August 16/07 4:28 am - Dahle Flesjaa Ends Season

Posted by Editor on 08/16/07
 

Dahle Flesjaa Ends Season

Defending world champion Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida) has announced through her personal website that her season is over, and that she will, therefore, not be defending her cross-country world title in Fort William, Scotland next month.

On www.gunnrita.com she says: Another week of training camp here in Italy is complete. I'm still not feeling totally well, but things are moving forwards. 10 weeks with hardly any exercise has left me feeling out of shape and I have to accept that the racing season is over for me.

So I won't be participating in any more competitions this season. After such a long absence from training I need time to rebuild my strength. It would be starting at the wrong end if I was to start racing again in a couple of weeks. The highest priority is to allow my system a full recovery, get in a few normal training weeks, and then take on the winter season in October.

The absence of Dahle Flesjaa cracks the competition for the rainbow jersey wide open, with World Cup leader Irina Kalentyeva (Topeak-Ergon), Spain's Marga Fullana (Spiuk), Sabine Spitz (Ghost) of Germany and Canada's Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain-Haywood) all having a good chance at victory.