June 25/05 9:11 am - Mont-Ste-Anne MTB World Cup: 4X Final report

Posted by Editoress on 06/25/05
 

MTB World Cup 4X Final Mont-Ste-Anne, QC

Reports brought to with the support of Gestev

A large enthusiastic crowd gathered on the main ski run to view the World Cup 4 Cross. The course started with a fast straight into a massive sweeping left hand turn. This was the key point for virtually every run. To win a run the racer had to be the first into that turn. This caused a number of collisions and crashes. The lower part of the course was very tight with two huge sections of stutter bumps that required a great deal of caution. The racers were concerned with how tight the course was, although they had praise for the design.

In the women's race, the victor was Jill Kintner (USA). With her win Kintner regained her lead in the overall World Cup 4X standings from Anneke Beerten (Specialized) who finished 2nd. Kinter ˆ "I liked the course, but it was very tight. To win you had to be first out of the gate. Fortunately I'm good at that."

It was a very small women's field with only 7 participants.

The men's field had lots of depth with all of the top World Cup riders in attendance. Crashes took many out of contention. The move of the night was from perennial crowd favourite Cedric Gracia (Siemens Cannondale). Gracia was sitting fourth in his semi-final heat lower down on the course and managed to move up to second place by switching across the course in radical line that just astounded everyone. This allowed him to advance to the final.

The final four were Brian Lopes, Michal Prokop, Guido Tschugg, and Gracia. It was all over with Prokop's start. He just nailed the holeshot and rode smoothly down the rest of the course, thanks to a crash by his main competition Brian Lopes.

Prokop was pleased with his victory. "It went well. I don't like the flat turns, so it was pretty hard for me. The course didn't have good flow because the jumps were too small. The strategy was all about being the first one into the first corner so I really concentrated on being there and then pedaling the whole way down the course."

Brian Lopes, defending World Cup champion, crashed in the first turn of the finals. "It was going good until the final run. It wasn't a perfect start for me. I was worried about Prokop because he gets good gate. He squeezed me in the first turn and I tried to stay with him. There was only one move to make on the course. The course was pretty horrible for passing so there was that one spot to get him (the 1st corner). Other than that you just had to follow him. That's racing. What can you do."

Women

Final
1. Jill Kintner (USA)
2. Anneke Beerten (Ned) Specialized Factory Racing
3. Katrina Miller (Aus)
4. Tara Llanes (USA)

Small Final
5. Melissa Buhl (USA)
6. Fionn Griffiths (GBr)
7. Anita Molcik (Aut) Arbo Rsp Downhill Racing

Men

Final
1. Michal Prokop (Cze)
2. Guido Tschugg (Ger)
3. Cedric Gracia (Fra) Siemens Cannondale Mtb
4. Brian Lopes (USA)

Small Final
5. Jared Graves (Aus)
6. Gee Atherton (GBr)
7. Michael Hannah (Aus)
8. Darren Pokoj (Aus)

1/4 Finals
9. Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) Kona Les Gets
10. Brian Schmith (USA)
11. Chris Kovarik (Aus)
12. Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Factory Racing
13. Rich Houseman (USA)
14. Lukas Tamme (Cze)
15. Roger Rinderknecht (Sui) Commencal Oxbow
16. Robin Baloochi (USA)

1/8 Finals
17. Nathan Rennie (Aus)
18. Dan Atherton (GBr)
19. Will Longden (GBr)
20. Scott Beaumont (GBr) Team Kona Beaumont Racing
21. Andrew Neethling (Rsa)
22. David Wardell (GBr)
23. Cameron Zink (USA)
24. Marc Fontaine (Can)
25. Christopher Herndon (USA)
26. Louis-Philippe Leonard (Can)
27. Heikki Hall (USA)
28. Henry Odonnell (USA)
29. Tommy Tokarczyk (USA)
30. Jocelyn Langlois (Can)
31. Michael Towers (Can)

Qualifications
DSQ. Richard Smith (Irl)
DNS. Filip Polc (Svk)
DNS. Chris Powell (USA) Specialized Factory Racing
DNS. Bryn Atkinson (Aus)
DNS. Hugo Donais (Can)
DNS. Frederic Belanger (Can)
DNS. Andy Smith (Irl)