Swiss take team relay at MTB world’s

By Fred Dreier

New Zealand’s winter weather on Tuesday offered up a wet and chilly combination before 14 teams took on the first event of the 2006 World Mountain Bike Championships, the 9.2-mile team relay, won in solid fashion by a strong and consistent Swiss team.

Held near Rotorua, a geothermal resort community on New Zealand’s north island, the world’s got off to a somewhat stormy start on Tuesday as a strong downpour and subsequent ice storm left the course on the slopes of Mt. Ngongotaha covered with a glaze of slick mud. Conditions, however, did nothing to slow the Swiss team of Florian Vogel, Martin Fanger, Petra Henzi and Nino Schurter. The Swiss launched a successful last-lap attack for the victory, besting the Italian team by nearly a minute.

Each team of four included two elite racers (at least one of them a female) and two junior or U-23 athletes. Each rider covered a single lap around the 2.3-mile cross country course.

Vogel, who rides for the Swisspower trade team, led the race out of the gates, charging up the course’s opening climb with a slight gap over Yury Trofimov, the reigning U-23 world champ.

Vogels held his advantage through the first lap and for the next two laps the Swiss continued to battle Trofimov’s Russian teammates Evguen Petchenine, Irina Kalentieva and Sergey Nikolaev as well as the Spanish team of Carlos Coloma, Ruben Ruzafa, David Lozano and Margarita Fullana.

The Spanish seized the front of the race after the third lap, and sent Fullana, a two-time cross-country world champ, onto the final lap with a slim lead.

But part of the strategy in the team relay is the order in which a team fields its riders and the Swiss had an ace up their collective sleeves, sending off a powerful Schurter for the final lap. Fullana’s advantage was not enough to fend off a strong charge from the young Swiss, who had nearly won the U-23 crown at last year’s world championships in Livigno, Italy, where a last-lap flat tire relegated him to third place.

A hard-charging Schurter made quick work of the Spanish rider, passing Fullana on the bottom flanks of the climb, and crossed the line in first.

“It feels good to have won, it feels good to have a jersey,” said Schurter, adding that he’s been feeling stronger this year than he did in 2005.

The Swiss were followed by the resurgent Italian, Polish and French teams, as Fullana – and Spain’s hopes – faded back to seventh.

The American team of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Sam Schultz, Tristen Uhl and Mary McConneloug finished a disappointing 12th place. Horgan-Kobelski, winner of the 2006 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series’ cross-country crown, was the first rider to hit the course, and rode with Trofimov and Vogel up the first climb before a loose left pedal forced him off of his bike. Horgan-Kobelski had to stop twice to re-screw in his pedal, and eventually entered a tech zone to fix the pedal with a hex wrench. The stops relegated the Americans to last place after the first lap.The Canadian team of Geoff Kabush, Max Plaxton, Alex Harvey and Alison Sydor finished in 9th place.2006 World Mountain-Bike Championships Team Relay
1. Switzerland, 1:27:20
(Florian Vogel/Martin Fanger/Petra Henzi/Nino Schurter)
2. Italy, at 0:50
(Tony Longo/Cristian Cominelli/Eva Lechner/Jader Zoli)
3. Poland, at 1:04
(Marcin Karczynski/Adrian Dzialakiewicz/Maja Wloszczowska/Kryspin Pyrgies)
4. France, at 1:20
(Alexis Vuillermoz/Stéphane Tempier/Séverine Hansen/Cédric Ravanel)
5. Germany, at 2:07
(Benjamin Rudiger/Sebastian Lehr/Sabine Spitz/Moritz Milatz)
6. Sweden, at 2:13
(Emil Lindgren/Mattias Wengelin/Maria Ostergren/Fredrik Kessiakoff)
7. Spain, at 3:00
(Carlos Coloma/Ruben Ruzafa/David Lozano/Margarita Fullana)
8. Russian Federation, at 3:02
(Yury Trofimov/Evguen Petchenine/Irina Kalentieva/Sergey Nikolaev)
9. Canada, at 5:14
(Geoff Kabush/Max Plaxton/Alex Harvey/Alison Sydor)
10. New Zealand, at 6:05
(Kashi Leuchs/Clinton Robert Avery/Rosara Joseph/Carl Jones)

FILED UNDER: Mountain