September 1/10 10:54 am - MTB World Championships: Team Relay Preview
Posted by Editoress on 09/1/10
World Championships MSA - Team Relay
Our coverage of the 2010 World Championships brought to you with the support of Shimano
The official competition starts today with the Team Relay. Nineteen national teams are registered for the event that will see an Elite man, an Elite woman, a U23 man and a Junior man combining their effort in the hope of making it to the podium.
Each individual rider races one of the 4.6 km laps, and the start order is different for each team based on strategy. Canada will send Max Plaxton first, followed by Francis Morin (U23), Antoine Caron (Junior) and Mical Dyck will anchor the Canadian effort. Although a good team, it is not the strongest Canada could have lined up, as National Champions Geoff Kabush and Catharine Pendrel are not included in the team effort; the CCA choosing to save its top racers for the individual event later in the week.
While Canada is saving its riders, Germany, Czech Republic and Italy are all sending their top guns and should be at the heart of the battle for the gold. All three teams are opening with the Elite man rider. Manuel Fumic of Germany will be going head to head with Italian Marco Fontana and the winner of the last World Cup, the Czech rider Jaroslav Kulhavy. Burry Stander of South Africa should also be in the mix on that first lap, although the full strength of his teammate is a little unknown.
Following Fumic and Fontana, Germany and Italy have chosen to send Junior riders Julian Schelb (GER) and Maximillian Vieider (ITA), while the Czech team will count on U23 Ondrej Cink. All three Elite women will then face each other in the third lap, with Sabine Spitz (GER), Katerina Nash (CZE) and Anna Villar Argente (ITA). The final lap will be left to U23 Marcel Flexchhut (GER), and Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA), with the Czech team relying on junior Tomas Paprstka.
The race is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
Race Notes:
- Canadian Team member Valerie Meunier is celebrating her 18th birthday today. She will be celebrating by taking part in her first World Championship; the Junior race is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.
Downhill rider Jamie Biluk dislocated his fingers and is now wearing a cast, he will not be racing. Hans Lambert will be replacing him.
Marie-Claude Suprenant has withdrawn from the National Team. School commitments will keep her away from the Worlds this year.
Although selected to the national team, downhiller Yann Gauvin has decided for the second year in a row not to accept the team invitation. Cost is the reason given for his absence (his team is not picking up the cost).
Team Relay riders (listed by the order they will ride in) and numbers
| 1 | Italy | Marco Aurelio Fontana (ME)/Maximilian Vieider (MJ)/Eva Lechner (WE)/Gerhard Kerschbaumer (MU) |
| 2 | Canada | Max Plaxton (ME)/Francis Morin (MU)/Antoine Caron (MJ)/Mical Dyck (WE) |
| 3 | France | Fabien Canal (MU)/Julien Trarieux (MJ)/Cédric Ravanel (ME)/Cécile Ravanel (WE) |
| 4 | Sweden | Magnus Darvell (ME)/Tomas Kristoffersson (MJ)/Alexandra Engen (WU)/Mattias Wengelin (MU) |
| 5 | Switzerland | Thomas Litscher (MU)/Roger Walder (MJ)/Katrin Leumann (WE)/Ralph Naef (ME) |
| 6 | Netherlands | Marco Minnaard (MU)/Rudi Van Houts (ME)/Laura Turpijn (WE)/Michiel Van Der Heijden (MJ) |
| 7 | Germany | Manuel Fumic (ME)/Julian Schelb (MJ)/Sabine Spitz (WE)/Marcel Fleschhut (MU) |
| 8 | Czech Republic | Jaroslav Kulhavy (ME)/Ondrej Cink (MU)/Katerina Nash (WE)/Tomas Paprstka (MJ) |
| 9 | United States | Todd Wells (ME)/Robbie Squire (MU)/Seth Kemp (MJ)/Katherine Compton (WE) |
| 10 | Slovakia | Michal Lami (ME)/Frantisek Lami (MJ)/Janka Stevkova (WE)/Jozef Bebcak (MJ) |
| 11 | Australia | Lachlan Norris (ME)/Trenton Day (MJ)/Rowena Fry (WE)/Cameron Ivory (MJ) |
| 12 | Austria | Christoph Soukup (ME)/Gregor Raggl (MJ)/Maria Osl (WE)/Alexander Gehbauer (MU) |
| 13 | Russian Federation | Irina Kalentieva (WE)/Sergey Nikolaev (MU)/Anton Stepanov (MJ)/Evgeniy Pechenin (ME) |
| 14 | New Zealand | Michael Northcott (ME)/Brad Hudson (MJ)/Nicola Leary (WE)/Carl Jones (MU) |
| 15 | Japan | Kyosuke Takei (ME)/Yu Takenouchi (MU)/Rie Katayama (WE)/Idomu Yamamoto (MJ) |
| 16 | Spain | Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz (MU)/Antonio Santos Ridao (MJ)/Anna Villar Argente (WE)/José Antonio Hermida Ramos (ME) |
| 17 | South Africa | Burry Stander (ME)/Yolande Speedy (WE)/Philip Buys (MU)/James Reid (MJ) |
| 18 | Brazil | Sherman Paiva (MU)/Roberta Kelly Stopa (WE)/Luiz Cocuzzi (MJ)/Ricardo Pscheidt (ME) |
| 19 | Israel | Rotem Ishai (ME)/Shaked Frank (MJ)/Noga Korem (WU)/Shlomi Haimy (MU) |
MU =U23 Men
ME = Elite Men
MJ = Junior Men
MU = Women
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