World Mountain Bike Championships - CDMSierra Nevada, Spain, June 7 - 11, 2000Day 1 - June 7: Team Relay ChampionshipsSpain reigns againLast year in Åre, Sweden, the Spanish team won the inaugural team relay event in front of France and Canada. This year, with a very similar team they did it again, blitzing the Swiss and Italians after coming from behind. Their team of Roberto Lezaun, Marga Fullana, Inaki Lejarreta Errasti, and Jose Antonio Hermida got off to a bad start in the four lap race, as first rider Roberto Lezaun came in last position to hand in his armband to the next rider Fullana. However, Fullana managed to peg the time back to the Canadians who were leading, and who later fell back to second last after Jamie Douglas had a mechanical. Italy (Marco Bui, Leonardo Zanotti, Mirko Faranisi, Paola Pezzoa) and Switzerland (Christophe Sauser, Florian Vogel, Barbara Blatter, Silvio Bundi) were the leaders on the penultimate lap but the Spanish were making a lot of ground. Onthe final lap, Hermida passed Pezzo who was Italy's last rider, and cross the line nearly six minutes in front of the Italian. Pezzo was also passed by Swiss Silvio Bundi who ensured the silver for his country.
Results1 Spain 2.08.14 250 pts 2 Switzerland 4.50 200 3 Italy 6.03 170 4 Poland 7.30 150 5 Australia 8.32 130 6 Great Britain 10.17 95 7 USA 10.30 90 8 Germany 10.42 85 9 Russia 10.51 80 10 Belgium 10.55 75 11 Brasil 17.23 71 12 Canada 18.32 67 13 Czech Republic 21.24 63 DNF France DNF Colombia |