June 25/06 10:51 am - Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup: XC Preview

Posted by Editoress on 06/25/06
 

Mont-Ste-Anne World CupReports made possible with the support of Rocky Mountain Bicycles and Vélirium Mountain Bike Festival

Racing is about to start (Women at 11am), Mike & Rob have supplied a bit of news from onsite

Another beautiful day here at Mont Sainte Anne. Brilliant sunshine, a nice breeze and pleasant temperatures in the mid-20's. We are really enjoying this as we've seen such a wide range of conditions here in Quebec at this event. Last year it was rain and humidity during the XC. The year before it was 35C heat. This is about the best that we can remember. The athletes of course will benefit from these great conditions. The race course is now very dry, without the mud that was present on Friday.

While we are enjoying ourselves the same can't be said for some unknown photographer who was filming the men's DH yesterday. We're going to be looking for someone with a small bald spot on the side of their head. We heard about this from one of the race officials. They were approached by a young racer who said that he wanted a re-run because someone interfered with him on his qualifier run. Asked to prove it he pointed to tufts of hair stuck to the edge of his full face helmet! Seems that the photographer leaned too far into the course and the racer hit him in the head with his helmet as he went by. Someone has got to be nursing a whopper of a headache this morning.

Other News

- On Friday the Sydor clan welcomed a new generation into the family, when Alison Sydor's sister Jody delivered son Brendan Jones. Brendan weighed 7lb 7oz and has blue eyes like Jody and her husband David, and "well developed" lungs. Congratulation to "Auntie Ali" and the rest of the Sydor family.

- Gestev's Patrice Drouin reports that they have a bid in for the 2008 Worlds, along with a group from Italy and one from the Czech Republic. The UCI will announce the winner at the Worlds this August. 2008 is the 400th anniversary of Quebec. The Worlds that year will be held in June, to fit ith the Beijing Olympic schedule.

- It looks like a deal is close to being signed to run all three of the major national championships consecutively next year in the Bromont area southeast of Montreal. Richard Deslandes says that the plan is to start with the Road Nationals at the end of June, followed by Track Nationals and finally Mountain Bike Nationals.

- The officials have confirmed that it will be 5 laps (plus start loop) for the women, and 7 (plus start loop) for the men.