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World Cup XC # 4/DH/4X # 2 - B
Willingen, Germany, June 4-5, 2005
Main Page Results World Cup standings Next Race
Race 1 - June 4: Women's XC
Dahle digs deep
By Rob Jones in Willingen
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Pre-race, riders were calling the course in Willingen boring but hard. It certainly lived up to its reputation for difficulty and, while not very technical, provided close and exciting racing. Both races were decided by less than a minute, with Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) racking up her third win of the season, and Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale) his first. Sauser also took over the lead in the men's overall standings from Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos).
While it may have appeared to be yet another formulaic win by Dahle - ride away on the first lap and cruise in to the finish - it was anything but, according to the Olympic and world champion.
"I had to dig deep here; I was pushing over my limit for the last two laps."
Dahle's relentless pace was too much for the rest of the field on the first lap, and she opened up a 15 second gap on a chase group containing Marie-Helene Premont and Alison Sydor (both Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), Sabine Spitz (Specialized) and Irina Kalentieva (Multivan Merida), with Mary McConneloug (Kenda), Maja Wloszczowska (Lotto) and Annabella Stropparo coming up behind. Sydor dropped back to ride her own pace on the second lap, while the other three stayed within ten to fifteen seconds of each other until the fourth lap, when Spitz gradually started to put the pressure on both the other chasers and Dahle.
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"I started a little more slowly, because on the climb I had to go my own pace." explained the Specialized rider. "I saw that Premont would get a gap on the lower part of the climb, but I had to go my own cadence which was higher. Then I would pass her again before the top, on the steeper part."
The gap to Dahle went up over a minute, but then Spitz started to bring it back in the last two laps, down to 39 seconds at the line. Behind, Premont was conserving her energy, and launched an attack at the start of the last lap to drop Kalentieva for third, preserving her second place in the overall standings in front of Spitz. McConneloug continued her steady pace to record her second consecutive podium appearance.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Marie-Hélène Premont (Rocky Mountain Business Objects) 3rd place today and 2nd in World Cup standings
- Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain Business Objects)
- Kiara Bisaro (Gearsacing.com) would finish 8th
- The women's pack make their way up the climb
- Annabella Stropparo
- The women's podium - Mary McConneloug, Marie-Helene Premont, Gunn-Rita Dahle, Sabine Spitz, Irina Kalentieva
- Gunn-Rita Dahle led from the start
- Gunn-Rita Dahle wins another World Cup
- Gunn-Rita Dahle had to dig deep
- Sabine Spitz has found her form
- Irina Kalentieva was passed by Marie-Hélène Premont on the final lap
- Maja Wloszczowska (Lotto) would finish 7th
Results
1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1.48.58 2 Sabine Spitz (Ger) Specialized Factory Racin 0.39 3 Marie-Hélène Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 2.20 4 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Multivan Merida Biking Team 3.31 5 Mary Mcconneloug (USA) Seven/Kenda 3.51 6 Annabella Stropparo (Ita) 5.12 7 Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) Lotto 5.43 8 Kiara Bisaro (Can) Gearsracing.Com 6.09 9 Nina Göhl (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 6.32 10 Alyson Sydor (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 7.05 11 Ivonne Kraft (Ger) Fuji 12 Maria Östergren (Swe) 7.19 13 Elena Giacomuzzi (Ita) 7.49 14 Petra Henzi (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 7.54 15 Kelli Emett (USA) Ford Basis 8.01 16 Maroussia Rusca (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 8.35 17 Eva Lechner (Ita) 9.34 18 Ren Chengyuan (Chn) 9.44 19 Sabrina Enaux (Fra) Lapierre International 10.07 20 Wang Jingjing (Chn) 10.26 21 Anna Enocsson (Swe) Ghost International Racing 11.11 22 Lene Byberg (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 11.32 23 Rosara Joseph (NZl) 11.43 24 Anna Szafraniec (Pol) Lotto 11.54 25 