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MTB World Cup DH & 4X #3 - CDM
Vallnord, Andorra, May 15-17, 2009
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Race 4 - May 16: Elite men four cross
Upsets continue as Wichman wins men's final
By Rob Jones
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Dutch rider Joost Wichman slipped past World Cup leader Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox) in the final to claim the round win. Coming off two consecutive wins Graves and Wichman were joined by Australian Luke Madill (GT Bicycles) and Roger Rinderknecht (GT Bicycles) in the final.
Graves had easily won all of his heats up to the final and was in control from the start of the medal race. However he drifted wide after carrying too much speed into the first corner, giving Wichman and Rinderknecht the chance to get through in a tight squeeze at the second corner.
Rinderknecht also made a mistake near the end, opening the door for Madill to get by and then crashing with Graves. Graves managed to outrun Rinderknecht to the line for third.
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"I think that was aggressive enough, wasn't it," said a very excited Wichman. "I think it was a clean move, because I didn't hit him. It was awesome, man! I'm really happy. It was close but a clean move."
Graves was philosophical about his winning streak being broken. "It was getting pretty loose in the corners," he said. "If I can take something positive from the final, I was still third, and Roger fourth, so my points lead grows a bit. But I kind of feel I threw away a gold opportunity a bit, I just drifted in a straight line coming into that first corner, and didn't even get close to recovering my line.
"It was just one of those things," he added. "I'm a disappointed with that, but my lead grows, so that's the main thing."
The men's racing saw world champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Specialized) once again become a victim of a crash, this time in the 1/8 final round. Another favourite Guido Tschugg (Ghost ATG) went out in the quarter finals.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Enric Moran Gimeno
- World champion Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Specialized Factory Racing) was knocked out in the 1/8th finals.
- Joost Wichman rides away in the men's final.
- Men's podium (L-R): Roger Rinderknecht (GT Bicycles), Luke Madill (GT Bicycles), Joost Wichman, Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team) and Tomas Slavik.
- Roger Rinderknecht (GT Bicycles) goes down and Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox Factory) crashes into him.
Results
1 Joost Wichman (Ned) 2 Luke Madill (Aus) GT Bicycles 3 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 4 Roger Rinderknecht (Swi) GT Bicycles 5 Tomas Slavik (Cze) 6 Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn 7 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 8 Jurg Meijer (Ned) 9 David Graf (Swi) 10 Michal Prokop (Cze) 11 Guido Tschugg (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 12 Patrick Campbell-Jenner (GBr) 13 Michal Marosi (Cze) 14 Sascha Meyenborg (Ger) 15 Lukas Mechura (Cze) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 16 Marek Pesko (Svk) 17 Mickael Deldycke (Fra) 18 Quentin Derbier (Fra) 19 Dominik Gspan (Swi) 20 Javier Guijarro Villacieros (Spa) XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 21 Pascal Seydoux (Swi) 22 Florian Gottschlich (Ger) 23 Tom Dowie (GBr) 24 Felix Beckeman (Swe) 25 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) 26 Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Spa) Specialized Factory Racing 27 Nico Seidel (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 28 Martin Frei (Swi) 29 Jan Ersek (Svk) 30 Ziga Knez (Slo) 31 Matej Vitko (Svk) 32 Randal Huntington (Aus) 33 Matthieu Faury (Fra) 34 Lewis Lacey (GBr) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 35 Rastislav Pirman (Svk) 36 Joey Van Veghel (Ned) 37 Scott Roberts (GBr) 38 William Evans (GBr) 39 Duncan Ferris (GBr) 40 David Axelsson (Swe) 41 Adrian Kiener (Swi) 42 Adam Stasek (Cze) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 43 Adrien Loron (Fra) 44 Nicolas Gspan (Swi) 45 Bernard Kerr (GBr) 46 Peter Prajczer (Hun) 47 Ludovic Gadois (Fra) Team Vario Racing 48 Borja Carrasco Morera (Spa) 49 Thomas Schäfer (Ger) Solid Aclass Factory Team 50 Tilen Frank (Slo) 51 Francisco Javier Gutierrez Trigo (Spa) 52 Vincent Rasera (Fra) 53 Adrian Hanko (Ger) 54 Ghislain Ricci (Fra) 55 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain UK 56 Oskar Harnstrom (Swe) Teams 1 GT Bicycles 61 pts 2 Suspension Center 45 3 Norco World Team 40 4 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 30 5 Team Sunn 20 6 MS Evil Racing 18 7 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 10 8 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 6 World Cup standings after three rounds Individual 1 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 325 pts 2 Roger Rinderknecht (Swi) GT Bicycles 195 3 Joost Wichman (Ned) 193 4 Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn 140 5 Michal Prokop (Cze) 125 6 Dan Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 120 7 Luke Madill (Aus) GT Bicycles 100 8 Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lucas (Spa) Specialized Factory Racing 75 9 Tomas Slavik (Cze) 50 10 Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 45 11 Mickael Deldycke (Fra) 40 12 Cédric Gracia (Fra) 40 13 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 36 14 Jurg Meijer (Ned) 31 15 Guido Tschugg (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 31 16 Gee Atherton (GBr) Animal Commencal 30 17 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain UK 30 18 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) 25 19 David Graf (Swi) 20 20 Sascha Meyenborg (Ger) 20 21 Lukas Mechura (Cze) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 19 22 Quentin Derbier (Fra) 17 23 Joey Van Veghel (Ned) 14 24 Patrick Campbell-Jenner (GBr) 11 25 Darryn Stow (RSA) 11 26 Michal Marosi (Cze) 8 27 Matej Vitko (Svk) 4 28 Marek Pesko (Svk) 2 29 Adam Stasek (Cze) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 2 30 Premek Tejchman (Cze) 2 Teams 1 Suspension Center 125 pts 2 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 110 3 GT Bicycles 91 4 Norco World Team 70 5 Animal Commencal 67 6 Team Sunn 64 7 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 57 8 Specialized Factory Racing 30 9 MS Evil Racing 25 10 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 21 11 Rocky Mountain UK 18
