May 24/03 4:13 am - Notes from St-Wendel

Posted by Editor on 05/24/03
 

World Cup coverage sponsored byVélirium 2003

Some tidbits from St-Wendel:

Miguel Martinez did not have to ride the qualifier, even though he has few (ranked 223rd) UCI points. There is a rule in road racing that the current World Champion or Olympic Champion receives certain privileges. There is no such rule in MTB (either someone at the UCI never thought to include this rule, or the sport is so new it has never come up - which is that way rules often get inserted). Martinez is the current Olympic Champion so he was automatically entered, after much head scratching, by the UCI as they decided to “adopt” the road rule.

The sun shone most of the day and the course had begun to dry up nicely. Both Roland Green and Chrissy Redden commented though that is the rain returns, it will make all the climbs unridable, as the ground gets very greasy when very wet.

When I spoke to Rob at 10:30pm (local time) it had just started to rain again.

Roland Green's picks: Bart Brentjens (T-Mobile) #1 in UCI rankings, Roel Paulissen (Siemens Mobile/Cannondale) #3 and reigning World Cup Champions Filip Meirhaeghe (Specialized) #2. And then he added, if there is a lot of running to be done, Thomas Frishknecht will also be a possibility.

Gunn Rita Dahle says she is "Really motivated to ride well." by wearing the World Champions jersey. She has been riding a lot of road in preparation for the MTB World Cup. She has ridden 4 European cup races and has won 4.

Filip Meirhaeghe is "Very proud and very nervous" to have the #1 plate for tomorrow's start. Roland Green quipped "That's okay, it is our job to take it away from him!"

There are 4 Canadian women on tomorrow's start list

Alison Sydor (#5)
Chrissy Redden (#15)
Marie-Helene Premont (#16)
Martina Feldman (#96) first year as senior

and 3 Canadian men

Roland Green (#4)
Ryder Hesjedal (#6)
Seamus McGrath (#12)

After St-Wendel the entire Trek VW squad heads to Fort William for World Cup #2. The Subaru-Gary Fisher squad in Scotland will consist of Chrissy Redden and Liam Killeen only. It is planned that Ryder Hesjedal will head back home to rest & train (he has been crisscrossing the Atlantic a lot this year and is said to have an injured his leg while riding with Rabobank in the early spring. BUT, should he a have a good result tomorrow, that could all change.