Roel did it again: Marathon World Champion 2009!

By: Cannondale Factory Team

Cannondale Factory Racing’s Roel Paulissen celebrates his second Marathon World Champion title in a row!

In Graz, Austria Paulissen took the gold medal after a thrilling race of 104 kilometres, 51 seconds ahead of Alban Lakata and Christoph Sauser.

It was on the last and longest climb of the day that Paulissen powered away from Russia’s Alexey Medvedev. The following 20km descent to the finish was enough for the World Champion and his Scalpel to stay in front of hard charging Alban Lakata.

“I was in front the whole time and tried to stay there even when a big group came back to us in the middle of the race. Then I got away with Medvedev who was really strong today,” Paulissen said after catching his breath at the finish. “Medvedev pushed hard on every climb but when we got to the highest point of the race he was dead and I got away. The downhill was not easy at all but I tried to push hard whereever I could. This victory is a great moment in my life and I was able to celebrate it during the last meters to the finish line.”

Behind Paulissen, the last downhill changed the podium dramatically. Medvedev lost time with a flat tire and so did Thomas Dietsch, third on top of the mountain. Lakata and Sauser took the spots on the podium after fighting hard for over four hours on the course.
At the same time in Switzerland, Martin Gujan sprinted to second place in the series finale of the Racer Bikes Cup in Muttenz. Beaten by just 2/100 of a second, Gujan came in second behind Nino Schurter and 3 seconds ahead of Florian Vogel!

Results World Championships Marathon 2009:
1. Roel Paulissen (BEL/Cannondale Factory Racing)
2. Alban Lakata (AUT/Ergon Topeak)
3. Christoph Sauser (SUI/Specialized Factory Racing)
4. Christoph Soukup (AUT/Merida)
5. Wolfram Kurschat (GER/Ergon Topeak)

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