Sauser, Prémont take Mont-Ste-Anne XC
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jun. 25, 2006
Having struggled through disappointment on the 2006 World Cup circuit, reigning World Cup champ Christoph Sauser (Specialized) finally found victory on Sunday, winning the men’s cross-country at the Mont-Ste-Anne World Cup.
“Oh, I struggled through the cold and mud of the last two races, it was not my type of conditions,” said Sauser, who finished seventh at the third and fourth events in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, and Fort William, Scotland. “I was not wanting to give up because I did not have a chance to win the World Cup [overall] anymore.”
But after a week of constant rain, the weather finally provided Sauser with his type of conditions — sunny and dry. In fact, three days of sunshine had sufficiently dried out the course, which until five days ago featured deep, peanut-butter-like mud. The professional men circled the 5km lap seven times, maintaining lap times around 15 minutes.
Sauser beat the man who owns the World Cup overall lead, Frenchman Julien Absalon (Bianchi-Agos), who finished a distant third. But the Frenchman’s result cemented his ownership of the 2006 World Cup overall. With only one World Cup event remaining — the September 10 World Cup finals in Schladming, Austria — Absalon has achieved half of his pre-season goal to win the 2006 World Cup and world championships.
“My main goal was to be ahead of [Jose] Hermida, and I did it, so I win the World Cup,” said Absalon. “We had a good fight. Now I am happy. I can have a little recovery and now I can focus on the world championships.”
Sauser made an early escape from the front group — he and teammate Liam Killeen separated themselves from the field while chasing down the streaking Hermida (Multivan-Merida), who took a first-lap flyer. The trio circled the track, putting time on Absalon and the chasers for two laps, before the Specialized duo ditched the Spaniard. For the next three laps, the red and white Specialized jerseys rode in unison at the front of the race, with Killeen and Sauser exchanging pulls on the course’s flatter sections. It was an image familiar to fans who watched the June 17 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series event in Mount Snow, Vermont, where they rode to a 1-2 domination of the race.
Killeen, whose wins at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and Sea Otter Classic, is enjoying his best season to date. Still, the punchy Englishman from the farming town of Malvern couldn’t hold Sauser’s wheel on the second-to-last lap, and faded to second. It was the best World Cup finish for the 24-year-old Killeen.
“I was pretty content to stay second wheel for most of the race,” said Killeen. “I think Christoph just had a little bit more top end on the hills.”
Prémont delights home crowd with win
With thousands of fans cheering her on, hometown hero Marie-Héléne Prémont (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) made a last-lap charge to chase down Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesja (Multivan-Merida) and win the No. 5 World Cup cross-country Sunday at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec.
German Sabine Spitz (Specialized) took third. The top American finisher was Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda), who fought her way from 10th up to fifth.
The victory was reminiscent of Prémont’s win here last year — the Canadian spent the majority of the day stalking Dahle-Flesja after the Norwegian champion took an early lead. This year, however, Prémont kept Dahle-Flesja’s gap to a mere 30 seconds, and then made her charge on the last of five laps. Thousands lined the 5km course, and as Prémont made her charge, a collective cheer echoed throughout the Mont-Ste-Anne base area.
“The fans are amazing for me, it gives me so much more motivation to push myself harder,” said Prémont, a native French speaker. “I thought on the third lap that perhaps I could catch Gunn-Rita. My legs felt good and she was beginning to slow down.”
Friends and family swarmed her at the finish, as well as camera crews from local Quebec City news stations.
Dahle-Flesja, who has spent the last three weeks living and training at altitude in Colorado, admitted that her legs lacked the usual snap.
“I could tell from the first 10 minutes that my high end was lacking,” she said.
And Dahle-Flesja offered some words of wisdom for Prémont.
“I hope she takes care of this moment because that is something you will have forever,” she said. “And you can learn from wins like this. You should always have this moment tucked away in your mind and keep thinking of when you are not going good.”
Race notes
Fighting his way onto the podium was Canadian Seamus McGrath, who was in seventh place going into the final lap, but dropped companions Ludovic Dubau (F) and Florian Vogel (Swi). The Canadian, who recently inked a sponsorship deal with Felt Bicycles, has spent the year riding for the Canadian National team, and is the highest-ranked Canadian in the World Cup rankings at 14th.
American Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) couldn’t match his best-ever World Cup finish from Fort William, Scotland. The climbing specialist said he was feeling the effects of two months of back-to-back racing, and finished 19th. The result dropped him to No. 11 on the World Cup rankings board.
Adam Craig (Giant) was the top American finisher, coming in ninth. The American suffered through a slow start and was in 35th place after the first lap, but slowly crawled up the rankings board to be as high as eighth.
After riding in the top 10 for the first half of the race, Canadian Geoff Kabush suffered a flat tire and faded to 34th.
Two years after testing positive for EPO during a random drug test at Mont-Ste-Anne, Filip Meirhaeghe returned to the Canadian race. Mierhaeghe finished 30th.
Jose Antonio Hermida (Multivan-Merida) competed in his first race since becoming a father. His first child, Eric, was born shortly after the World Cup in Fort William.
World Cup cross-country
Men
1. Christoph Sauser (Swi), Specialized, 2:00:29
2. Liam Killeen (GB), Specialized, 2:00:39
3. Julien Absalon (F), Bianchi-Agos, 2:03:24
4. Jose Antonio Hermida (Sp), Multivan-Merida, 2:03:59
5. Seamus McGrath (Can), Canadian National, 2:06:37
6. Florian Vogel (Swi), Swisspower, 2:06:58
7. Ludovic Dubau (F), 2:07:26
8. Marti Labarta (Sp), Specialized, 2:07:33
9. Adam Craig (USA), Giant, 2:07:52
10. Balz Weber (Swi), 2:08:12
Women
1. Marie-Helene Premont (Can), Rocky Mountain Business Objects, 1:41:17
2. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team, at 0:57
3. Sabine Spitz (Ger) Specialized Factory Racing, at 1:34
4. Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak-Ergon, at 3:57
5. Mary McConneloug (USA) Kenda Seven, at 5:37
6. Chengyuan Ren (Chn), at 7:00
7. Ivonne Kraft (Ger), at 7:42
8. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) Luna, at 8:06
9. Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher, at 8:11
10. Kiara Bisaro (Can) Team RACE , at 8:30
World Cup cross-country rankings (after 5 events)
Men
1. Absalon, 1110 points
2. Sauser, 830
3. Hermida, 810
4. Bart Brentjens (Nl), 715
5. Killeen, 552
6. Vogel, 513
7. Roel Paulissen (B), 508
8. Ralph Naf (Swi), 450
9. Nino Schurter (Swi), 421
10. Fredrik Kessiakoff (S), 382
Women
1. Dahle-Flesja, 1100 points
2. Prémont, 855
3. Spitz, 780
4. Kalentieva, 736
5. Nina Gohl (G), 607
6. Margarita Fullana (Sp), 600
7. Lene Byberg (N), 596
8. McConneloug, 482
9. Maja Wloszczowska (Pl), 435
10. Chengyuan Ren (Chn), 410
Photo Gallery
FILED UNDER: Mountain