The Battle to the Finish - Ablstadt XC World Cup
The sun was shining brightly this morning and it was going to be a good day for racing. The week's precipitation decided to take a hiatus, and the track dried out here in Albstadt. This made for some fast, wickedly quick racing. Jolanda Neff ran away with another win and Julien Absalon edged out Nino Schurter for the big finish in a down to the wire race that included a nasty spill for Nino.
Irmo Keizer • Age: 36 • Years Shooting: 10 Irmo Keizer has been mountain biking since high school. Irmo loves nature, technical trails and landscapes and dislikes too many race lines and fire roads. Irmo has a strong passion for all sorts of mountain bike disciplines ranging from cross country, to enduro and downhill. Combining his passion of mountain biking and photography ten years ago, Irmo has been working as a photographer/editor in mountain biking ever since.
Pendrel was all smiles this morning.
Catharine Pendrel chooses her start position.
Women's start.
Catharine Pendrel and Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa battling it out.
Jolanda Neff had another impressive win. She got out front quickly and never looked back.
Catharine Pendrel duked it out with Gunn-Rita the entire race. She took third.
The course dried up in the afternoon, but it remained treacherous up on top. Many took a tumble as they got pinballed.
This lady is on fire. Although Jolanda Neff was in a class of her own Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa proves to be on top of her game. Legend.
Maja Wloszczowska had a solid ride to fifth place.
The battle for the podium was close. Racers choose to ride the steeper line, or the longer, less steep one. Catharine Pendrel leads Maja Wloszczowska.
Emily Batty has found her World Cup pace. She placed fourth today.
Compared to Nove Mesto, the pace of this race was off the charts. The speed is even more impressive when all the climbing is considered.
Jolanda Neff flying down the course. Her pace was furious and no other woman comes close at this point.
Neff comes across the line with a very comfortable margin. She seems simply unbeatable.
Maja and Jolanda share a laugh at the finish.
A commissaire holds a pre-race checklist for the men U23 race.
Walking mayhem halfway down the field at the men's U23. Albstadt's course proves troublesome with a large rider field.
Michiel van der Heijden, Hafjell's U23 World Champion, rode to a 26th position today. He's feeling confident and aims to enter the top 20 in the next race.
Julien was all focus at the start. He knew what he needed to do to win today.
It's all a blur at the start.
Absalon and Nino playing cat and mouse.
The backside descent dried out with a brief reprieve from the rain and speeds picked up.
Florian Vogel is in form. He's ever so close to that medal.
Going over the bars, this rider had to walk up to where he went out to re-enter the race.
Mathias Fluckiger took fifth today.
This section is called the Devil's Waves. Most of this course is named after the Devil's something-or-other.
Schurter puts in an attack, but Absalon follows right away.
Nino Schurter and Julien Absalon battled hard for victory. The course was packed with crowds, roaring riders forward.
Absalon on the penultimate lap.
Jaro rode to third today, just a little off the pace from his Nove Mesto finish.
To say there were some lung busting climbs here is an understatement.
Eight seconds ahead of Nino Schurter, Absalon takes another win in Albstadt.
Schurter went hard to overtake Julien and it backfired. He slid out on one of the final turns. Such is the way of battle.
Ralph Naef went deep. This course is very, very harsh.
Auf wiedersehen, from Albstadt.
About the Photographers
Matthew Delorme • Age: 40 • Years Shooting: 8 Matthew DeLorme is just one of Pinkbike’s motley crew of World Cup photographers. He currently lives out of a Ogio bag, and calls the road his home. Delorme works for Trek Bicycle, covering their MTB racing programs. He can usually be found laying in the dirt trackside, cracking jokes and saying things that make little to no sense. He enjoys capturing accessory moments and the journey every bit as much as catching the action shot.
MENTIONS: @SCOTT-Sports, @trek, @mdelorme, @ikeizer
46 Comments
Props to RedBull as well for covering the events and putting the commentated live feed online!
I feel the race format has great potential! As it is not only biker would be exciting in watching this if you see what i mean.
Who's in for crowdfunding shredtv ?
(Neff made this womens race kinda boring but damn, I could watch her ride a bike all day anyway :p )
Also, @zephxiii - your comment isn't getting nearly the love it deserves. I laughed out loud in the office and now my colleagues think I've finally cracked.
BTW, it's Maja, not "Mia" (the caption under Wloszczowska and Neff's photo). Keep up the good work.
"Schurter went hard to overtake Julien and it backfired. He slid out on one of the final turns..."
kind of makes it sound as if he wrecked while overtaking, which of course isn't the case. He was well ahead but just a little too hot in one of the last corners.
Just nitpicking a little, but great pics! I normally don't watch XC, but put it on yesterday morning and watched the mens race, influenced heavily by the article with pics of some of their bikes. Still a little sedate for my taste, but awesome still!
You can watch the replay of the Nove Mesto race; it has a bit more technical features than Albstadt.
My favorite course, though, is Pietermaritzburg, SA. Watching Nino smoke through the rock garden there on a HT is absolutely amazing.
TL; DR They're fast as hell.
I've just compared that to one of my recent rides and I won't even quote it here because I'm embarrassingly slow.