WORLDS CROSS COUNTRY REPORT
Fort William, Scotland
usacycling.org
The top American finishers in the elite cross-country mens and womens were Adam Craig (Bend), ID and Georgia Gould(Ketchum), ID). Craig finished 22nd in the men’s race, while Gould was ninth to lead women’s team.
Julien Absalon, a top-ranked international rider and the current World Champion Julien Absalon from France won his fourth consecutive men’s title. He won the race of 29.8 miles with a time of 2:17 minutes and 6 seconds. Ralf Naef, Florian Vogel and Florian Vogel from Switzerland rounded out the podium with the bronze and silver medals.
Craig is currently the American top-ranked off-road cyclist. He was ranked as high as 13th in the World and 18th on World Cup circuit.
These results were a reminder of the formidable competition in the European mountain biking pool. The U.S. is ranked seventh worldwide, but we still have work to do for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Four Swiss riders were among the top 20, along with three Germans, three Spanish and three Germans, and two from Belgium and France. Craig was the top non European finisher, while Seamus McGrath from Canada was 31st.
Craig was given the 12th position start by the International Cycling Federation, based on his global ranking. Craig fell to 31st following the first six laps of the 5 mile. After posting the sixth fastest lap time of the day, the Giant team leader was quickly able to regain the 16th spot. Craig managed to slip a few spots each lap throughout the race, but he crossed the finish line in 22nd overall.
Irina Kalentieva, a Russian rider and current World Cup leader, won the women’s 21.1-mile race with a time of 2:01:01. She beat the field of 74 riders to win the title.
Gould commanded an American team that placed five riders among the top 25, more than any other country. Mary McConneloug (Chilmark MA, 12th) was 12th.
Gould was ranked fourth worldwide as the best American mountain biker and gave the U.S. fifth consecutive top ten finish at World Championships in her second career appearance. Gould placed 20th in her debut appearance in New Zealand last season.
Gould, McConneloug, and Koerber were the first to start in the front row. A furious start quickly separated the competitors in an event in which start position and performance early in the race heavily impact the outcome.
Gould said that the start was quite crazy. There were many crashes and shouting throughout the first climb. I let some people down and got in front of them, but everyone caught up on the descent.
Gould and McConneloug sat in sixth, 10th, and 11th place at the end of the first loop. They then dropped off the pace of leaders during the second lap. The race was halfway through and Kalentieva Spitz, Wang, and McConneloug were clearly the leaders. They had a one-minute gap to the nearest challengers.
Gould stated that I tried to push myself all the time. I was going down really well but not as fast as the others. On the second climb, the top three girls were already gone.
It looked like the U.S. would have two riders in the top 10 for the first time since 2006. Gould, Koerber, and McConneloug sat ninth and tenth respectively. But Koerber was eventually passed by five riders during the final lap.
The next stop for American cross-country runners will be the World Cup finals in Maribor (Slovenia) next weekend. The official Olympic Test event will take place in Beijing, and the following Gould, Korber Craig, Horgan Kobelski, Horgan-Kobelski, Wells, Horgan Kobelski, Craig, Horgan Kobelski, and Wells will travel to China.
CROSS-COUNTRY RESULT
1. Julien Absalon (Fra)Orbea 2. Ralf Naef (Swi)Multivan Merida+ 3. Florian Vogel (Swi) 22. Adam CraigGiant 33. Jeremiah BishopTrek-VW 39. Jeremy Horgan-KobelskiSubaru-GF 46. Todd WellsGT 60. Michael BroderickKenda-Seven1 69. Carl DeckerGiant1 81. Barry WicksKona Les Gets2 WOMEN
1. Irina Kalentieva (Rus)Topeak-Ergon 2. Sabine Spitz (Ger)Ghost+ 3. Jingjing Wang (Chn)China National 9. Georgia GouldLuna Chix 12. Mary McConnelougKenda-Seven 15. Willow KoerberSubaru–Gary Fisher 21. Heather IrmigerSubary–Gary Fisher 25. Lea DavisonTrekVW 26. Kelli EmmettGiant
