WORLD CUP CHAMP IS WAY TO FASTAUG 28
WORLD CUP CHAMP IS WAY TO FASTAUG 28
Today, heat and dust were not on the minds of the athletes as the most formidable rival in the men’s Olympic competition was pace. It was a brutally fast race. The race settled into the second lap. World Cup Champion Julien Absalon, 1996 Olympian Bart Brentjens and Marco Bui, Jose Antonio Hermida and Jean-Christophe Peraud were blazing the trail. Miguel Martinez, the only mountain bike gold medalist, joined the race on lap three. The 2000 Olympic Champion fell apart and left the race. As Absalon’s jump went off, the lead pack continued to split. The only riders who were able to hang on to Absalon were Brentjens, Hermida and Hermida. They battled for silver. Hermida crashed and lost a full minute to Absalon. The Spaniard made a heroic effort to make up the gap in one lap and blazed past Brentjens on the final circuit.
American Todd Wells finished 19th, while Jeremy Horgan Kobelski placed 21st. Wells was the more dominant of the two. He overcame a bottleneck in the first lap to pass Jeremy and moved past him midway through. The National Champ was sitting at 13th after the start loop. Jeremy later admitted to being unable maintain Absalons’ incredible pace.
THE OLYMPIC COURSE
The Mount Parnitha mountain biking course is located just outside Athens. It has proved to be even more difficult than the Olympian Zeus. The main circuit, which is 3-3/4 miles long, took in 213.4 m of climbing with no rest. The trail is rocky, loose and rutted. The test to determine who is the best athlete was made more difficult by temperatures well into the 90s. Even berms were used, including a double and a tabletop. The riders were concerned about their chances of actually getting airtime, so the berms were reduced. The cleverly designed figure 8 layout allowed spectators to see their favorite riders.
For a total of 27 miles, the men raced seven laps. Yesterday, the women raced five laps covering a distance 19-1/2 miles. Absalons won with an average speed of 19 km/h. Gunn-Rita Dahle, a gold medalist for women, averaged 16 km/h.
2004 OLYMPIC OMEN RESULTS
1. Julien Absalon (Fra)Bianchi Agos 2. Jose Antonio Hermida (Spa)Merida-Multivanat 3. Bart Brentjens, Ned)T-Mobile 4. Roel Paulissen (Bel)Siemens-Cannondale 5. Liam Killeen, (GBr)Subaru–Gary Fisher 6. Ralph Naef (Swi)Merida-Multivan 7. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi)Swisspower 8. Manuel Fumic (Ger). Seamus Mcgrath (Can)Haro-Adidas 10. Marco Bui (Ita) 11. Jean-Christophe Peraud, (Fra),Lapierre 12. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe)..Siemens Mobile Cannondale 13. Bas Peters (Ned). Marek Galinski (Pol)Orbea 15. Christoph Soukup (Aut) 16. Ivan Alvarez (Spa) 17. Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) 18. Peter Riis Andersen (Den) 19. Todd WellsGTHyundai 20. Carsten Bresser (Ger)Ralph Denk1 21. Jeremy Horgan-KobelskiRLX Ralph Lauren1 22. Radim Korinek (CzR)s.t.
23. Sid Taberlay (Aus)TIS-CN-Avanti1 24. Marcin Karczynski (Pol)1 25. Thijs Al (Ned),1 26. Jose Adrian Bonilla (CRc)s.t.
27. Iuriy Trofimov (Rus)1 28. Kashi Leuchs, NZl)Biachi1 29. Mannie Heymans (Nam)1 30. Robin Seymour, (Ire),1 31. Joshua Fleming (Aus)1 32. Michael Weiss (Aut)1 33. Souza Cruz Edvandro (Bra)1 34. Lubos Kondis (Slo)1 35. Yader Zoli, Ita 1 36. Sergiy Rysenko, Ukr)1 37. Christian Poulsen (Den)-1 lap
38. Cristobal Silva (Chi), 1 lap
39. Sigvard Kukk (Est)-2 laps
40. Zsolt Vinczeffy (Hun)-2 laps
41. Yongbiao Zhu (Chn)-2 laps
42. Emmanouil Kotoulas (Gre)-3 laps
43. Carlos Franco Gennero (Arg)-3 laps
Christoph Sauser (Swi)Siemens-CannondaleDNF
Jaroslav Kulhavy, CzR)DNF
Kenji Takeya (Jpn)DNF
Lado Fumic (Ger)T-MobileDNF
Miguel Martinez (Fra)CommencalDNF
Ryder Hesjedal, (Can)Subaru–Gary FisherDNF
Tudor Oprea Ovidiu (Rom)DNF
