Mountain Bike World Championships
Oakley’s Gee Atherton brought home Great Britain’s third gold medal when he won the elite men’s downhill World Championship. As the final rider down the mountain on a technical and steep, but completely dry 2.25 km course, all eyes were on him. On a day of many small mistakes and more than the usual number of crashes, Atherton rode a consistent race to victory. On his way to the win, he ousted compatriot Steve Peat from the hot seat.
“It’s hard for me to say where was critical on the run – where I won. It was a track you had to be on the gas all the way down,” said Atherton. “My run wasn’t perfect, and I made mistakes, but obviously it was a track where you could afford to make a few. It paid to be consistent.”
Switzerland proved it is and will continue to be a force with which to be reckoned by placing three of its riders in the top four in the under 23 men’s cross country race on Friday afternoon. Riding a physically and tactically strong race, Oakley’s Nino Schurter (Swizterland) won the World Championship.
Oakley’s Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lu (Spain) was crowned the World Champion in the 4X at the end of a busy day of gravity racing, which also saw four downhill titles awarded the women, men, junior women and junior men.
The men’s race looked like a bowling match with all but one of the four Big Final riders going down. Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lu (Spain) won after he was the only man who avoided the pile-up which sent favorite Jared Graves (Australia) and Mickael Deldycke (France) over the side of the burm and into a pile of photographers and spectators.
RESULTS
Men:
1. Gee Atherton- OAKLEY
4X results:
Men:
1. Rafa Alvarez de Lara (esp) OAKLEY
2. Roger Rinderknecht (sui), OAKLEY
3. Mickael Deldycke (fra)
4. Jared Graves ( aus) OAKLEY
Women:
1. Melissa Buhl (usa)
2. Hurakova Jana (cze)
3. Labounkova Romana (cze)
4. Anneke Beerten (Ned) OAKLEY
XC Results:
ELITE
Men:
1. Christophe Sauser
2. Florian Vogel (sui) OAKLEY
Women
1. Marga Fulana (esp)
2. Sabine Spitz (ger) OAKLEY
U23
1. Nino Schurter (sui) OAKLEY
2. Burry Stander (rsa), OAKLEY
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