May 9/98 10:41 am - Dahl Wins World Cup #4

Posted by Editor on 05/9/98
 

World Cup #4

Norwegian rider Gunn-Rita Dahl was the winner of World Cup number 4 in St Wendel, Germany today. This makes 4 different winners in four races. Chrissy Redden (Ritchey) just telephoned a report into us about the race, and said that the conditions were just about perfect: „the course was hardpack, slightly tacky and very fast. It was dry, and the weather was beautiful, about 24 (Celcius) with hazy sun.‰ She said that a lead group of 5 went off early - Dahl, Laurence Leboucher, Margarita Fullana, Paola Pezzo and Alison Sydor. Just behind were last week‚s winner Chantal Daucourt and Chrissy Redden. The group was together for much of the first 3 (of 5) laps, with Sydor falling off first, then Pezzo. Dahl took a 13 second victory over Leboucher, with Fullana a further 19 seconds back. Pezzo was 4th, Sydor 5th and Chrissy was 7th. This will keep Sydor in the World Cup leaders jersey, and Chrissy should move to about 9th in the standings.

Chrissy said that the lingering illness that many of the pros have been unable to shake may be part of the reason for the (relatively) poor showings of some top riders. „I know that I can‚t shake it, Melanie McQuaid is still pretty sick, so is Caroline (Alexander - Chrissy‚s team mate, who abandoned today), and I think Alison still has a touch of it.‰ Chrissy said that this morning UCI medical testers showed up at her room and did a hematocrit test on her; she passed, but the test showed that she was pretty low, supporting the sickness theory.

One other note of interest Chrissy passed on: 300 men registered, so a Qualifier was required (first time this year). Both Neil Grover and Bill Hurley were required to race the Qualifier - no word yet on whether they made it or not.

Unofficial Results

1. Gunn-Rita Dahl
2. Laurence Leboucher at 0:13
3. Margarita Fullana 0:32
4. Paola Pezzo 1:49
5. Alison Sydor 3:08
6. Chantal Daucourt 4:10
7. Chrissy Redden 4:23

11. Lesley Tomlinson
14. Alison Dunlap
15. Sue Palmer-Komar
28. Melanie Dorion
34. Melanie McQuaid