South African marathon champion James Reid finished 17th overall when he crossed the line ahead of fellow South African star Rourke Croeser. Reid was quick to describe the challenge of racing against the best riders in the world.
“It was brutal out there; it was a straight out sufferfest from the gun. I didn’t have a great grid position but I managed to get into the top 10 in the first three kilometres which was about the highlight. The guys in the top 10 are in a different league and if you try and go with them you are going to be a firework, which I just avoided,” a relieved Reid mentioned. “The best way to describe would be a cross country race of 90 minutes with three hours bolted onto the end, that’s how hard these guys go out at the start,” the Trek SA rider added.
Langvad Untouchable for 3rd Title
Denmark’s Annika Langvad wrapped up a hat-trick of women’s world titles at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday entrenching her status as one of the best female endurance mountain bikers in the world – and possibly launching a shot across the bow for Gunn-Rita, who holds four XCM titles. The result was especially pleasing for the Dane who came to South Africa putting a lot of pressure on herself to win.
Langvad shows the winning bike, a prototype Specialized.
“This win is just awesome!”, Langvad said afterwards. “My previous two wins I wasn’t really expecting at all but this time I knew I could win and so I put a bit more pressure on myself around so to have come here and got the win despite that little bit of added pressure, is really pleasing! I didn’t expect to win so comfortably in the end though!” she added excitedly.
Familiar with the local conditions having raced in South Africa previously, winning the ABSA Cape Epic with Ariane Kleinhans, Langvad looked to stamp her authority on proceedings early on, especially after the non-participation due to illness by Great Britain’s Sally Bigham and early withdrawal by fellow title hopeful Milena Landtwing.
It took Langvad until just after the first tech zone to make her decisive move and her lead was soon a significant one.
“I think riding a full suspension made things a lot easier for me with this terrain and allowed me to recover a lot more,” she explained. “I also did the Cape Epic, an extremely hard stage race, leading up to World Champs and I came here today in a very similar mood to my Cape Epic mood so I managed to get into a rhythm and just keep pushing and all of a sudden the 74km actually counted down quite quickly! As I got closer to the finish line and I got told I had a good gap, I just said to myself ‘Okay, no mistakes now. Just get down safely and you’ve got the World Championships title again!’ and it was just amazing! I loved every minute of it!”
Sabine Spitz of Germany showed her pedigree once more as she overcame the rest of the world class field to clinch second place while recently crowned European Champion Tereza Hurikova finished third.
“Early on I tried to go to front so I could keep the speed high because I’ve been involved in two crashes before when the speed was too slow but then Annika made her move between tech zone 1 and 2 and once she opened up a gap it just continued to grow and grow and grow!” said Spitz with a wry grin. “Annika was just stronger than me, you have to accept just it when someone is stronger than you and she is a deserved World Champion.” she added gracefully.
The renowned competitor also had some high praise for Nick Floros’ widely anticipated course.
“It was different to the marathon courses we get in Europe where you ride mainly on gravel and can be quite boring. Here the landscape was so different and the course was just great.” said Spitz.
With the podium in a class of their own, 40-year-old legend of the sport Esther Süss and fellow Swiss star Arian Kleinhans – who now calls Stellenbosch home after marrying South African Erik Kleinhans – were left to battle it out for the remaining top five positions. South African national marathon champ Robyn de Groot had the ride of her life as she compiled her solid sixth place yielding effort while birthday girl Jeannie Dreyer finished eighth and was the second local lass across the line.
UCI MTB MARATHON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
Women
1. Annika Langvad (DEN) 3:50:53
2. Sabine Spitz (GER) 3:56:20 +05:26
3. Tereza Hurikova (CZE) 3:59:50 +08:56
4. Esther Suss (SUI) 4:07:07 +16:13
5. Ariane Kleinhans (SUI) 4:11:32 +20:38
6. Robyn de Groot (RSA) 4:12:30 +21:36
7. Jennie Stenerhag (SWE) 4:13:53 +23:00
8. Jeannie Dreyer (RSA) 4:22:11 +31:17
9. Alice Pirard (BEL) 4:28:09 +37:15
10. Regina Genser (GER) 4:28:50 +37:56
Men
1. Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) 4:15:58
2. Alban Lakata (AUT) 4:19:16 +05:26
3. Christoph Sauser (SUI) 4:20:11 +04:13
4. Urs Huber (SUI) 4:22:56 +06:57
5. Jukka Vastaranta (FIN) 4:23:26 +07:27
6. Bartlomiej Wawak (POL) 4:23:39 +07:40
7. Roel Paulissen (BEL) 4:24:06 +08:07
8. Robert Mennen (GER) 4:25:45 +09:46
9. Ilias Periklis (GRE) 4:26:56 +10:57
10. Moritz Malitz (GER) 4:27:10 +11:11
11. Jiri Novak (CZE) 4:29:35 +13:36
12. Tiago Jorge Oliviera (POR) 4:30:26 +14:27
13. Fredrik Ericsson (SWE) 4:31:27 +15:28
14. Tony Longo (ITA) 4:32:01 +16:03
15. Simon Stiebjahn (GER) 4:32:39 +16:40
16. Hector Leonardo Paez Leon (COL) 4:33:22 +17:23
17. James Reid (RSA) 4:34:09 +18:10
18. Rourke Croeser (RSA) 4:34:53 +18:54
19. Stephan Sahm (GER) 4:34:53 +18:54
20. Cory Wallace (CAN) 4:35:26 +19:27
All Images and quotes via Gameplan Media