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MTB World Cup XC #5, DH #4, 4X #4 - CDM
Mont Ste Anne, Canada, June 24-25, 2006
Race 1 - June 24: Women's downhill
Jonnier wins as Moseley retains World Cup lead
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Fast conditions were the order of the day as it finally didn't rain at Mont Ste Anne. The event organizer Patrice Drouin half-jokingly commented: "We like dust". Unlike the horrid conditions of the Canada Cup here 2 weeks ago (4 straight days of rain) the last rain the mountain received was on Friday morning. Brilliant skies and a nice breeze helped to dry the course considerably. However, the wet of the last few weeks made the course very soft in the wooded sections. As the day went on these portions of the course became more and more chewed up, which played a significant role as the afternoon went on.
The course here has been revised considerably since last year's World Cup. There are some new high speed sections out on the ski hills, with a set of S-bends with large berms under the gondola being a fan favourite.
Riders had to really work their bikes down the hill and most showed signs of exhaustion by the finish. Women and men alike complained of sore arms from the pounding. Even during training the course claimed many riders due to crashes. Danika Schroeter (bruised leg) and Charles-Alexandre Dube (broken collar bone), both top Canadian racers, didn't start due to their injuries. Kathi Pruitt (USA) was another non-starter due to a broken shoulder suffered this morning.
In the women's DH, all eyes were on the top seed Tracy Moseley (GBR - Kona Les Gets Factory Team) who had won the first 3 World Cups this year. The woman who claimed the hot seat for most of the women's race was Emmeline Ragot (FRA - Qbikes) who was the second slowest seed, thanks to a mechanical during the Semi Finals. Ragot was left to wait until the 4th last run before she was dethroned.
Finally bumping Ragot was Rachel Atherton (GBR - Team Animal/Giant). She was in turn bumped by the next rider down the mountain, Marielle Saner (Team BikePark.Ch Tui). Then the run of the day was produced by Sabrina Jonnier, defending World Cup Champion). Jonnier was over 8 seconds up on Saner at the finish. Now it was only Tracy Moseley who could claim the win. Moseley couldn't do it today, 2.15 seconds back of Jonnier at the finish.
This was Jonnier's first win of the season or it could also be viewed as Moseley's first loss. Jonnier was very happy. "I felt I was losing time in the upper part of the course this morning so I tried very hard in my run to pedal hard everywhere I could. In the technical I tried to stay off the brakes. It was a good run. I feel awesome. I love this race. MSA is one of my favourites. I'm really glad I won here."
Moseley was philosophical about her loss. "I know Sabrina has been getting pretty pissed about losing so I expected her to put in a strong run. Her final run was considerably faster than my semi-final win. I had a couple of mistakes in the middle part of the course that cost me time.
I went into S-berms to high with too much speed and had to brake and lost some time there. I've still got the leaders jersey, but there are two races to go. It's going to be a good competition."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Sabrina Jonnier (Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz) finally grabbed a 2006 World Cup after a season of playing second fiddle to Tracy Moseley.
- Marielle Saner (Team Bikepark.Ch Tui) on the way to third.
- Celine Gros (Alvarez Racing) was 13th
- Bernardita Pizzaro was sixth
- Rachel Atherton (Team Animal/Giant) - turned in another strong ride to fourth place.
- Marielle Saner (Team Bikepark.Ch Tui)
- Sabrina Jonnier (Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz
- Tracy Moseley (Kona Les Gets Factory Team) - her second place was her first World Cup defeat of 2006.
Results
1 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz 5.25.22 2 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Kona Les Gets Factory Tea 5.27.37 3 Marielle Saner (Swi) Team Bikepark.Ch Tui 5.33.27 4 Rachel Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant 5.38.23 5 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Qbikes 5.40.79 6 P. Pizarro Bernardita (Chi) 5.41.15 7 Helen Gaskell (GBr) 5.41.98 8 Melissa Buhl (USA) 5.45.97 9 Tracey Hannah (Aus) 5.46.03 10 Adrienne Miller (Can) 5.49.55 11 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) 5.50.71 12 Anita Molcik (Aut) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing 5.50.82 13 Céline Gros (Fra) Alvarez Racing 6.01.18 14 Daniela Bossard (Swi) 6.04.11 15 Silja Stadler (Swi) 6.05.44 16 Claire Buchar (Can) 6.05.63 17 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 6.06.87 18 Amy Laird (NZl) 6.12.27 19 Helene Fruhwirth (Aut) 6.21.48 20 Anka Martin (RSA) 6.27.69 21 Sheila Morris (Can) 6.29.54 22 Maria Conway (GBr) 6.30.81 23 Caroline Milot (Can) 6.31.23 24 Marie-Eve Marcotte (Can) 6.36.83 25 Lauren Campbell (NZl) 6.38.34 26 Olivia Johnston (NZl) 6.39.44 27 Mylene-Kim Fortier (Can) 7.00.14 28 Jessica Vogt (USA) 7.20.24 DNF Micayla Gatto (Can) Rocky Mountain Business
World Cup Standings after round 4
1 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Kona Les Gets Factory Team 903 pts 2 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz 790 3 Rachel Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant 630 4 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Qbikes 562 5 Marielle Saner (Swi) Team Bikepark.Ch 525 6 Céline Gros (Fra) Alvarez Racing 438 7 Helen Gaskell (GBr) 387 8 P. Pizarro Bernardita (Chi) 379 9 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco 343 10 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 300 11 Kathleen Pruitt (USA) 257 12 Claire Buchar (Can) 245 13 Anita Molcik (Aut) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing 240 14 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Specialized Factory Team 231 15 Danika Schroeter (Can) 181 16 Floriane Pugin (Fra) 153 17 Melissa Buhl (USA) 148 18 Daniela Bossard (Swi) 135 19 Silja Stadler (Swi) 107 20 Patricia Loureiro (Bra) 104 21 Tracey Hannah (Aus) 91 22 Pascaline Reusser (Swi) 89 23 Adrienne Miller (Can) 87 24 Katrina Strand (Can) 75 25 Diana Marggraff (Ecu) Zenith-Mtb-International 72 26 Maria Conway (GBr) 71 27 Brook Baker (Can) 64 28 Calamaty Jayne Cann (GBr) 52 29 Mireia Boscaballester (Spa) 52 30 Antje Kramer (Ger) 49 31 Petra Bernhard (Aut) Ms-Intense Factory-Racing 49 32 Amy Laird (NZl) 46 33 Violeta Janeiro Alfageme (Spa) 46 34 Helene Fruhwirth (Aut) 43 35 Emily Horridge (GBr) 43 36 Anka Martin (RSA) 40 37 Hannah Steffens (USA) 40 38 Sheila Morris (Can) 37 39 Anja Reesjones (GBr) 37 40 Jaime Mart (Bar) 34 41 Caroline Milot (Can) 32 42 Maria Michalogiannaki (Gre) 32 43 Marie-Eve Marcotte (Can) 30 44 Lauren Campbell (NZl) 28 45 Alice Kühne (Swi) 28 46 Michela Thaler (Ita) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing 28 47 Ajnoha Fontan Omil (Spa) 28 48 Vanessa Quin (NZl) 20
