May 4/08 3:55am EDT - Madrid World Cup - Women's XC UPDATES

Posted by Editoress on 5/4/08.

World Cup #3 - Madrid

Coverage brought to you with the assistance of Velirium

A beautiful morning in Madrid for the start of round 3 of the 2008 XC World Cup. A smaller field than the 2 previous races - only 81 starters. Missing due to illness is current World Cup leader Irina Kalentieva.

The women will do 5 laps of the 8 km course with NO start loop.

Lap 1 Early in the lap - Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Multivan Merida Biking Team) and Margarita Fullana (Massi) have jumped to an early lead with a gap of 5 seconds on a chase group of 6 that has Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain). At 20 seconds is a 2nd (larger) chase group with Chengyuan Ren (Chinese National), Catherine Pendrel (Luna Womens Mtb Team) and Georgia Gould (Luna Womens Mtb Team).

As they near the end of the lap - Premont has joined the 3 leaders. Gould is chasing at 5 seconds. Then a group that includes Pendrell and Kiara Bisaro (Opus) at 12 sec Also in this group are Sabine Spitz (Central Ghost Pro Team), Lene Byberg (Specialized Factory Racing), Ying Liu (Chinese National). Ren alone at 18 sec. Alison Sydor is in a group chasing at 25 seconds.

Lap 2: Premont has moved to the front of the lead group. Gould, Katerina Nash (Luna Womens Mtb Team) and Lui are now chasing at ~ 20 seconds, but Gould is struggling a bit. Pendrell is next ln a group of 6.

5 k into the lap: 3 leaders. Gould and Lui at 10 sec. Then Nash, Sabine Spitz (Central Ghost Pro Team), Petra Henzi (Fischer-Bmc), Nathalie Schneitter (Colnago Cap Arreghini). Pendrel at 1 min, Ren 11th, Sydor 27th, Sandra Walter (X.O- Felt) 31st, Wendy Simms (Kona) 33rd, Mical Dyck (Trek Terrascape) 37th, Bisaro 41st, Amanda Sin (3 Rox Racing) 48th and Emily Batty (Toronto Trek store) 49th

end of lap: same 3 at front. Lui at 18 sec, Spitz at 28 sec, Nash and Gould at 29 sec. Henzi at 40 sec. Pendrel (9th) at 51 sec. Schneitter (10th) at 52 sec, Ren (11th) at 1:06. Mary McConneloug 20th at 1:36. Sydor 30th at 2:45

Lap 3 6km into the lap the 3 leaders are still together. They have opened the gap considerably to the next chaser who is is Spitz at 30 sec. followed by Lui and Gould at 35 sec. Pendrell is 8th, Ren dropped to 18th. Sydor, Dyck and Walter together high 20's. Simms 36th, Sin 45th, Batty 49th. We have either missed Bisaro or she did not go by.

Premont is riding the main climb and the other 2 are off the bike.

End of lap: 3 leaders, Spitz at 41 sec. Liu (5th) at 58 sec. Gould (6th) at 58 sec. Nash (7th) and Henzi (8th) 1:23. Pendrel 9th at 1:34

Lap 4 Midway - 3 leaders. Spitz at 45 sec. Gould 1 min. Liu 1:45. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa's husband Kenneth says she is surprising him.. " She's not doing too bad.. for an old lady!'

End of lap - 3 leaders STILL together with Dahle leading across the line to start the final lap. Spitz at 50 sec. Gould 5th at another 30 sec. Lui has been joined by Henzi, Pendrell, Schneitter and they are all at 2 min.

Last Lap Up the climb, Premont has gained a small gap over Fullana and Dahle as she stays on the bike and the other 2 climb on foot.

Premont and Dahle have dropped Fullana, she is now at 10 sec.

1/2 lap to go. Two leaders have now opened up the gap to 15 seconds over Fullana. Spitz solidly in 4th, Henzi now 5th, Lui 6th, Gould 7th

On the final uphill, leaders still together. Premont takes the front up the climb.

Final Dahle outsprints Premont.

Unofficial

1. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team1:48:14
2. Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountainat s.t.
3. Margarita Fullana (Esp) Massi1:13
4. Sabine Spitz (Ger) Central Ghost Pro Team1:37
5. Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Womens Mtb Team2:37
6. Petra Henzi (Sui) Fischer-Bmc3:01
7. Ying Liu (Chn) Chinese National3:09
8. Lene Byberg (Nor) Specialized Factory Racing3:17
9. Catherine Pendrel (Can) Luna Womens Mtb Team3:32
10. Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Womens Mtb Team3:43
11. Blaza Klemencic (Slo) Giant Italia Team3:51
12. Cécile Rode Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International4:00
13. Nathalie Schneitter * (Sui) Colnago Cap Arreghini4:15
14. Laurence Leboucher (Fra)4:20
15. Mary Mc Conneloug (USA) Kenda Seven4:22
16. Tanja Zakelj * (Slo)4:30
17. Katrin Leumann (Sui)4:41
18. Chengyuan Ren * (Chn) Chinese National4:49
19. Maroussia Rusca (Sui)4:51
20. Elisabeth Osl (Aut) Team Ghost International4:55
21. Eva Lechner (Ita) Colnago Cap Arreghini5:31
22. Tereza Hurikova * (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb5:50
23. Jingjing Wang (Chn) Chinese National6:11
24. Adelheid Morath (Ger)6:34
25. Esther Süss (Sui)6:39
26. Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher7:08
27. Mical Dyck (Can) Trek Terrascape7:09
28. Anna Villar Argente (Esp) Massi7:14
29. Maria Osl (Aut) Sunshine Racers Asv Nals7:43
30. Arielle Van Meurs (Ned) 8:00


*= U23


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