Looks like Absolon won it by a mile.. practically lead from the start..
Hard luck to Robin though.. according to TV reports he collapsed from exhaustion at the top of a climb..!! Course was meant to be savage but something tells me the 32 degree heat and humidity might have contributed to his demise.. Damn shame as he looked strong any time you saw him and was passing riders rather than being passed...
Well my money was on the lad from Zimbabwe..did you see him do the Roo DeVoy dance with the hands..I thought the course looked deadly..that switchback climb was extrordinary and some of the descents...i haven't been that excited watching an XC race in years..Liam Killeen had a great race, finishing 7th with a crash..but Absolon , what a cool customer..and hes so enthusiastic about his riding..he rides seven days a week, hail rain or shine, he loves it all apparently..
There was a lot of talk about the course being flat and attractive only to cyclocrossers..but they brought in Phil Saxena apparently and he used the horn of el dorado on it..looked like one of the hardest courses ever, and in that heat.
I thought it was great racing..
yeah hard luck to Robin, he looked like he was giving it socks the first lap, i'd say the pace was inhuman.
What a man! Did not know until today that he was TOTALLY on his own, no funding, full time job, and training at night after work! If he was in England he would be a full time MTB'r fully funded! Well done to Mr Nolan for highlighting this on RTE today! Trying to encourage new people into the sport and getting a voice is the only way forward!
yeah - it was cool so see him hammering along whenever the cameras got him, you need some amount of self-motivation to train for that type of event, pretty inspirational
course looked great, that switchback climb looked killer, nice rocky steep descents, the feckin' speed of Absalon though - watching cross country racing on the box would bore the pants off you usually but watching Absalon batter along at those speeds was something else - I could swear there was a cable cam following riders on some sections - The Collective must have been on the job...
Great interview with PJ Nolan at the end there, the most sensible bit of talk about mountainbiking I've heard in public...
Worth a watch
The racing bit before it is pretty boring, feckin XC just doesn't translate well onto TV, it's just not shot right, some of the downhill sections looked good, would nearly have prefered to see the first 2 laps rather than the last one...
All the same, it's great to watch Absalon, super style, great rider.