Men's Race Bromont World Cup

From A. Hestler...

"Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain’s Geoff Kabush got the win of his career
Sunday winning the Bromont World Cup in a stacked field. Kabush, who
is currently tied for the most U.S. series cup wins of all time and
has had 8 previous World Cup podium finishes, but until now had never
stood at the top of the World Cup podium.
The men's race began under worse conditions than the women, if that
was possible, with officials reducing the distance by one lap to six.
The rain and the 50-plus women racers had churned up the mud, making
the climb an even harder grind than usual. The mud also began to
impact equipment, with most riders experiencing brake failure at some
point in the race as brake pads wore away in the gritty mud.
Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) got off to his usual fast start, and was
quickly joined by Absalon, with Kabush steadily making his way up
towards the front. Näf dropped back from Absalon on lap two, to be
passed by Kabush, who joined the Olympic champion near the top of the
climb, just before Absalon broke his chain, putting him out of
contention as he lost nearly 40 places before rejoining the race.
Kabush was now alone at the front, with Näf dropping back to a chase
group with his team mate Jose Hermida, Florian Vogel
(Scott-Swisspower) and Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower). Kabush would
continue to power away from the chasers to finish over 90 seconds in
front of Hermida, with Näf holding on for third ahead of Vogel and
Lukas Flückiger (Trek World Team). Both Todd Wells (Specialized
Factory Team) in ninth and Adam Craig (Giant) in tenth moved up in the
latter half of the race.
Brakes were a problem for many riders, with Näf explaining “in the
final lap and a half I started to lose my brakes completely, and
trying to ride through the technical parts became very, very
dangerous. I had to slow down a lot, and I think otherwise I could
have stayed in second. I could not have caught Geoff, because he was
so strong today and riding everything so well.”
Hermida, the winner of round one in South Africa, said he also
suffered from brake problems, but the timing was more fortuitous. “I
was lucky that my brakes stopped working early in the race rather than
late, because I stopped then in the technical area and was able to
catch people later in the race when their brakes failed.”
"To win here, in my own country, it still hasn't sunk in," said
Kabush. "I knew I was riding well, after finishing third a week
earlier, and this course really suited me, so I was confident that I
could go head to head with Julien. It's too bad that he broke his
chain, because I am still confident that I could have ridden against
him. I didn’t have any of the mechanical problems the other riders
were having, so I really have to thank my team and the mechanics. I
went with the hardtail and the mud tires, and I was able to ride
everything with no problems. This win is the biggest of my career,
because with Julien so strong, for anyone to win a World Cup is very
hard. This just shows that it can be done."