Mountain Bike World Cup: Cross country results from Belgium

Marga Fullana (Massi) and Frenchman Julien Absalon (Orbea) won the elite cross-country World Cup races in Houffalize, Belgium this past weekend.

Over 20,000 spectators packed the hillsides at Houffalize, and watched Fullana take a record fifth victory in the women's race, taking the women's World Cup standings lead as a result of the victory. Absalon took his second consecutive victory in the men's cross-country, padding his lead in the overall World Cup standings. This was the third World Cup race in the series.
"It is a very hard race here at Houffalize, and very special to win," said Fullana. "The crowds are so big here and the fans are very special, so it pushes you to go harder."


Absalon's victory was his second ever win at Houffalize.
"This is a country of cycling, they are really crazy about it here, so this makes it the biggest World Cup of the season," said Absalon.
The women's race, at a short three and a half laps, was perfect for Fullana. The International Cycling Union (UCI) World Champion excels at very fast starts and long climbs, and Houffalize has both. By the end of the start loop Fullana had a small gap on Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), with a chase group forming behind, led by defending race winner Ren Chengyuan (China). Fullana opened a gap on Premont in the first full lap, when the Canadian champion had to run a section that Fullana was able to ride.
"I was with Fullana in the beginning," said Premont. "But there was a change to the course that I didn't know about, so I got off my bike to run a section while she kept riding, and that is when she got away. Ren and Catharine [Pendrel (Luna)] came up to us, but on the second lap when Ren went hard, it was too fast a pace for me.
"I am still building my fitness, so I'm really pleased with this result at this time of the season," she added.
For complete results and photos from the Elite women's cross country race, visit Cyclingnews.com.

Absalon absolutely amazing

The men's five and a half lap race began with an attack almost immediately from Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida). Only Olympic silver medalist Jean-Christophe Peraud (Massi) was able to respond, and the pair started to build a gap on a chase group containing Absalon, Wolfram Kurschat (Topeak Ergon) and Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida).
"I was trying to go hard, but conserve energy as well," said Näf. "I was with Julien until the final lap, and then I exploded totally, with nothing left."



Peraud's response was: "He went fast, so I followed. But by the middle of the race it became more difficult for me, and I had to let him [Näf] go. I was still going pretty good until the last lap when I had a problem with the [last rider] moto. He was in the way and I went off the course and crashed and dropped my chain; maybe without that problem I would have beaten Burry [for fourth]."
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