Julien Absalon of France became the first man to successfully defend the Cross Country Mountain Bike Olympic title after riding away with the gold medal at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course.
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Absalon, who won gold in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, dropped the field in the second of eight laps to win in dominant fashion in 1:55:59.
Jean-Christophe Peraud, also from France, trailed in for the silver medal in 1:57:06, at 1:07 adrift, to claim his first podium in international competition. It capped a brilliant performance by the French team, who went one-two in the highly competitive 50-rider field.
The battle for bronze was just as exciting, with two-time Under-23 world champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland riding into third in 1:57:52, just two seconds ahead of teammate Christoph Sauser.
Federer takes doubles gold
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