France Takes Gold and Silver in Men’s Mountain Biking at 2008 Olympic Games

France finished one-two in the men’s mountain biking event at the Beijing Olympic games at Laoshan Mountain.

Julien Absalon claimed his second straigh Gold medal with a time of 1:55:59, just over a minute ahead of his compatriot Jean-Christophe Peraud who finsihed second. Julien is a four-time world champion and became the first man with two Olympic mountain biking titles with his win today.

The bronze medal was won by Nino Schurter of Switzerland. He beat out countryman Christoph Sauser who was the 2000 Olympic Bronze medalist by just two seconds!

“I realized that I was better going uphill than he was,” Schurter said afterwards.

“I was able to hold him off on the straights, and the last 15 seconds I definitely had the better of him.

“I really wanted a medal and I am more than happy.”

He added that he would do everything possible to become the favourite to win gold in the 2012 Games in London.

The United States, Adam Craig finished 29th and Todd Wells finished 43rd.

Today’s event was the final cycling competition of the Beijing Games.

Germany’s Sabine Spitz Claims Gold at Beijing Olympics

Veteran racer Sabine Spitz of Germany dominated Laoshan Mountain at the Olympic women’s mountain bike race Saturday, winning the gold medal by 41 seconds over Poland’s Maja Wloszezowska. Spitz becomes Germany’s first gold medalist in Mountain Biking since it became an Olympic sport in 1996.

A world champion in 2003 and bronze medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the 36-year-old stopped pedaling just before the finish line and walked over holding her bike over her head crossing the line in 1:45.11.

With Spitz facing nothing but an open trail for gold, the battle for the remaining medals was intense.

Maja Wloszczowska chugged away from a chase group in the second lap and settled into Poland’s first Mountain Bike Olympic medal, taking silver at 41 seconds off the pace in 1:45.52.

Russia’s Irina Kalentyeva battled against Catharine Pendrel of Canada in the final lap for third, with the Russian edging her Canadian rival by just nine seconds to claim bronze in 1:46.28.

The 30-rider Women’s field struggled against the heat and the challenging course that caused scores of riders to crash. Only 18 riders of 30 starters finished; eight riders were lapped and four did not finish.

Three pre-race favorites struggled early on.

Marie-Helene Premont of Canada, silver medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, defending Olympic champion Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa of Norway and Margarita Fullana of Spain, three-time world champion and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games bronze medalist, all did not finish.

View video footage of the course.

Video Footage of the 2008 Olympic Mountain Biking Course

Before the 2008 Olympic games began there was a test event in 2007 in which the following footage was video taped.  The videographer is German, Manuel Fumic who during one of his traning sessions attached a camera to his helmet and while riding Laoshan Mountain capturing the footage that is split into two episodes.

The video is not of the highest quality, but nonethelss it will provide an opportunity to see the trail the Olympic athletes will be riding.

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2008 Olympic Mountain Biking in Beijing

It is said that right now all eyes are on Beijing. If this is the case then that means those of us who are fans of mountain biking should have our eyes turned to China as well. However many mountain bike enthusiasts may not realize that there is actually a reason for us to pay any attention to the 2008 Olympic Games.

While it is true that there is not much coverage of it, there is a mountain bike section to the Olympics. More correctly titled cross country cycling, this is the event where the best mountain bike riders in the world get to strut their stuff. So what exactly is this race all about?

The race will take place at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District.  The course includes two competition service buildings, remedy for 4.6 kilometer course and fixture for the starting and finishing areas.

The construction of the course makes use of the natural landscape of Laoshan Mountain and does not even use concrete and steel for consolidation but instead uses weaving bags with soil in them.

Olympic mountain bike races are held on courses consisting primarily of forest roads, fields and earth or gravel paths; paved and tarred roads cannot exceed 15 percent of the total course. A cross-country course includes technical descents, steep climbs, single track and river crossings. Competitors may negotiate sections of the course while riding their bike or walking alongside it. No support crews are allowed on the course, meaning riders are required to make all necessary repairs by themselves. The fields for the men’s and women’s mountain bike races will be 50 and 30, respectively. For each race, a country can have no more than three competitors; allocation is based on where nations were ranked in the world at the end of 2007.

While little other information is available I am sure that the race will go through some of the beautiful landscape that surrounds Beijing and will be worth watching. If you want to set your DVR the best schedule I could find for when the races will actually be televised is the following.

Women’s Mountain Bike
FRIDAY, AUG. 22 – DAY 14
MSNBC
5:00am – 5:00pm

Men’s Mountain Bike
SATURDAY, AUG. 23 – DAY 15
NBC and NBC HD
12:30am – 5:00pm

Find out who the U.S.A. has racing in the event

View video footage of the trail