June 24/06 11:22 am - Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup: 4X report & results

Posted by Editoress on 06/24/06
 

Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup
Reports made possible with the support of Rocky Mountain Bicycles and Specialized

There's nothing like a perfect evening to bring out a huge throng of spectators. Being Quebec's national holiday of St. Jean Baptiste Day meant people were in a very festive mood. The racers didn't disappoint. Great action. A revised race course. And lots of fun. There were only a couple of crashes, but no serious injuries.

The women's field had 8 qualifiers and the men 45.

The surprise in the women's field was the 5th place finish of defending World Champion Jill Kintner (USA), who was unbeaten so far this season in World Cup action. Kintner crashed in qualifying which didn't give her first choice in lane selection. She felt that this was her undoing. "I was in second (in her first round) and could have just chilled and gone to the finals, but Tara Llanes was going too slow and I went around the outside and got into the last flag all square and got passed. I don't believe it, but I can't take it back. I've never been 5th. I'm dealing with it."

Katrina Miller (Aus) dominated the Final handily. "It was good racing. It was kind of like one line in the beginning but if you didn't give up you could stay close and even make passes in the last turn. The first turn here is so critical. That first straight is 90% of the race. If you don't get a perfect gate you're playing catch up. You just have to get out front and keep clicking gears. You can't worry about what's going on behind you. You just sprint as hard as you can." In second was Tara Llanes (USA) with Anneke Beerten (NED - Specialized Factory Racing) third and Melissa Buhl in fourth.

The men's field had heat after heat with such a large number of qualifiers. The spectators were obviously pleased to see so much racing this evening and cheered and applauded endlessly.

The final came down to Michal Prokop (CZE), last year's winner here, Jurg Meijer (NED), Roger Rinderknecht (SUI) and Gee Atherton (GBR - Team Animal/Giant). Prokop was the dominant force all evening, riding with great style and, above all, with an extremely smooth style. No mistakes, combined with a killer sprint thanks to all of his BMX experience, makes Prokop a threat at every 4-Cross he enters. However Prokop did make a rare mistake in the Final and he was relieved that he managed to make up for it. "My gate in the Final was horrible, so I was second going into the first corner. Roger (Rinderknecht) slid out and I managed to pass him. Then I had to pedal hard all the rest of the way down. The rest of the runs were great. I was always leading into the first corner, and everything was all right. Oh shit, the Final was horrible."

Women

Final
1. Katrina Miller (Aus)
2. Tara Llanes (USA) Giant
3. Anneke Beerten (Ned) Specialized Factory Racing
4. Melissa Buhl (USA) KHS

Small Final
5. Jill Kintner (USA) GT
6. Anita Molcik (Aut) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing
7. Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco
8. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Monster/Iron Horse/Mad Katz

Men

Final
1. Michal Prokop (Cze) Author
2. Jurg Meijer (Ned)
3. Roger Rinderknecht (Sui)
4. Gee Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant

Small Final
5. Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Racing Factory T
6. Will Longden (GBr) Team Mbuk Santacruz
7. Luke Strom (Aus)
8. Chris Powell (USA) Specialized Factory Racin

1/4 Finals
9. Guido Tschugg (Ger)
10. Joost Wichman (Ned)
11. Cédric Gracia (Fra)
12. Dan Atherton (GBr) Team Animal / Giant
13. Greg Minnaar (Rsa) Team G-Cross Honda
14. Michal Marosi (Cze) Arbö Rsp Downhill Racing
15. Jared Rando (Aus)
16. Filip Polc (Svk) Gravity Group

1/8 Finals
17. Michael Hannah (Aus) Cannondale/The Cut
18. Leiv Ove Nordmark (Nor) Gravity Group
19. Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) Kona Les Gets Factory Tea
20. Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain Uk
21. Dave Wardell (GBr)
22. Amiel Cavalier (Aus)
23. John Kirkcaldie (NZl)
24. Sean Mcclendon (USA)
25. Kyle Strait (USA)
26. Richard Houseman (USA) Yeti Fox Racing Factory T
27. Andrew Neethling (RSA)
28. Cameron Zink (USA)
29. John Hauer (USA)
30. Joel Bain (Aus)
31. Steve Wentz (USA)
32. Logan Binggeli (USA)

1/16 Finals
33. Cody Warren (USA)
34. Dominik Gspan (Sui)
35. Cole Bangert (USA)
36. Mike Haderer (USA)
37. Ryan Condrashoff (USA)
38. James Schwanke (USA)
39. Marc Fontaine (Can)
40. Benoit Rioux (Can)
41. Heikki Hall (USA)
42. Kai Scugk (Ger)
43. Samuel Vallee (Can)
44. Jocelyn Langlois (Can)
45. Andrei Issakov (Can)
DNS. Robin Baloochi (USA)
DNS. Charles-Alexandre Dube (Can)