The men's XC race was a true battle to the finish, as a classic Euro-style event produced a surprise winner after its even more surprising pace. Espoir (Under-23) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN, Subaru Gary Fisher) took home his first win, Volvo-Cannondale said goodbye by seeing its two XC stars, Christoph Sauser and Kashi Leuchs, make the podium, and Filip Meirhaeghe took the overall title. Not a bad afternoon of racing.

Under the sunny blue skies of France's Haute Savoie region and surrounded by thousands of cheering fans, Hesjedal dominated a hard-charging field with an early attack that left the world's best reeling and the 22 year old beaming.

"I can't be happier," said Hesjedal one week after taking bronze in the Espoir World Championships. "It's unreal to get my first World Cup win. Espoir Worlds are one thing, but to come to Europe and get a win, it's great."

Hesjedal is known as a fast starter, especially in U.S. NORBA events in which he races with training partner and fellow Canadian Roland Green, who is the current senior World Champion. And Sunday he did just that, starting fast and building a small lead on Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL, Specialized) and Christoph Sauser (SUI, Volvo Cannondale) in the first lap. They would finish almost as they started, as Sauser moved into 2nd place for the finish, and Meirhaeghe 3rd, which secured the Belgian the World Cup title.

Meirhaeghe needed to finish ahead of #2-ranked Bart Brentjens (NED, Giant Bicycle) to remain #1, and Brentjens was off today, finishing 15th as he recovers from a pre-Worlds training crash. And so after the first lap, Meirhaeghe knew he just needed to ride safely to ensure the title.

Beginning the second lap, Roel Paulissen (BEL, Rainer-Wurz) rode in second with Sauser chasing. Roland Green (CAN, Trek-Volkswagen) led a group of seven chasers, which turned into a group of nine as the lap ended.

In the 3rd lap, Hesjedal was still fighting to stay in front of Meirhaeghe and Sauser, while behind them, Seamus McGrath (CAN, Haro/Lee Dungarees), Green, Paulissen chased. Kashi Leuchs (NZL, Volvo-Cannondale) was in 10th position.

Hesjedal and Meirhaeghe were just in front of Sauser in lap four, while behind them Green, Leuchs, Paulissen and McGrath chased a half-minute back.

Sauser passed Meirhaeghe just as Leuchs made contact with the chasers in the fourth lap, the three then chasing Hesjedal at 22 seconds while McGrath rode a minute back.

Then in the 5th and final lap, Hesjedal was caught, the group of four evenly spaced as they flew down the descent in this order - Hesjedal, Meirhaeghe, Sauser and Leuchs - with Green chasing a minute back in 5th position.

But Hesjedal was motivated to get his first win and turned on the power in the final loop of the final lap to drop the Volvo-Cannondale teammates Sauser and Leuchs. "It's scary when teammates catch you, but I stayed calm, and was patient on the hills," said Hesjedal. "Then on the first rooty climb I kept it in the big chainring and figured I'd go for it alone."

Hesjedal was able to get time on Sauser, who was having problems with his rear wheel. "Catching Ryder gave me motivation in the last lap, but I thought my back wheel was going to fall apart," he said. "So in the end I finished second, and second overall. I just wanted to ride as smooth as possible in that last lap."

"I just decided to do it," asserted Hesjedal. "I had kind of lost that fast start for a while, but I had good legs all day today so I wanted to go out hard and not sit back."

While Hesjedal earned his first World Cup win in front of Sauser, Meirhaeghe finished 3rd, happy to win the World Cup title. "It's a big stress off the shoulders to get the World Cup title," he said.

"I think Bart was nervous at the start, and so was I, and we both missed it a bit at the start. I was around twenty-fifth position at the start, and definitely at the beginning I was worried about having problems with my bike. I didn't want to take risks so I lost some time in the descents. My main goal was to win the World Cup."

Leuchs made an impressive move up to 4th place by race's end, giving his Volvo-Cannondale team two podiums in this their last-ever race. Rounding out the podium was Green, who held off McGrath by four seconds for the podium.

While Meirhaeghe wins the World Cup overall, Sauser finished 2nd and Brentjens 3rd. Green is 4th overall, and Paulissen 5th.

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent