Julien Absalon’s dream of winning a third consecutive Olympic men’s mountain bike gold was ended when the Frenchman suffered an early puncture on the seven-lap race Sunday. Absalon, the 2004 champion in Athens who also took gold in Beijing, was left trailing from the very first lap of the race. “It’s the worst possible scenario for me, the one that I thought would be unlikely, a slow puncture in the first lap,” said the Frenchman.Absalon believes he may have even started the race with the puncture. “I think I even started the race with a slow puncture. It’s the only explanation in my opinion because I didn’t hit anything on the course. “On the start line I felt the tyre and it did feel a little soft, but I told myself it was all in my imagination.”
