BATTLE UP THE MOUNTAIN - World Champs XC Slideshow

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<b>World Champs started off with the XC Eliminator race. Though no longer a World Cup discipline, it's still a gold medal race at Worlds. Miguel, Horvath, Van Der Ploeg and Braidot battle it out.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>After the first heats of the Eliminator, the power generator went down resulting in a blackout. After a few failed attempts to fix the original generator, a new one eventually had to be brought in, stalling the race even further.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Due to the power outage, it was time for an old school coffee celebration at the Trek tent.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Women’s Final: Swiss domination. Indergand, Stirnemann and Forchini all made the show.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>SRAM's golden surprise for select riders, World Champs style.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Giacomo, Cannonade’s mechanic, making sure the bikes are nice and tidy.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The weather on top of the mountains changed fast with dark clouds rolling in and eventually blocking out the sun.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Richard, Scott Odlo’s mechanic, seeking perfection everywhere. Here he’s working to reduce as much resistance as possible, down to the derailleur pulleys.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>More resistance reduction from the Scott Odlo mechanic.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The XC Team Relay was next on the agenda. Each nation selects one Elite Men, Elite Women, Junior and U23 rider for the team, all of whom will complete a single lap for the race. Tactics were the name of the game in terms of picking the order in which they went.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The French Team played the tactics game well. Here, their Junior rider, Philipp Antoine, defended the lead his teammates created for him.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Riders chose to deal with the high altitude different ways. Here, Florian Vogel sets up camp at the top of the mountain in order to acclimate.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Next day, next category. In Junior Women, Nicole Koller tried to defend her title, but in the end, gave it away to Martina Berta.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>From the start, Simon Andreassen dominated the Junior Men’s race, having no problem with the wet, sloppy conditions.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Simon’s victory makes him the first Junior in history to successfully defend his rainbow stripes.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Andrea Waldis getting ready for the U23 Women’s race.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ramona Forchini, storming towards her new rainbow striped jersey.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>After winning six of six World Cups, all eyes were on Jenny Rissveds. Expecting her to win the rainbow jersey after such a successful season, it was quite the surprise when Ramona showed such strength and took the gold.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ramona Forchini's focus on the gold paid off.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The start of the U23 Men's race.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Anton Cooper storming up the first climb.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The fog eerily creeping down on the track.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Grant Ferguson being congratulated in the emotional victory.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Grant takes his place on the top step of the box.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Julien Absalon’s son following in his father’s footsteps.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Despite the morning frost and snow topped mountains greeting riders Saturday morning, the rain clouds were gone and the sun was shining.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Julien taking advice from his team manager in regards to which spot he should take in the starting lineup.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Despite the sunshine, the track stayed wet and greasy from the previous day’s downpour.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Jolanda Neff suffered through a sore throat all week, which still didn’t keep her from taking an early lead.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Catharine Pendrel tried her best to defend her title.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Since the Women’s race went long due to the muddy conditions, the Men’s race had to be reduced by a lap, making it a six lap race.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>A rumor that Nino’s front tire was loosing air caused his mechanic, Yannik Gyger, to sprint to the team pits directly following the start of the race. Fortunately, it was a false alarm.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>What goes up, must come down.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ondrej Cink had no problems with the altitude and stormed up the climb during the second lap.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Julien Absalon charging.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Never count out Irina Kalentieva at Worlds, 2nd place.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Nino preparing for a calculated attack in an effort to pass Julien.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Julien fighting to defend his rainbow jersey. In the end, he fell to Nino’s tactics.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Beyond the battle for gold up front, riders in the back still jockeyed for position.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Slick conditions meant riders had to weigh the risk vs. reward. Yolanda and Annika playing it safe.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Nino takes the title of World Champion for the fourth time...</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>…and it was a hard one.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The coveted gold.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The cat’s out of the bag. Focus revealed their new XC weapon on race day.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Gold at last year’s Road World Champs, gold at the CX Worlds earlier this year, and now the XC World Champs! What discipline will Pauline choose to tackle next?</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>Ondrej Cink, hungry for more.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>The Swiss flag shined though the all others this week.</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>All smiles and celebration from the fans, what a show!</b> - Marius Maasewerd
<b>What a stellar season for Nino, taking both the World Cup overall and World Champs titles. Victory’s never tasted so good!</b> - Marius Maasewerd<br><br><b>Vital would like to thank Marius for his great work during the XCO season this year! It's a great addition to our coverage.</b> -gordo
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Description

World Champs Cross Country runs the gamut of XCO, XC Eliminator and even Team Relay. The countries represent and the battles are as big as the World Cup. Marius Maasewerd covered it all and showcases the drama of the climbs and descents in Andorra with the best mountain bikers in the world.

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