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MTB World Cup XC, DH & 4X #8 - B
Fort William, Scotland, September 10-11, 2005
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Race 1 - September 10: Women cross-country
Dahle clocks up yet another
Sick Premont drops out
By Rob Jones in Fort William
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The 2005 Mountain Bike World Cup is drawing to a conclusion. On Saturday it was the final races in the cross-country and four-cross events. All four events turned out to be anti-climactic, in that the series winners were already known, but that did not mean poor racing, with two first time World Cup winners.
This was the easiest race to pick - world champion and World Cup leader Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) came into the final race with an insurmontable lead, and had won the Fort William race the previous two years. The real battle was expected to be for second, with Sabine Spitz (Specialized) leading Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain Business Objects) by a slim 40 points.
However, the battle never materialized, after Premont dropped out in the second lap (of four), a victim of food poisoning from some mussels she had ingested Thursday night.
"I was very sick all the next day after eating mussels on Thursday. I ate nothing, drank nothing (on Friday). So for the first lap I was okay, but after that I had nothing in my legs."
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Spitz had wanted to put some distance on her rival, and had attacked on the first steep descent, with only Dahle able to match. Dahle then went to the front and rode Spitz off her wheel. But the damage was done: Spitz had a clear gap on third and, without Premont chasing, the other contenders seemed content to ride together.
"It was only 40 points" said Spitz, "so I knew that I had to have Marie-Helene as my main focus. I tried to set my own speed on the first climb, and was able to go into the descent first. Gunn-Rita was close at the bottom, and we had a gap so we worked together. She dropped me the next lap, but I was comfortable with my gap and felt that I could hold on for second."
Dahle made it look easy, but admitted to some difficulty motivating herself after winning the world title a week earlier. "I was probably mentally in as bad a way as the others; we were all worn out after Livigno. I spent the week in between focussing on resting and recovering, and then I said to myself 'This is the last day, you have to go hard'. Once I was riding I had a good day, I felt like I was flying."
While the front two spots were established, a group of initially four, and later five were fighting for the remaining podium spots. Petra Henzi (Fischer-BMC), Nina Gohl (Multivan Merida), Kiara Bisaro (GearsRacing.com) and Irina Kalentieva (Multivan Merida) rode steadily together, but could not make a dent in the gap to the front riders. Mary McConneloug (Kenda Seven) managed to bridge up shortly before the start of the final lap.
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Kalentieva upped the speed in the final half lap and was able to drop the other riders, with Henzi and Gohl taking the final two podium spots.
Race note
Gunn-Rita Dahle says that the biggest event of her season is still to come - October 15th when she weds long-time partner Kenneth. The win was Dahle's 23rd World Cup win, so she is closing in on Julie Furtado's record of 28.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Gunn-Rita Dahle leads from the start
- Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) once again put plenty of space into her rivals in the first lap
- Sabine Spitz (Specialized) would grab the second podium spot
- Irina Kalentieva (Multivan Merida) on the way to third
- Kiara Bisaro (Gears Racing)
- Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) succumbed to food poisoning
- Mary McConneloug (Seven)
- Sabine Spitz
- Gunn-Rita Dahle - can anyone stop her?
- Sabine Spitz (Specialized) looks confident in second
- Celebration! - Gunn-Rita Dahle cracks the bubbly
- Gunn-Rita Dahle celebrates at the finish
- The podium - Petra Henzi, Sabine Spitz, Gunn-Rita Dahle, Irina Kalentieva, Nina Gohl
Results
