**Events

UCI World MTB Champs: XC Team Relay

The first medals have been awarded in the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championship in Rotorua, New Zealand. The first Championship event was the XC Team Relay, involving teams of four riders doing a lap each of the XC course. Fourteen national teams took part, with the race starting in hail and squally showers. Such meteorological unpleasantness didn’t last long, though – the sun was out by lap two. Switzerland’s first rider, Florian Vogel, had taken the lead before handing over the Martin Fanger, who put a minute into the field on the main climb. The Spanish team briefly took the lead on lap three, with David Lozano Riba overtaking Switzerland’s Petra Henzi in a tricky rock section known as “The Boneyard”. But last man in, Nino Schurter, hauled back the opposition and brought Switzerland in in first plance. Italy were second, 50 seconds down, with Poland another 14 seconds behind them.

“It was kind of slippery and through a lot of hail and rain,” said Schurter. “It was quite a tough ride … but I feel really good. This world champion jersey gives me the motivation for Friday [Cross-Country World Championships U23 Men’s race].”

The next Championship events are the XC World Championships for Junior Women and for Under-23 Women.