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World Championships Marathon Verviers, BEL |
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| Date: |
12.08.2007 |
| Description: |
MTB Marathon Race |
| More information: |
http://www.uci.ch/modello.asp?1stLevelID=SE&level1=0&level2=0&idnews=4495 |
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| Diary:
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| 12.08.2007 |
One of the best day’s in my racing live! Just unforgettable!
I can not describe the excitement on the last kilometre, finishing the line or getting dressed in the rainbow jersey. That, you can only feel it!
Following the race report from Bobby Behan our Specialized team manager:
When we arrived in Belgium on Wednesday the rain was pouring and it continued to do so until Friday. Thankfully, the skies started to clear and by Sunday morning the course was pretty dry with decent conditions throughout.
The Marathon Events are slightly different to the crosscountry events, for those of you new to this. The main changes are that the marathon events usually take over double the time of a crosscountry event, so between four to five hours to complete as opposed to just under two hours. Secondly, the marathon events take place over one lap, so a lot can happen between one technical support area and another, unlike the cross country racing, which can be over as many as seven to eight laps. It is fun yet challenging for the backup staff who race around the countryside trying to find their feeds ahead of the rider’s arrival! Given that twenty kilometres of off road riding can separate the feeds, it is very important that the riders take the necessary spare parts with them to avoid possibly a long walk to the next technical support section.
Men’s Race @ 8:45am: Susi dominates to win his first ever World Title
105kms, 3'300meter elevation gain, 4.23hrs
First Place, 5.23min ahead of Roel Paulissen
It’s been a long time coming. I have known Susi since 1999 and have felt his heartache, pain and disappointment over the years, given the amount of World Championships he has missed out on, mainly due to bad luck followed by more bad luck. Susi is regarded to be one of the most consistent riders ever. Since 1999 he has been at the top of his game, recording 11 World Cup Titles so far in his career equalling Julien Absalon and only behind the great Thomas Frishknecht. He has won two overall World Cup Titles and has an Olympic Medal to his name, but he has never won a World Championship Title, that is until today! It’s been a long time coming.
Last year in New Zealand you could see that Susi badly wanted that World Championship Title. Damn he tried so hard but had to be content with silver. Two weeks prior and more bad luck resulted in his early exit from the World Marathon Championships. Today and in the week building up to this race you could really see that Susi wanted this so badly and he certainly showed that from the start.
“Right for the beginning I had it right away”. “It” could be referred to as the “fire” or “it” could be referred to as the “power”, but whatever “it” means we all know that “it” is going to stay for a few more weeks in the build up to the World Cross Country Championships in Scotland!
Ralf Naf the defending World Marathon Champion and Christoph took the pace out hard and separated themselves from the rest of the field quite quickly, with only Roel Paulisson capable of getting into some of the action at the front. There was not a lot of chatting between Ralf and Susi during the ride only enough to say that they would work together and try to keep the pace high. Between feeds two and three Ralf had problems with his chain, followed by a puncture, leaving Susi all alone. Rather than keep the same margin to the pursuers, Christoph gradually started to turn the screw increasing his lead to over five minutes to win such an impressive solo victory. “Over the last 20km I rode like I was on eggs, because I knew I was nearly there”.
“The feeling of being World Champion is indescribable. There were tears in my eyes when I crossed the line”.
“The bike was so good today on a day where it was really challenged. The course resulted in the bike going from dry to dirt to dry to dirt over and over again, which is hard on a bike, but The Epic rose above it all. Although, most riders opted for a mud tyre my Specialized SLK’s were the business and felt so light and responsive. I was so happy with the bike”.
Christoph’s Bike:
Bike: Specialized Epic Carbon Full Suspension
Tyres: Specialized SLK (Front and Rear)
Tyre Pressures: 28 PSI (Front and Rear)
Fork Pressure: 90 PSI
Rear Shock Pressure: 85 PSI
Men’s Results:
1. Christoph Sauser (Swi) Specialized Factory Racing 4 hours 23’ 06’’
2. Roel Paulissen (B) + 5’ 23’’
3. Thomas Dietsch (F) + 7’ 26’’
4. Leonardo Paez (Col) + 8’ 21’’
5. Massimo De Bertolis (I) + 8’ 50’’
6. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) + 9’ 51’’
7. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) + 9’ 51’’
8. Fredrik KessIakoff (Swe) + 9’ 51’’
9. Karl Platt (Ger) + 9’ 51’’
10. Alban Lakata (Aus) + 10’ 12’’
Link 1: Swiss TV Coverage
         
Link 1: http://www.sf.tv/var/videoplayer.php?videourl=http%3A%2F%2Freal.x...
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