MTB world’s: Swiss win team relay, U.S. third
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Sep. 4, 2007
Using powerhouses Florian Vogel and Nino Schurter as bookends for Petra Henzi and Thomas Litscher, Switzerland won the team relay on Tuesday as the 2007 UCI world mountain-bike championships kicked off in Fort William, Scotland.
The American team of Georgia Gould, Ethan Gilmour, Sam Schultz and Adam Craig fought from dead last to third, scoring the country’s first medal in the nine-year history of the event.
The championships opened under a misty Scottish fog that rolled into the Highlands from the east, soaking everything in its wake, including the 7.5km Witch’s Trail cross-country course. But the man-made track, which features a buffed-rock riding surface and plenty of hardpack sections, seemed unchanged. Similar weather at the 2006 world’s made a quagmire of the dirt course in Rotorua, New Zealand,.
“It’s not technical at all, but it’s very fast and flow,” said Schultz. “It keeps you on your toes because it’s so fast, and it’s a little slick on those rocks with the moisture.”
The relay requires teams to field one elite man and woman, one U23 rider and one junior rider. Switzerland sent Vogel off first, and he sprang to an early lead, navigating the Witch’s Trail in 20:52. Litscher, the team’s junior rider, held that lead through the second lap. But the Swiss woman, Henzi, was passed by Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Ukraine, which saved their female rider for the final leg.
The hometown-favorite Brits were first to leave on the final lap with Jenny Copnall. The Swiss were only the fifth, with under-23 champ Schurter riding the anchor leg. But Schurter, a regular top-five finisher at World Cup races in 2007, reeled in the four riders ahead of him for the win.
The American team also had to come from behind to make the podium. The team started off with its elite woman, Gould, followed by junior rider Gilmour, Schultz and Craig.
“We went for the strongest riders,” said Matt Cramer, USA Cycling’s mountain-bike program manager.
Gould was the final rider to finish the first leg — the 2006 national cross-country champ finished on the heels of Israeli elite man Dror Pekatch, roughly four minutes down on Vogel. But her split proved to be the second-fastest women’s split on the day.
“We sat down and talked about strategy last night, and I think it was really Adam (Craig)’s idea to start strong and finish strong, even though it didn’t seem like I started that strong,” Gould said.
Gilmour, the reigning junior expert national champion, rode the U.S. team into 14th spot. Schultz powered into eighth. Craig, the reigning elite national cross-country champ, left the gates with French strongman Cedric Ravanel on his heels. But hot off his win at the 2007 single-speed world championships in nearby Aviemore, Craig dropped Ravanel and chewed through the rest of the field.
“I figured we’d be better off letting Georgia ride by herself — she’s been doing that all year anyway,” Craig said. “Our younger riders would pick off a guy or two, and I figured I’d leave with a bunch of people to catch, and I’d be fired up. I got balled up a bit in the descents and everybody was pretty cool to let me pass — I might have lost 10 seconds or so. I think it worked out.”
Craig finished 40 seconds behind the second-place Polish team of Marcin Karczynski, Piotr Brzozka, Maja Wloszczowska and Dariusz Batek.
With its bronze medal, the U.S. maintained its role as the only nation to have medaled at every UCI mountain-bike world championships since the first official championships in 1990.
Race note: The Canadian team did not field a team because some of its cross-country riders had not arrived in Fort William in time for the race.
2007 UCI world mountain-bike championships
Fort William, Scotland
September 4, 2007
Team relay
1. Switzerland, 1:33:36 (Florian Vogel, Thomas Litscher, Petra Henzi, Nino Schurter)
2. Poland, at 0:49 (Marcin Karczynski, Piotr Brzozka, Maja Wloszczowska and Dariusz Batek)
3. United States, at 1:09 (Georgia Gould, Ethan Gilmour, Sam Schultz, Adam Craig)
4. France, at 1:45 (Fabien Canal, Stephane Tmpier, Cecile Rode Ravanel, Cedric Ravanel)
5. Germany, at 1:53 (Wolfram Kurschat, Andy Eyring, Rene Tann, Sabine Spitz)
6. Czech Republic, at 2:02 (Jaroslav Kulhavy, Filip Adel, Katerina Nash, Milan Spesny)
7. Italy, at 2:06 (Yader Zoli, Andrea Tiberi, Francesco Aulino, Eva Lechner)
8. Russian Federation, at 2:10 (Yury Trofimov, Denis Vorontsov, Irina Kalentieva, Roman Orlov)
9. Great Britain, at 2:54 (Ian Bibby, Alex Paton, Ian Wilkinson, Jenny Copnall)
10. Ukraine, at 5:12 (Sergiy Rysenko, Oleksandr Yakymenko, Mykhaylo Batsutsa, Natalia Krompets)
Photo Gallery
FILED UNDER: Mountain