Magdalena Sadlecka (Pol) Lotto 11.59 26 Adelheid Morath (Ger) 12.30 27 Sandra Klose (Ger) 13.10 1 lap behind 28 Robyn Wong (NZl) 29 Catherine Delfosse (Bel) Massi-Abarth 30 Franziska Roethlin (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 31 Sonia Foote (NZl) 32 Patricia Sinclair (Can) 33 Evelyn Staffler (Ita) 34 Ariëlle Van Meurs (Ned) 35 Daniela Louis (Swi) 36 Bärbel Jungmeier (Aut) 37 Sarah Koba (Swi) 38 Kathrin Schwing (Ger) 39 Cristina Mascarreras Sabria (Spa) 40 Cecile Rode (Fra) Orbea 2 laps behind 41 Elisabeth Osl (Aut) 42 Nina Homovec (Slo) 43 Gao Xiaoning (Chn) 44 Pavla Havlikova (Cze) 45 Asa Erlandsson (Swe) 46 Saskia Elemans (Ned) 47 Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) 48 Jenny Copnall (GBr) Subaru-Gary Fisher 49 Laura Turpijn (Ned) 50 Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Spa) 51 Maria Osl (Aut) 3 laps behind 52 Laurence Leboucher (Fra) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 53 Janka Stevkova (Svk) 54 Tereza Jansova (Cze) 55 Sarka Chmurova (Cze) Max Cursor 56 Birgit Jüngst (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking 57 Kathy Sherwin (USA) 58 Petra Hofs (Ned) 59 Emma Colson (Aus) 60 Nina Kunz (Ger) 61 Carissa Wilkes (NZl) 62 Elina Sophocleous (Cyp) Bikin'cyprus Int. 4 laps behind 63 Caroline Beysseyrias (Fra) 64 Heike Hundertmark (Ger) 65 Jenni King (Aus) 66 Monika Derntl (Aut) 67 Alexa Hüni (Ger) 5 laps behind 68 Genevieve Whitson (NZl) 69 Caroline Jackson (GBr) 70 Cora Paukulat (Ger) 71 Rebecca Mcconnell (Aus) 72 Sigrid Huber (Aut) DNF Bernardine Boog-Rauwerda (Ned) DNS Katrin Leumann (Swi) Fischer-Bmc
World Cup standings after round 4
1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 950 pts 2 Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 770 3 Sabine Spitz (Ger) Specialized Factory Racin 720 4 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Multivan Merida Biking Team 640 5 Mary McConneloug (USA) Seven/Kenda 435 6 Maja Wsoszczowska (Pol) Lotto 380 7 Lene Byberg (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 302 8 Margarita Fullana (Spa) K2-Zero Rh+ 285 9 Annabella Stropparo (Ita) 284 10 Petra Henzi (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 271 11 Kiara Bisaro (Can) Gearsracing.com 266 12 Ivonne Kraft (Ger) Fuji 253 13 Alison Sydor (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 250 14 Maroussia Rusca (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 225 15 Magdalena Sadlecka (Pol) Lotto 216 16 Adelheid Morath (Ger) 208 17 Bernardine Boog-Rauwerda (Ned) 206 18 Maria Oestergren (Swe) 205 19 Katrin Schwing (Ger) 199 20 Sabrina Enaux (Fra) Lapierre International 194 21 Nina Goehl (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 193 22 Robyn Wong (NZl) 192 23 Sonia Foote (NZl) 186 24 Katrin Leumann (Swi) Fischer-Bmc 183 25 Barbel Jungmeier (Aut) 174 26 Cristina Mascarreras Sabria (Spa) 171 27 Anna Szafraniec (Pol) Lotto 170 28 Kelli Emett (USA) 168 29 Rosara Joseph (NZl) 165 30 Saskia Elemans (Ned) 153 31 Elena Giacomuzzi (Ita) 149 32 Patricia Sinclairs (Can) Scott 147 33 Evelyn Staffler (Ita) 143 34 Sandra Klose (Ger) 141 35 Eva Lechner (Ita) 140 36 Franziska Roethlin (Swi) Univega Pro Cycling Team 137 37 Severine Hansen (Fra) 132 38 Cecile Rode (Fra) Orbea 126 39 Elisabeth Osl (Aut) 123 40 Ren Chengyuan (Chn) 119 41 Sarah Koba (Swi) 119 42 Laura Turpijn (Ned) 112 43 Wang Jingjing (Chn) 111 44 Nicole Cooke (GBr) 111 45 Nina Homovec (Slo) 110 46 Catherine Delfosse (Bel) Massi-Abarth 106 46 Arielle Van Meurs (Ned) 106 48 Asa Erlandsson (Spa) 106 49 Anna Enocsson (Swe) Ghost International Racing 105 50 Jenny Copnall (GBr) Subaru-Gary Fisher 101 51 Sarka Chmurova (Cze) Max Cursor 95 52 Daniela Louis (Swi) 85 53 Laurence Leboucher (Fra) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 75 54 Gao Xiaoning (Chn) 74 55 Nadja Walker (Swi) Athleticum-Mtb-Team 70 56 Pavla Havlikova (Cze) 68 57 Elina Sophocleous (Cyp) Bikin'cyprus Int. 62 58 Caroline Jackson (GBr) 57 59 Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) 56 60 Susan Haywood (USA) 52 61 Maaris Meier (Est) Alexela Pro Team 46 62 Trish Sinclair (Can) 42 63 Rocio Gamonal Ferrera (Spa) 40 64 Ruth Moll Marques (Spa) 35 65 Maria Osl (Aut) 34 66 Nathalie Schneitter (Swi) 32 67 Petra Hofs (Ned) 32 68 Sandra Walter (Can) 31 69 Beth Mc Cluskey (Irl) 31 70 Hazel Wakefield (GBr) 30 71 Kathy Sherwin (USA) 29 72 Elena Gaddoni (Ita) 28 73 Katy Middlehurst (GBr) 28 74 Sandra Santanyes Murillo (Spa) 26
