The last two weekends have been busy for the World Cup XC mountain bike racers. Round 2 in Madrid, Spain on 14/15th May saw 110 starters for the 7.5km course with Gunn-Rita Dahle-Fresjaa taking the lead right from the off. Only Marga Fullana and Canadian Marie-Helene Premont could put any pressure on Dahle but lost out due to crashes and puncturing.
Round 3, May 20th, saw a muddy course in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium with Dahle getting a good start and reaching the singletrack first then steadily build on her lead and forming a good gap ahead of the others. Kalentieva rode well to get the 2nd place, over 2 minutes down on Dahle yet well ahead of Marie-Helene Premont and Sabine Spitz.
Dahle wins with ease at Fort William 2005
So far this season Gunn-Rita Dahle has been unbeatable and her win again this weekend has consolidated her lead in the series with the full mark of 750 points. There is less than 100 points separating the next 4 riders, so the next round at Fort William, Scotland could see a big shake up in the rankings depending on who has a good day or not!
Results from Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
- 1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) Multivan Merida Biking Team 1.36.51
- 2 Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak-Ergon 2.00
- 3 Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 3.00
- 4 Sabine Spitz (Ger) Specialized Factory Racing 4.00
- 5 Lene Byberg (Nor) Bikin'cyprus Int.
- 6 Nina Goehl (Ger) Multivan Merida Biking Team 5.00
- 7 Margarita Fullana Riera (Esp) Spiuk Illes Balears 7.00
- 8 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Women's Mtb
- 9 Alison Sydor (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 8.00
- 10 Cecile Rode (Fra) Team Lapierre International
- 11 Ren Chengyuan (Chn)
- 12 Anna Enocsson (Swe) Ghost International Racing Team
- 13 Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) Lotto
- 14 Katrin Schwing (Ger)
- 15 Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) Luna Women's Mtb 9.00
- 16 Wendy Simms (Can) Velo Bella - Kona
- 17 Tereza Hurikova (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna Mtb
- 18 Anna Szafraniec (Pol) Lotto
- 19 Mary Mc Conneloug (USA) Kenda Seven
- 20 Sarah Koba (Sui)
