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| Event type

Cross-Country, Men

Date24 September 2000 — 15:30
StatusOlympic
LocationFairfield City Farm, Abbotsbury, New South Wales
Participants49 from 30 countries
Format49.4 km. (30.7 miles).

The course was seven laps, each of about seven kilometers. Since the 1996 Olympics, the four world titles had been won by four different cyclists, with the 2000 title going to France’s Miguel Martinez. The 1996 silver medalist, Thomas Frischknecht (SUI), tried to steal the race early and led after the first four laps but he was then passed by Martinez and Belgium’s Filip Meirhaeghe. Martinez quickly broke Meirhaeghe and won the gold medal by over a minute.

Martinez had not only won the 2000 World title, but also the World Cup, hence dominating the season. His father was Mariano Martinez, who won two stages (1978, 1980) and the polka dot jersey (1978) in the Tour de France. In July 2004, Meirhaeghe was caught using EPO, and was suspended for two years. He admitted to doping, but was able to make a comeback and compete at the 2008 Olympics. Frischknecht was a veteran, having been runner up at the Worlds in 1990-92. He again finished second in 1996, but moved into first when the winner was later disqualified for doping. He was also a former World Championship runner-up in cyclo-cross, as his father had been.

In 22nd place was Michael Rasmussen (DEN), the 1999 World Champion. Rasmussen would soon turn to road racing, and won the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains at the 2005-2006 Tour de France. In 2005, he was in third place in GC entering the penultimate stage, an individual time trial. But obviously not a time trialist, he fell several times, endured several bike changes, placed 77th in the stage, and dropped to seventh overall. In 2007, Rasmussen again put on the polka dot jersey, and actually held the yellow jersey as leader of the Tour after 16 stages and seemed assured of victory. But he was then withdrawn by his Rabobank team when he was found to have evaded doping controls several times, by frequently failing to report his location. A future two-time runner-up in the Tour de France also in this race was Australian Cadel Evans, who placed seventh, but later turned to road racing.

PosCompetitorNOCTimeMargin
1Miguel MartinezFRA2-09:02.50Gold
2Filip MeirhaegheBELat 1:03.01Silver
3Christoph SauserSUIat 2:18.50Bronze
4José Antonio HermidaESPat 2:40.41
5Lado FumicGERat 2:55.38
6Thomas FrischknechtSUIat 3:39.99
7Cadel EvansAUSat 4:29.15
8Carsten BresserGERat 4:34.73
9Geoff KabushCANat 4:58.16
10Paul RowneyAUSat 5:19.94
11Bas van DoorenNEDat 5:34.76
12Bart BrentjensNEDat 5:39.45
13Rob WoodsAUSat 5:39.70
14Roland GreenCANat 6:16.35
15Roberto LezaúnESPat 6:54.49
16Marco BuiITAat 7:06.64
17Kashi LeuchsNZLat 7:35.07
18Ludovic DubauFRAat 7:46.06
19Roel PaulissenBELat 7:52.32
20Pavel CherkasovRUSat 8:19.42
21Marek GalińskiPOLat 8:33.04
22Michael RasmussenDENat 9:13.07
23Oli BeckingsaleGBRat 9:14.51
24Ziranda MadrigalMEXat 10:31.06
25Nick CraigGBRat 10:57.77
26Mannie HeymansNAMat 11:29.44
27Serhiy RysenkoUKRat 11:37.50
28Robin SeymourIRLat 11:37.69
29Radim KořínekCZEat 12:06.09
30Tinker JuarezUSAat 13:08.69
31Hubert PallhuberITAat 13:53.14
32Travis BrownUSAat 13:59.50
33José Adrián BonillaCRCat 21:00.22
34Raita SuzukiJPNat 1 lap
35Tom LarsenNORat 1 lap
36Jesper AgergaardDENat 1 lap
37Primož ŠtrancarSLOat 1 lap
38Gang Dong-UKORat 2 laps
39Ken MuhindiKENat 4 laps
DNFChristophe DupoueyFRA1
DNFRenato SeabraBRA2
DNFDiego GaravitoCOL3
DNFPeter Van Den AbeeleBEL4
DNFIgnacio GiliARG5
DNFPatrick TolhoekNED6
DNFRok DrašlerSLO7
DNFThomas HochstrasserSUI8
DNFDerek HortonGUM9
DNFRune HøydahlNOR10