World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) proved to be the strongest Sunday during the Olympic MTB cross country race in Rio, riding away from the leaders in the closing laps to take the gold medal ahead of Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) and Carlos Coloma (Spain).
Road world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia) put in an impressive opening lap, moving smoothly from the back of the field into the lead group by the end of the first lap, but his Olympic-medal dream came to a quick end when a flat tire at the end of the first lap knocked him out of contention.
Schurter took the early lead with Coloma, but Kulhavy soon joined them as Coloma lost the pace. France's Julien Absolon faded to two minutes back as the leaders set a blistering pace.
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Starting the fifth of seven laps, Schurter and Kulhavy had 30 seconds on a two-man chase of Coloma and Maxime Marotte (France), while Switzerland's Mathias Fluckiger was chasing in fifth, more than a minute behind. The lead duo held an initial gap of more than 30 seconds over Marotte and Coloma, who by this time appeared to be racing for bronze.
Schurter left Kulhavy behind as they approached a technical rock section, opening a gap that he would hold until the finish. The Swiss riders started the final lap with a 33-second gap over Kulhavy, while Marotte and Coloma were 1:19 behind.
Schurter continued to open his gap over the final lap, holding a 44-second gap to Kulhavy at the halfway point and 1:50 over Coloma and Marotte.
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