THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
France upsets Switzerland in the first event of the 2008 Mountain Bike World Championships.
France’s four-person squad of Jean-Christoph Peraud, Arnaud Jouffroy, Laurence Leboucher and Alexis Vuillermoz stormed to a convincing win in the first event of the 2008 UCI mountain bike world championships, the team relay. The French led from start to finish, and stomped pre-race favorites Switzerland by more than two minutes.
“It was very challenging at the start because [the Swiss] were favored to win,” Peraud said with the aid of a translator.
Indeed Switzerland came into the event having dominated the team race in 2006 and 07 virtually the same squad. Fast starter Florian Vogel, strongwoman Petra Henzi and U23 sensation Nino Schurter form the backbone of the team.
But Vogel was unable to grab his usual quick start on the wet, sloppy course in Val di Sole, which has endured days of intense rainfall. The Swiss rider finished the opening 6km lap trailing Peraud by 15 seconds.
“It is like that for me, one week I have good legs and the next I do not. Last week I had great legs,” said Vogel, who took his first-career World Cup win at the June 7 round in Fort William, Scotland.
Henzi and Switzerland’s junior rider, Matthias Rupp, each lost a minute to their respective French counterparts. Schurter dug hard to close the gap, but could only chew eight seconds out of France’s decisive lead. He barely out-sprinted Italy’s Cristian Cominelli at the line to win his team second place.
Behind the pack Canada and the United States finished sixth and eighth place, respectively. Canada’s Raphael Gagne, Catherine Pendrel, Derek Zandstra and Evan Guthrie lost a close sprint with the Czech Republic squad. But Pendrel’s blistering 22:26 lap time marked the fastest of any female on the day.
The United States opted to send its female rider, Georgia Gould, first, with its elite man, Adam Craig, riding last. The tactic earned the team a third-place finish at the 2007 worlds in Fort William, but didn’t quite do the job in Italy.
But Craig’s 19:49 lap time was the second fastest of the day, just 17 seconds slower than Brit Liam Killeen, which bodes well for his chances in Sunday’s elite championships. The American posted his impressive ride while sporting a newly shaved faux-hawk mullet.
