World Cup XC #5 DH/4X #4 - B

Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada, June 25-26, 2005

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Race 4 - June 25: Elite Men 4X

Prokop gets the job done on a tough course

By Rob Jones in Mont Sainte-Anne

The men's field had lots of depth with all of the top World Cup riders in attendance. Crashes took many out of contention. The move of the night was from perennial crowd favourite Cedric Gracia (Siemens Cannondale). Gracia was sitting fourth in his semi-final heat lower down on the course and managed to move up to second place by switching across the course in radical line that just astounded everyone. This allowed him to advance to the final.

The final four were Brian Lopes, Michal Prokop, Guido Tschugg, and Gracia. It was all over with Prokop's start. He just nailed the holeshot and rode smoothly down the rest of the course, thanks to a crash by his main competition Brian Lopes.

Prokop was pleased with his victory. "It went well. I don't like the flat turns, so it was pretty hard for me. The course didn't have good flow because the jumps were too small. The strategy was all about being the first one into the first corner so I really concentrated on being there and then pedaling the whole way down the course."

Brian Lopes, defending World Cup champion, crashed in the first turn of the finals. "It was going good until the final run. It wasn't a perfect start for me. I was worried about Prokop because he gets good gate. He squeezed me in the first turn and I tried to stay with him. There was only one move to make on the course. The course was pretty horrible for passing so there was that one spot to get him (the first corner). Other than that you just had to follow him. That's racing. What can you do."

Results

Final
 
1 Michal Prokop (Cze)                                
2 Guido Tschugg (Ger)                                
3 Cedric Gracia (Fra) Siemens Cannondale Mtb         
4 Brian Lopes (USA)                                  
 
Small Final
 
5 Jared Graves (Aus)                                 
6 Gee Atherton (GBr)                                 
7 Michael Hannah (Aus)                               
8 Darren Pokoj (Aus)                                 
 
Semi Finals
 
9 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) Kona Les Gets               
10 Brian Schmith (USA)                               
11 Chris Kovarik (Aus)                               
12 Kyle Strait (USA) Specialized Factory Racing      
13 Rich Houseman (USA)                               
14 Lukas Tamme (Cze)                                 
15 Roger Rinderknecht (Sui) Commencal Oxbow          
16 Robin Baloochi (USA)                              
 
Quarter Finals
 
17 Nathan Rennie (Aus)                               
18 Dan Atherton (GBr)                                
19 Will Longden (GBr)                                
20 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Team Kona Beaumont Racing    
21 Andrew Neethling (Rsa)                            
22 David Wardell (GBr)                               
23 Cameron Zink (USA)                                
24 Marc Fontaine (Can)                               
25 Christopher Herndon (USA)                         
26 Louis-Philippe Leonard (Can)                      
27 Heikki Hall (USA)                                 
28 Henry Odonnell (USA)                              
29 Tommy Tokarczyk (USA)                             
30 Jocelyn Langlois (Can)                            
31 Michael Towers (Can)