Women 1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1.53.17 2 Sabine Spitz (Ger) Specialized Factory Racing 5.06 3 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Multivan Merida Biking Team 5.45 4 Petra Henzi (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 5.46 5 Nina Göhl (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 5.49 6 Kiara Bisaro (Can) 6.00 7 Mary McConneloug (USA) 7.48 8 Ivonne Kraft (Ger) 8.47 9 Maria Ostergren (Swe) 9.35 10 Franziska Roethlin (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 10.10 11 Katrin Leumann (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 10.51 12 Séverine Hansen (Fra) 11.11 13 Patricia Sinclair (Can) 12.01 14 Maroussia Rusca (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 12.59 15 Catherine Pendrel (Can) 14.20 16 Mical Dyck (Can) 14.41 17 Eva Lechner (Ita) 15.14 18 Sandra Klose (Ger) 15.20 19 Evelyn Staffler (Ita) 15.34 20 Robyn Wong (NZl) 16.50 21 Laura Turpijn (Ned) 17.00 22 Adelheid Morath (Ger) 17.55 23 Sue Thomas (GBr) 18.19 24 Jenny McCauley (Irl) 21.37 25 Caroline Jackson (GBr) 22.35 One lap behind 26 Sarka Chmurova (Cze) Max Cursor 27 Ruth McGavigan (GBr) 28 Julie Cartner (GBr) 29 Genvieve Whitson (NZl) DNF Marie-Helene Premont (Can) DNF Lene Byberg (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team DNF Margarita Fullana (Spa) K2-Zero Rh+ DNF Bernardine Boog-Rauwerda (Ned) DNF Jenny Copnall (GBr) Subaru-Gary Fisher DNF Tarja Owens (Irl) DNF Katy Simcock (GBr) DNF Sophie Johnson (GBr) Final World Cup standings 1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) 1900 pts 2 Sabine Spitz (Ger) 1460 3 Marie-Hélène Premont (Can) 1220 4 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) 905 5 Mary McConneloug (USA) 750 6 Yvonne Kraft (Ger) 668 7 Lene Byberg (Nor) 522 8 Kiara Bisaro (Can) 521 9 Petra Henzi (Swi) 421 10 Maja Wsoszczowska (Pol) 380 11 Maroussia Rusca (Swi) 350 12 Nina Göhl (Ger) 323 13 Patricia Sinclairs (Can) 323 14 Adelheid Morath (Ger) 317 15 Katrin Leumann (Swi) 316 16 Kelli Emett (USA) 312 17 Maria Oestergren (Swe) 285 18 Margarita Fullana (Spa) 285 19 Annabella Stropparo (Ita) 284 20 Alison Sydor (Can) 250 21 Robyn Wong (NZl) 248 22 Willow Koerber (USA) 240 23 Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 217 24 Magdalena Sadlecka (Pol) 216 25 Franziska Roethlin (Swi) 212 26 Bernardine Boog-Rauwerda (Ned) 206 27 Jaqueline Mourao (Bra) 203 28 Evelyn Staffler (Ita) 200 29 Séverine Hansen (Fra) 199 30 Sandra Klose (Ger) 199 30 Eva Lechner (Ita) 199 32 Katrin Schwing (Ger) 199 33 Sabrina Enaux (Fra) 194 34 Sonia Foote (NZl) 186 35 Mical Dyck (Can) 178 36 Barbel Jungmeier (Aut) 174 37 Cristina Mascarreras Sabria (Spa) 171 38 Anna Szafraniec (Pol) 170 39 Laura Turpijn (Ned) 167 40 Rosara Joseph (NZl) 165 41 Saskia Elemans (Ned) 153 42 Elena Giacomuzzi (Ita) 149 43 Sarka Chmurova (Cze) 145 44 Kathy Sherwin (USA) 131 45 Alison Dunlap (USA) 130 46 Cécile Rode (Fra) 126 47 Elisabeth Osl (Aut) 123 48 Jennifer Smith (NZl) 120 49 Susan Haywood (USA) 119 50 Ren Chengyuan (Chn) 119 51 Sarah Koba (Swi) 119 52 Catherine Pendrel (Can) 117 53 Kerry Barnholt (USA) 111 54 Wang Jingjing (Chn) 111 55 Nicole Cooke (GBr) 111 56 Nina Homovec (Slo) 110 57 Caroline Jackson (GBr) 108 58 Catherine Delfosse (Bel) 106 58 Arielle Van Meurs (Ned) 106 60 Asa Erlandsson (Swe) 106 61 Anna Enocsson (Swe) 105 62 Jenny Copnall (GBr) 101 63 Jenny McCauley (Irl) 98 64 Lea Davison (USA) 96 65 Erika Gramiscelli (Bra) 95 66 Roberta Stopa (Bra) 90 67 Kyia Malenkovich (USA) 88 68 Lorena Oliveira (Bra) 85 69 Daniela Louis (Swi) 85 70 Niki Gudex (Aus) 84 71 Sandra Walter (Can) 82 72 Julyana Rodrigues (Bra) 80 73 Dara Marks (USA) 75 74 Alziane Melo (Bra) 75 75 Laurence Leboucher (Fra) 75 76 Gao Xiaoning (Chn) 74 77 Heather Irmiger (USA) 71 78 Alejandra De Bernardi (Arg) 71 79 Nadja Walker (Swi) 70 80 Pavla Havlikova (Cze) 68 81 Lauren Tanzen (Aus) 67 82 Gabriela Morelli (Bra) 67 83 Giovana Corsi (Bra) 63 84 Katerina Hanusova (Cze) 62 85 Maria Rodrigues (Bra) 62 86 Elina Sophocleous (Cyp) 62 87 Georgia Gould (USA) 61 88 Jessie Joly (Bra) 61 89 Gretchen Reeves (USA) 60 90 Amanda Sin (Can) 59 91 Nina Baum (USA) 58 92 Julie Sanders (Can) 58 93 Sandra Bloomer (USA) 56 94 Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) 56 95 Jennifer Wilson (USA) 55 96 Wendy Simms (Can) 54 97 Sue Thomas (GBr) 53 98 Carla Salgado Gonzalez (Mex) 53 99 Caitlyn Tuel (USA) 52 100 Kasandra Cote (Can) 52 101 Shannon Gibson (USA) 50 102 Ruth McGavigan (GBr) 49 103 Alicia Hamilton (USA) 49 104 Sara Bresnick-Zocchi (USA) 49 105 Julie Cartner (GBr) 48 106 Genevieve Whitson (NZl) 47 107 Heather Svahn (USA) 47 108 Sophie Fortin (Can) 47 109 Maaris Meier (Est) 46 110 Becca Blay (USA) 45 111 Mathilde Hupin Debeurme (Can) 45 112 Shari Hausbeck (USA) 44 113 Jennifer Gersbach (USA) 43 114 Anne-Marie Jobin (Can) 43 115 Kristi Lewis (USA) 42 116 Elsie Torresan (Can) 42 117 Judy Freeman (USA) 41 118 Brigitte Lacaille (Can) 41 119 Rocio Gamonal Ferrera (Spa) 40 120 Kristina Andrus (USA) 39 121 Caroline Villeneuve (Can) 39 122 Rebecca Gross (USA) 38 123 Marisol Bernier (Can) 38 124 Susan Fiore (USA) 37 125 Marie-Helene Cote (Can) 37 126 Julie Emmerman (USA) 36 127 Michelle Bellamy (NZl) 36 128 Jessica Kisiel (USA) 35 129 Allison Gaudaur (Can) 35 130 Ruth Moll Marques (Spa) 35 131 Morisette D J (USA) 34 132 Maria Osl (Aut) 34 133 Susan Grandjean (USA) 32 134 Nathalie Schneitter (Swi) 32 135 Petra Hofs (Ned) 32 136 Beth Mc Cluskey (Irl) 31 137 Hazel Wakefield (GBr) 30 138 Elena Gaddoni (Ita) 28 139 Katy Middlehurst (GBr) 28 140 Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Spa) 26
