After again riding up to the Worlds venue via the great new cycle path from Fort William centre, Friday saw me acting as a marshal at the top of the 'Lazy K' climb for the second day running, so it was on with the mosquito net from the moment I jumped off the bike. I got some very strange looks again, especially from Bettina Schmidt and some of the other Swiss riders, but insect repellent just wasn't good enough when standing there all day!
The favourite for the U23 Men was reigning World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) but rivals like Jaroslav Kulhavy and Jakob Fuglsang had been racing well at World Cup level too, so it could be anyone's race.
Schurter, riding a hardtail Scott Scale, started climbing strongly, and soon had pulled out a gap on Fuglsang and the group chasing him, led by Daniel McConnell of Australia, sporting an upside down #13 number plate. Schurter increased his lead on the climb all the way to 'Big Ben' at the top of the course, only for Fuglsang to reduce the Swiss rider's advantage on the downhill back to the start.
This seemed set to be the pattern for the race, with Fuglsang's Cannondale Scalpel full suspension bike helping him to catch Schurter on the rough stuff, but after a while, Schurter's lead was going backwards. Whether his climbing wasn't as strong as earlier in the race, or whether Fuglsang had left something in reserve, the Danish rider was taking chunks out of the gap between himself and the lead, and caught and passed Schurter at the end of lap 4.
Kulhavy was still in the chase group at this point and it was hard to tell who would win Bronze. Fuglsang meanwhile accelerated away from Schurter, who was really struggling and lost over 1m 40s to the Dane on the final lap, and crossed the line to win the U23 World Championship in style. Schurter couldn't repeat his triumph of 2006 and had to settle for Silver, while a strong final lap from Kulhavy saw him win Bronze for the Czech Republic.
Burry Stander, after racing a few British Mountain Bike Series XC races this year, must have been used to the cold and finished an impressive 6th. With a few more years in U23 yet, the South African must be strongly fancied for a medal sometime soon. The first of the Brits was Ian Bibby in 23rd, who didn't have the best of races compared to some good results this season, with Ian Field in 30th. Ross Creber crashed heavily and had to retire to seek medical attention.
Riding round the circuit back to the start after the races had finished, the impact of the previous 4 events was clear. Lines which were once smooth and fast were now destroyed by braking bumps, and a number of corners had large ruts through the middle of them. It all remained rideable, but was certainly more difficult technically than on Wednesday.
Many riders had punctured while racing, and I soon joined them and had to change the tube by the side of the track while watching the like of Meirhaeghe ride by. On the plus side, I did manage to clear the complete course without stopping, including riding the drop-off which had defeated me last time.
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