Cross-Country, Men

In the men’s mountain bike cross-country event, France’s Julien Absalon looked to be the cyclist to beat: with victories in the discipline at the last two Olympics and four World Championship titles, he certainly had the pedigree to continue the defense of his title. At the 2011 World Championships, however, Absalon was outperformed by Jaroslav Kulhavý of the Czech Republic and Nino Schurter of Switzerland, who took gold and silver respectively in the tournament. Kulhavý had been the 2011 overall World Cup leader and had placed 18th at the 2008 Summer Olympics, while Schurter, who won bronze at the 2008 Games, had been the 2009 World Champion and the 2010 and 2012 overall World Cup leader. These three men had held eight of the last nine World Cup podium spots between them (Burry Stander of South Africa had been runner-up in 2012, knocking Absalon out of the medals) and looked to be the favorites at the 2012 Summer Games.

As in the women’s event, where Catharine Pendrel of Canada finished ninth, men’s Olympic mountain biking was not to be dominated by race favorite. Although Absalon and Schurter had a great start and led the pack for the first several minutes, Absalon suffered a puncture in the opening lap and abandoned the course. This left room for Schurter, Kulhavý, and Italian Marco Fontana, who had been fifth in Beijing, to form a lead group that began to drift from the rest of the cyclists, although they were soon joined by José Antonio Hermida of Spain, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2010 World Champion. By the third lap Burry Stander of South Africa, fifteenth at the 2008 Games, caught up to the main group with an impressive charge after a poor start that left him in 11th place early in the race. These five men led the field for the remainder of the event, and it soon became clear among them who would be battling for the gold medal. Although at some point over the course each of these five riders made a charge for first place, and all were leading at some point, Hermida and Stander began to fade in the second half of the race, with Hermida having difficulty maintaining the pace and Stander seemingly exhausted from his initial charge to the lead group. Stander would attempt several more charges throughout the race, but fell back soon after each push, leaving Schurter, Kulhavý, and Fontana to compete for the medals.

In the final lap Fontana struggled to keep pace and eventually dropped far enough back that he was nearly overtaken by Hermida for the bronze medal. Schurter and Kulhavý never waned, however, and, unlike the women’s race that had been decided long before the finish line, the men’s event came down to a sprint between these two riders. In the end it was Kulhavý who earned the gold medal, edging out Schurter by one second, who was forced to settle for silver. Fontana managed to stave off Hermida’s challenge, claiming bronze by a margin of four seconds, while Stander finished one second after Hermida, but still half a minute faster than the next rider. For Hermida it was his second fourth-place finish at the Olympics, following his performance at the 2000 Games (he had been tenth in Beijing).