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VeloNews Awards: International Cyclist of the Year

Published: Dec. 31, 2007
VeloNews Issue No.1 - 2008
VeloNews Issue No.1 - 2008

It’s been a while since the editors of VeloNews chose a mountain bike racer as Cyclist of the Year — two years shy of a decade, to be exact. In the years following our choice of Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson in 1999, the sport of off-road racing steadily slipped into the shadow of its better-funded, better-organized cousin on the road.

But the current climate of professional mountain bike racing hints at the sport’s revival on the international level. The 2007 UCI World Cup enjoyed serious cash input and televised coverage, thanks to its primary sponsor, Nissan. An estimated 40,000 rowdy fans turned out to watch the world championships, held on a remote swath of rain-beaten rock outside of Fort William, Scotland. And the racing at the sport’s pinnacle is as tough as it’s ever been.

Men’s cross-country racing is still undisputedly the most-competitive wing of mountain biking. Yet one man — Frenchman Julien Absalon — has found a way to dominate the current generation. Absalon took his second consecutive World Cup title in 2007, winning four of six races. The Frenchman also won his fourth-straight world championship, and in doing so bested Henk Djernis’ record of three rainbow jerseys. That stat, along with his Olympic gold medal from 2004, places Absalon as the most-accomplished rider in the history of cross-country racing.

Absalon has been a factor since winning the U23 title in 2001
Absalon has been a factor since winning the U23 title in 2001
Photo: Agence France Presse (File Photo)

“Yes, it is the road that still gets more media attention, but I think mountain bike is growing up, especially in Europe,” Absalon said. “I think that with all of the problems with doping on the road, maybe the media will be looking more to mountain biking.”

Indeed, we chose Absalon as for our most prestigious annual award from a pool that otherwise contained the year’s top roadies. But controversy and drug scandals ruled out the traditional favorites: Tour de France winner Alberto Contador inherited his race lead after Michael Rasmussen’s expulsion; and Cadel Evans inherited the ProTour crown after Danilo Di Luca was served a suspension for training with alleged doping doctor Carlo Santuccione. Last year’s award recipient, Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, spent much of the year fighting off allegations linking him with Operación Puerto. Even Paolo Bettini’s world title came amid a shroud of speculation after German Patrick Sinkewitz levied, then retracted, doping accusations against the Italian star.

Controversy aside, no other cyclist on the road, mountain, track or cyclocross bike so dominated his respective sport like Absalon did in 2007. The Frenchman entered every race in 2007 with a firm target on his back, and still found a way to drop his competition on a regular basis. He won on thick mud in Switzerland, loose rocks in Quebec and damp boulders in Scotland. He lost only three major international races — the April 21 World Cup opener in Houffalize, Belgium, the July 15 European Championships in Cappadocia, Turkey, and the World Cup finals in Maribor, Slovenia. The first two losses came at the hands of Spaniard Jose Antonio Hermida, Absalon’s former teammate. After watching the Frenchman erase his one-minute advantage on the final lap of the Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec World Cup, Hermida acknowledged Absalon as the best man in cross-country racing.

Absalon won his fourth elite title in 2007, surpasing the record of Henk Djernis.
Absalon won his fourth elite title in 2007, surpasing the record of Henk Djernis.
Photo: Agence France Presse (File Photo)

“Julien is the type of guy you only see once every 10 years, he is the guy for this era,” Hermida said. “He is the type of rider who can stay in second all race and then pick the moment when you have problems and get the win.”

Hints and Allegations
Cycling’s modern climate precludes dominant athletes from reaching their goals without suspicion of cheating, and Absalon is no exception. The Frenchman acknowledges that his success has brought some doubters.

“People are always talking — suspicion is a problem for me, but I try not to think about it and ride for me and my family,” Absalon said.

“I want to ride well and still be good in my head. I know that it is not possible for someone to take my victories away because I ride without drugs.”

Indeed Absalon’s career path has followed an even, albeit steep, trajectory. A French national champion at age 17, Absalon took the world under-23 title in 2001 and ’02 on tricky courses in Vail, Colorado, and Kaprun, Austria. With one year remaining on his U23 eligibility, Absalon stepped into the elite ranks in 2003. That season he battled regularly with 11-time World Cup winner Filip Meirhaeghe on the international circuit. Absalon succeeded in outlasting the Belgian to win the World Cup overall that year, but Meirhaeghe pummeled the Frenchman to take the world title — Absalon finished a distant 12th. But the following season it was Absalon who brought home the rainbow jersey — his first as an elite — while Meirhaeghe was busted for EPO use.

