Kabush 8th in men’s Olympic MTB – photos
Plaxton forced to withdraw after crash
The London Olympic Games closed on Sunday and one of the last events was the men’s mountain bike race. Canada’s Geoff Kabush and Max Plaxton, who is the national champion, put forth strong performances.
Kabush ended the race in 8th place, one place higher than his 9th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Plaxton had a strong start but was forced to pull out of the race after crashing through a technical section.
The men completed seven laps of a 4.7 km course. The race shook out after the first lap and a lead group of riders emerged including Marco Fontana from Italy, Nino Schurter from Switzerland, Burry Stander from South Africa, Jaroslav Kulhavy from Czech Republic and Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos from Spain.
“I just wasn’t able to get in that lead group,” Kabush told the Vancouversun.com. “But I was close, maybe just lacking the little bit of snap to get up there with the leaders.
“Coming to the Olympics you always dream big. I definitely came here with the goal of a medal, but top eight is a great result. I’ll take some satisfaction out of that and just continue to enjoy riding my bike.”
Kulhavy and Schurter distanced themselves from the group and played a game of cat and mouse during the last lap of the race. Each made several strong attacks over the circuit’s ascents and technical sections.
In the end it was Kulhavy who took the gold medal after a sprint finish against Schurter in silver. Fontana, who finished the race without a saddle or seat post, took bronze.
Stander fell off pace half way through the race and drifted back into the fight for the top 10 that included Kabush, Carlos Nicolas from Spain, Manuel Fumic from Germany, Alexander Gehbauer from Austria and U.S. national champion Todd Wells.
Photos by Casey Gibson: cbgphoto.com
