July 1/00 5:33 am - French 1-2 in Men's DH

Posted by Editor on 07/1/00
 

Mont Ste Anne World Cup - French 1-2 in Men's DH

There is a new rider to add to the World Cup winners circle - Fabien Barel.

Barel has just taken on, and beaten the best men in the world at the Mont Ste Anne stop of the Tissot-UCI World Cup. "It's perfect." said the beaming young French rider for GT. "It is technical, but that is what I really like. It is very difficult to do a perfect run here, but I was very clean in the technical parts." Behind Barel was perennial favourite Nicolas Vouilloz (Vouilloz Racing) and Steve Peat (GT).

There were a few shakeups to the usual starting list, when some favoured riders flatted during qualifying and so began earlier than would normally be expected. World champion Myles Rockwell (Giant), coming off last week's Norba National win in Mount Snow, was expected to do well, but finally had an off day - flatting in his qualifying run, and then going off course during his race run, eventually finishing 35th. Bas de Bever (Be-One) set the early fast time of 4:58.32 after also flatting during his qualifying session. "I lost maybe 4 or 5 seconds coming off my bike at the top. I was right off the bike, running beside it and holding the bars." said the Dutch rider as he took the Hot Seat of the leading rider.

Initially, he thought his reign would be short, but as the list approached the final 10 he commented "I'm getting nervous now..." Ninth fastest qualifier Eric Carter (GT), expected to be a threat, came through well down, at 5:31.64, and looked shaken as he got off his bike. "I crashed bad. My front wheel hit a hole - I must have been going 40 (miles per hour). I was over the bars and on the ground."

It wasn't until the seventh remaining rider - David Vazquez (Subaru-Specialized) - that de Bever finally left the Hot Seat, and two riders later Vazquez (number two in the World Cup standings) was bumped by Gerwin Peters (Be-One). In turn, Gerwin was immediately replaced by Peat, who then gave up the leaders spot to team mate Barel.

Barel knew he was on the podium, but could not celebrate, because next up was Vouilloz. However, Vouilloz was uncharacteristically slow, nearly a second down, so Barel only had to wait for the final rider - Mickael Pascal (Be-One). Once Pascal's intermediate time was flashed up - nearly a minute down - the wait was over (Pascal had double flatted). Mont Ste Anne had a new champion.

Race Notes:

- Barel isn't a complete newcomer to winning at Mont Ste Anne - he won the Junior World title here in 1998.

- Pascal's double flat came on the new Michelin tubeless tires

- Steve Peat said that the team got the suspension setup "just about perfect. We put lots of compression in the rear, because of the big hits. So, it started soft and firmed up."

- Many of the riders weren't too sure that they liked the modified (from the Worlds) course. It is a little longer than before, and the organizers have slowed the bottom section down with turns and a bridge. Many riders echoed Bas de Bevers comments "where they put the bridge in I don't like it. It messes up your run, your rythm. Overall, it is a great technical course, but it was better before."

- Canadian Andrew Shandro was on a great run until he crashed. His splits were up in the top-10 finishers.


1. Fabien Barel (F) Team GT 4:53.61
2. Nicolas Vouilloz (F) Vouilloz Racing 4:54.43
3. Steve Peat (GBR) Team GT 4:56.43
4. Gerwin Peters (N) Be-One 4:57.70
5. David Vazquez (Spa) Subaru-Specialized 4:57.96.

Canadians

41. David Watson (Can) GT Canada 5:16.57
50. Frederic Poulin (Can) Balfa 5:21.32
52. Chad Onyschuk (Can) Ford-Devinci 5:21.97
53. Mathieu Laurin (Can) Marin 5:26.29
55. Olivier Markon (Can) 5:27.99
58. Charles Antoine Dube (Can) VO2 5:29.33
64. Jimmy Coll (Can) 5:34.52
67. Dominick Menard (Can) Balfa 5:37.02
70. Andrew Shandro (Can) Ford-Devinci 5:44.23
71. Ted Tempany (Can) Evolution 5:44.30
73. Stephane Mailhot (Can) Cyclo Mountain 6:32.46
75. Rob Hewitt (Can) Fantasy Springs Resorts 7:18.45
77. Doug Beattie (Can) Kona Factory 13:50.31
DNF Trevor Porter (Can) Giant Canada


Dual begins in 30 minutes, expect results in approximately 2 hours time.