# Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's cross-country

The men's cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on August 23, 2008.
France's Julien Absalon pulled away from a pack of mountain bikers at the start to defend his Olympic title in the event with a gold-medal time in 1:55:59. Absalon also enjoyed his teammate Jean-Christophe Péraud taking home the silver in 1:57:06, as the Frenchmen climbed on top of the podium with a spectacular 1–2 finish. Meanwhile, Switzerland's Nino Schurter delivered an exciting sprint challenge for the bronze in 1:57:52, edging out his teammate, three-time Olympian and reigning world champion Christoph Sauser by two seconds. Among the 50 mountain bikers who competed in the cross-country race, only twenty-eight of them managed to complete the full distance.

## Competition format

The competition began at 15:00 with a mass-start in which riders are positioned according to their current world ranking so that the higher-ranked riders are near the front. The cross-country race also involved eight laps, with 172 m of elevation change for each, around the 4.45 km course at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course. The overall distance of the race was 35.60 km.

## Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 23 August 2008 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results

| Rank | Rider | Country | Time |
| | Julien Absalon | France | 1:55:59 |
| | Jean-Christophe Péraud | France | 1:57:06 |
| | Nino Schurter | Switzerland | 1:57:52 |
| 4 | Christoph Sauser | Switzerland | 1:57:54 |
| 5 | Marco Aurelio Fontana | Italy | 1:59:59 |
| 6 | Christoph Soukup | Austria | 2:00:11 |
| 7 | Liam Killeen | Great Britain | 2:00:14 |
| 8 | Iñaki Lejarreta | Spain | 2:00:21 |
| 9 | Sven Nys | Belgium | 2:01:00 |
| 10 | José Antonio Hermida | Spain | 2:01:01 |
| 11 | Manuel Fumic | Germany | 2:01:16 |
| 12 | Oliver Beckingsale | Great Britain | 2:01:25 |
| 13 | Marek Galiński | Poland | 2:01:29 |
| 14 | Cédric Ravanel | France | 2:01:38 |
| 15 | Burry Stander | South Africa | 2:01:58 |
| 16 | Moritz Milatz | Germany | 2:02:59 |
| 17 | Fredrik Kessiakoff | Sweden | 2:03:09 |
| 18 | Jaroslav Kulhavý | Czech Republic | 2:03:20 |
| 19 | Roel Paulissen | Belgium | 2:03:30 |
| 20 | Geoff Kabush | Canada | 2:03:55 |
| 21 | Rubens Donizete | Brazil | 2:05:19 |
| 22 | Ji Jianhua | China | 2:05:29 |
| 23 | András Parti | Hungary | 2:06:00 |
| 24 | Kashi Leuchs | New Zealand | 2:06:30 |
| 25 | Jakob Fuglsang | Denmark | 2:06:41 |
| 26 | Héctor Páez | Colombia | 2:06:46 |
| 27 | Dario Alejandro Gasco | Argentina | 2:07:04 |
| 28 | Carlos Coloma Nicolás | Spain | 2:09:05 |
| 29 | Adam Craig | United States | LAP (1 lap) |
| 30 | Yader Zoli | Italy | LAP (1 lap) |
| 31 | Klaus Nielsen | Denmark | LAP (1 lap) |
| 32 | Filip Meirhaeghe | Belgium | LAP (2 laps) |
| 33 | Wolfram Kurschat | Germany | LAP (2 laps) |
| 34 | Rudi van Houts | Netherlands | LAP (2 laps) |
| 35 | Bilal Akgül | Turkey | LAP (2 laps) |
| 36 | Cristóbal Silva | Chile | LAP (2 laps) |
| 37 | Bart Brentjens | Netherlands | LAP (2 laps) |
| 38 | Emil Lindgren | Sweden | LAP (2 laps) |
| 39 | Daniel McConnell | Australia | LAP (2 laps) |
| 40 | Chan Chun Hing | Hong Kong | LAP (2 laps) |
| 41 | Yury Trofimov | Russia | LAP (2 laps) |
| 42 | Sergiy Rysenko | Ukraine | LAP (3 laps) |
| 43 | Todd Wells | United States | LAP (3 laps) |
| 44 | Seamus McGrath | Canada | LAP (3 laps) |
| 45 | Mannie Heymans | Namibia | LAP (3 laps) |
| 46 | Kohei Yamamoto | Japan | LAP (3 laps) |
| 47 | Federico Ramírez | Costa Rica | LAP (5 laps) |
| 48 | Antipass Kwari | Zimbabwe | LAP (6 laps) |
| | Florian Vogel | Switzerland | DNF |
| | Robin Seymour | Ireland | DNF |