Marc Bassingthwaighte finished 51st in the Elite Men’s category at the UCI World Mountain Bike Cross Country Championships in Canberra, Australia on Saturday. Bassingthwaighte completed the seven-lap course, covering a total distance of 45,29km, in a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 8 seconds, which was 13 minutes 29 seconds behind the winner.
Nino Schurter of Switzerland won the race in a time of 2:04:39 at an average speed of 21,80km/h.
Julien Absalon of France, who won the MB cross country event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, finished second, three seconds behind Schurter, while Florian Vogel of Switzerland finished third, 58 seconds behind Schurter.
The Elite Men’s category was dominated by riders from Europe, the United States and Canada.
Bassingthwaighte was the only rider from Africa who managed to complete the race. A total of 68 of the 75 registered riders for the race managed to complete the cross country event.
Before the race Bassingthwaighte said he was aiming for a top 40 finish, but although he could not achieve that target, his result was an exact replica of his current 51st position on the UCI world rankings.
South Africa’s Burry Stander underlined his status as the world’s top U23 rider when he won the Men’s U23 category. Stander completed the six lap event in a time of 1:47:26 at an average speed of 21,68km/h.
Stander finished well ahead of Alexis Vuillermoz of France who followed in second place, 1:21 behind, while Thomas Litscher of Switzerland came third, 2:46 behind Stander. Stander was the only rider amongst the 56 finishers from Africa.