2009 World Champion Nino Schurter came in 2nd half a minute behind him to get silver while France’s MTB hero Julien Absalon got bronze in 3rd place.
In fact, the race turned into a battle among three former World Champions as Spain’s Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos was also a strong contender before losing all his chances because of a flat tire.
Three other Swiss riders also made it among the top-10, Thomas Flückiger (5th) just ahead of Florian Vogler, last year’s winner, while Christoph Sauser ended in 8th place.
"It's an incredible season for me - the best season in my life," Kulhavy said at the press conference. "I excited to have repeated Julien‘s achievement winning both the UCI Worlds and the World Cup title. I hope I can continue at his pace. I still have a lot to fight for in future. I think the Olympics will also be a good race for me. I hope to get an Olympic medal next year."
From the start, it was a tense battle between six leaders: Kulhavy, Schurter, Vogel, Absalon, Hermida-Ramos and Maxime Marotte from France. They got together in the start loop, and those behind were soon out of medal contention for the rest of the competition.
Marotte, 3rd place finisher at Offenburg, Germany in May, was the first of the group to vanish. Then it was Vogel's turn after he'd put in an intense effort helping Schurter set a fast pace at the beginning.
Riding behind Schurter, Kulhavy and Hermida-Ramos, Absalon hit a root and suffered a spectacular crash that cut him off the other three contenders. He would never rejoin the group eafterwards.
"As for the crash, these things happen," said Absalon at the Press Conference. "For me, there was no other tactic in the final part but full attack to stay within the top-3. When Kulhavy is riding strong, you already have a hard time following him. When you have a crash it's even harder to chase him. I wanted to fight hard to get back in the chase group. I took lots of risks."
In the middle of the race, it started to rain making a technical course even more treacherous. "As we all started with slick tires, it was difficult for all of us when it started to rain. It would have been a good bet to start with rain tires," also said Absalon.
Kulhavy and Schurter remained most of the time at the front together, Schurter trying hard in the early laps setting a fast pace to give Kulhavy a real challenge.
"I had a good tactic to put pressure on him," said Schurter after the race. "In fact, it went well at the beginning. I had my chance and did my best. I'm really pleased with my race as I tried hard to challenge him and I have no regrets. He deserved today - he had a good season."
In reality, Kulhavy had no major problems handling the expectations after his impressive season. "I didn't feel pressure going into the race because my season has been so good. I was very satisfied already before this race," the relaxed Czech explained at the press conference.
Yet he also admitted it has been very tough for him in the first rounds because of the fast pace from the Swiss team. Yet after a while he found back his full potential to better control the race.
With about one and a half laps to go, he took over the lead and started to push harder on his pedals. Schurter tried to react yet he made a small mistake and couldn't stay on his back wheel. The battle for the gold medal was over as he began to slip back.
"In the beginning, the race was really hard for me because Nino was very strong," said Kulhavy. "I was dead then. But during the race, I felt better and better which was good. I attacked him after the hill because I felt strong on the flat sections. I kept it up and I had 10 seconds, then 20 seconds. It was good for me."
Jaroslav also mentioned that it was definitely an advantage for him to use as in previous months his big Specialized bike equipped with the 29er wheels. “On this fast course, it helped me a lot, it was a strong help for me today.”
Hermida-Ramos had been riding for a while with the two leaders, but a flat tire cost him some time and a place on the podium. As a result, Absalon moved up to 3rd, the defending World Champion finishing 4th after his wheel change.
"I made some mistakes and then I got this flat tire," Hermida-Ramos told the press. "I got a flat, but if you don't have form all year, it wouldn't be fair to win. It's fair that Kulhavy is the champion - he was fighting hard all year and won most of the races. He deserves it."
At 26, Kulhavy is certainly looking forward for more major successes in the coming season – creating even stronger headaches for his main rivals! |
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