| Men's cross-country at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Venue | Laoshan Mountain Bike Course | |||||||||
| Dates | August 23, 2008 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 50 from 33 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:55:59 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ← 20042012 → | ||||||||||
| Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
Road cycling_pictogram.svg){kind=small} | ||
| Road race | men | women |
| Time trial | men | women |
Track cycling_pictogram.svg){kind=small} | ||
| Individual pursuit | men | women |
| Team pursuit | men | |
| Sprint | men | women |
| Team sprint | men | |
| Points race | men | women |
| Keirin | men | |
| Madison | men | |
Mountain biking_pictogram.svg){kind=small} | ||
| Cross-country | men | women |
BMX_pictogram.svg){kind=small} | ||
| BMX | men | women |
The men's cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on August 23, 2008.
France's Julien Absalon pulled away from a pack of mountain bikers at the start to defend his Olympic title in the event with a gold-medal time in 1:55:59. Absalon also enjoyed his teammate Jean-Christophe Péraud taking home the silver in 1:57:06, as the Frenchmen climbed on top of the podium with a spectacular 1–2 finish. Meanwhile, Switzerland's Nino Schurter delivered an exciting sprint challenge for the bronze in 1:57:52, edging out his teammate, three-time Olympian and reigning world champion Christoph Sauser by two seconds. Among the 50 mountain bikers who competed in the cross-country race, only twenty-eight of them managed to complete the full distance.
Competition format
The competition began at 15:00 with a mass-start in which riders are positioned according to their current world ranking so that the higher-ranked riders are near the front. The cross-country race also involved eight laps, with 172 m of elevation change for each, around the 4.45 km course at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course. The overall distance of the race was 35.60 km.
Schedule
All times are China standard time (UTC+8)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 23 August 2008 | 15:00 | Final |
Results
References
- "Absalon secures men's mountain bike gold". ABC News Australia. 23 August 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- "Americans lapped as France's Absalon defends gold". USA Today. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- "French cyclists on top of the mountain". France 24. 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- "Fourth Olympic bronze for Switzerland". Swissinfo. 23 August 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- Jones, Rob (23 August 2008). "French dominate the rest of the World". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- "Mountain Biking Competition Format". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- "Mountain Biking: Results and Schedules". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.