Meirhaeghe’s doping violation proved that performance-enhancing drugs were being used at the front of mountain biking’s elite field. But Meirhaeghe had his doubters even before his 2004 bust — the Belgian was sent home from the 1997 world championships for a high hematocrit.

Absalon has faced no serious doping allegations or failed tests in his career. The Frenchman also receives positive backing from his peers. Swiss Thomas Frischknecht, the sport’s most outspoken voice against doping, says he believes in the authenticity of Absalon’s performances.

“It looks like he is so dominant, but it is not like he wins every race or rides by himself at the front and no one can follow him like in the past with Meirhaeghe or [2000 and 2001 world champ Roland] Green,” Frischknecht said. “The way [Absalon] wins the races, at the very end he finds a little bit more than the others at the right moment. It’s not like he wins it like it was nothing. He always has to fight for it.”

At the 2005 and ’06 world championships, the fight pitted Absalon against Swiss Christoph Sauser, the 2004 and ’05 World Cup champion. An untimely flat tire derailed Sauser in the waning miles of the 2005 race, held on a punchy, climb-filled course in Livigno, Italy. In 2006 in Rotorua, New Zealand, Sauser looked to have Absalon in trouble on the course’s final long, grinding ascent. Absalon attacked in a desperation move, and was amazed to see the Swiss rider fade.

“I was thinking it was finished for me,” Absalon admitted after the race.

Again it was Swiss riders who put Absalon into difficulty at the 2007 world championships, held on the soggy, rock strewn Witch’s Trail outside of Fort William. The hard-charging Florian Vogel opened up a 30-second advantage on Absalon on the first of seven laps around the climber’s course. Absalon’s rivals chose to follow the Frenchman as he worked to chase down Vogel by the race’s midpoint. But the others then watched idly by as Absalon used his superior descending skills to open a 15-second gap on the course’s ensuing tricky downhill. Preferring not to wait for the cavalry, Absalon stormed off on his own, and held off Swiss Ralph Naf by just over a minute for the win.

“That’s the thing — Julien is a smart racer. He has the spark at the end,” said Sauser, who finished seventh.

Eyes on Beijing
Absalon is not superhuman; he does fail. While riding with a 40-second advantage at the August 5 Swisspower Cup in Bern with two kilometers remaining, Absalon’s engines simply shut down. His countryman and Orbea teammate Jean-Christoph Peraud rocketed past, as did Naf. While Absalon held on for third, he could barely turn over the pedals at the line.

“I was like a dead man — it was not possible for me to do one kilometer more of riding,” Absalon said. “It was a big physical explosion.”

Absalon chalked the bad result up to his detailed training plan — the Frenchman chooses to peak for the middle block of European World Cup races and the world championships. The Swisspower race came at the end of a weeklong rest block and was not a primary objective. Absalon then showed chinks in his armor at the Olympic test event in Beijing, China, on September 22. With the air choked by Beijing’s smog, Absalon was one of 18 riders to make an early exit from the race. Only 11 riders finished, and Absalon was seen vomiting on the side of the course.

But that race, too, was not a major objective on Absalon’s calendar.

“It was terrible and very difficult to breathe,” Absalon said. “I believe I had a stomach problem from the food.”

The test event gave Absalon a first-hand view of his primary battlefield in 2008. Flanked by countrymen Peraud and Cedric Ravanel, Absalon will travel to Beijing in September 2007 with the single-minded goal of defending his Olympic gold from Athens. And the Frenchman is not shy to bash the urban course the Chinese government built in the Laoshan neighborhood of eastern Beijing.

“I’m a little bit disappointed because it is not really mountain biking — it is like a cyclocross race,” Absalon said. “We are downtown in the city and the course has no long climbs, it is always short climbs and short little descents. There are no technical downhills. It will be always full gas with no time for recovery. It will be a very specific race.”

The course will favor pure horsepower riders like Sauser, the ageless Bart Brentjens or even Belgian cyclocross star Sven Nys. But Frischknecht is wary to count out the French champion. In four years Absalon has proved he can win on any surface.

“The results say it all with Julien,” the Swiss rider said. “He can win when it counts. He can win in bad weather and rain. He can when it is hot. He is a complete rider.”

Win or lose, Absalon hopes the 2008 Olympics help generate more interest and opportunity for his sport. He is still shy around non-French speaking media, although his English is improving.

“Perhaps the media will be looking at [mountain biking] more next year,” Absalon said. “It is not possible to say that [mountain biking] does not have doping problems because in every sport it is possible to have doping. I am more confident with this newer generation of riders who have a clean spirit for the sport.”

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