by Justin Davis
LONDON, Aug 10, 2012 (AFP) – French mountain bike star Julien Absalon says
he is putting all thoughts of making history to the back of his mind ahead of
his bid for a third straight Olympic gold.
Absalon stunned his rivals on a tough Beijing course four years ago, in
which teammate Jean-Christophe Peraud finished second to take the silver, on
his way to defending his 2004 title from Athens.
If he dominates a strong field in Sunday’s cross country race in Essex, he
will become the first cyclist of any discipline to win three Olympic titles.
Absalon says he has just about got over the effects of a crash two weeks
ago and is hoping experience, and the lack of pressure, puts him within sight
of a third gold. But says he would be happy with a medal.
“In Athens I was very young and it was the start of my dominance in the
discipline,” said the Frenchman.
“In Beijing I was the big favorite and had a lot of stress and
expectation. I’ve come here more relaxed, I’ve got more experience, I’m the
only one to have already won two gold medals and this takes some pressure off
of me.
“A medal here would be just a bonus.”
Both the men’s and women’s cross country races are held at Hadleigh Farm, a
Salvation Army-owned site which underwent massive changes to make sure the
cyclists face some tough climbing as well as downhilling challenges.
They will race on a 4.8 km circuit and the numbers of laps for each race
will be determined by a team captains meeting on Friday. It has been designed
so the men and women finish in a maximum time of 1hr 45min.
Containing game-changing features like the ‘Rock Garden’, ‘Dean’s Drop’,
‘Snake Hill’ and the ‘Rabbit Hole’, Absalon expects the “condensed circuit” to
be a challenge.
“It’s very difficult, there’s not much place to recover,” he added.
When he sat facing the world’s media with the gold medal around his neck in
Beijing, Absalon pointed to third-place finisher Nino Schurter and said “he
will be the man to beat” in London.
Four years and one world championship title (2009) later, the Swiss remains
Absalon’s big threat.
“I think the big favorite this time is Nino Schurter followed by Jaroslav
Kulhavy and myself. I would say there are three favorites,” said Absalon.
Germany’s Sabine Spitz, meanwhile, is also staring at a possible place in
the Olympic history books.
The 2008 Olympic champion will be 40 years and 228 days old Saturday when
she lines up hoping to become the oldest medal winner in an individual cycling
event since Jeannie Longo won time trial bronze in Sydney 2000 at the age of
41.
Spitz, however, faces a handful of strong, younger rivals in Catharine
Pendrel, fourth in Beijing, Britain’s Annie Last, Frenchwoman Julie Bresset,
Georgia Gould of the United States and Poland’s Maja Wloszczokska.
Bresset believes she is “capable” of medalling on Saturday but believes
Pendrel is “the big favorite”.
“She’s had three wins in the World Cup and she’s the leader in the general
ranking,” said Bresset.
