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MTB World Cup DH #2 - CDM
La Bresse, France, May 9-10, 2009
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Race 2 - May 10: Elite women downhill
Jonnier dedicates home turf victory to mum
By Rob Jones
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Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) gave the crowd a French win in the women's category, as she decisively beat World Cup leader Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) by over five seconds. North American rider Melissa Buhl (KHS) finished eighth, while Canada's Micayla Gatto was 19th.
"I'm super happy to give Maxxis-Rocky Mountain its first World Cup win," said Jonnier. "I dedicated my race to my mum, whose dad just passed away. Thanks to Maxxis, Rocky and the team for all their support."
"Even though Tracy won the qualifying, I was still very confident, and very happy to win in France," she said. "It was a very important win for because it is my first win in a year, and I wanted to show that I am still one of the best downhillers."
The short course required the skills of an all around rider to perform well, with fast pedaling and jumping sections at the top, followed by steep, technical and rocky sections in the lower half. Many a rider started out fast, only to lose precious seconds in the final third of the 1.2 kilometre course.
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Buhl set the first sub 2:40 time for the women at 2:38.54, and the fastest time through the speed trap of 56.89 kph. However she was quickly overtaken by Fionn Griffiths (Norco World Team). Three riders later, it was the veteran French rider Céline Gros taking another six-tenths of a second off the leading time.
Gros barely had time to realise she was in the lead before her compatriot Myriam Nicole obliterated her time by nearly three seconds. Former Junior World Champion Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center) and Japan's Mio Suemasa both came within a second of Nicole, but the young Frenchwoman was still in the lead with two riders to go - Jonnier and Moseley, who had qualified first and would ride last.
Jonnier was perfect throughout her ride, setting the fastest splits at both the first and second intermediate stations, recording the only sub-2:30 time of the day in the women's race, at 2:28.57. Moseley, who had been unbeaten in competition this year up until this point managed to knock Nicole down to third, but was clearly not at the same level as her rival Jonnier today.
In the women's standings, it is Moseley still in front with 460 points, but Jonnier has moved into second, 68 points back, followed by Ragot, a distant 125 points in arrears. Buhl is seventh, with Canada's Claire Buchar (Chain Reaction/Intense) dropping from fifth to ninth after not racing round two due to illness.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Gary Perkin
- Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing)
- Sabrina Jonnier
- Sabrina Jonnier holds onto the leader's jersey.
Results
1 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 2.28.57 2 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Trek World Racing 0.05.02 3 Myriam Nicole (Fra) 0.06.21 4 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 0.06.79 5 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 0.07.32 6 Céline Gros (Fra) Morzine-Avoriaz 74 0.08.93 7 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team 0.09.55 8 Melissa Buhl (USA) 0.09.97 9 Floriane Pugin (Fra) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 0.10.01 10 Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Scott 11 0.12.72 11 Petra Bernhard (Aut) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 0.13.49 12 Miriam Ruchti (Swi) Team Vario Racing 0.13.51 13 Joanna Petterson (RSA) 0.15.94 14 Diana Marggraff (Ecu) 0.17.41 15 Helen Gaskell (GBr) 0.18.10 16 Anita Molcik (Aut) 0.18.97 17 Jessica Stone (GBr) 2Stagefactory 0.22.64 18 Antje Kramer (Ger) 0.22.69 19 Micayla Gatto (Can) 0.23.09 20 Caroline Sax (Fra) 0.28.52 DNF Danice Uyesugi (Can) Teams 1 Trek World Racing 79 pts 2 Santa Cruz Syndicate 73 3 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 65 4 GT Bicycles 46 5 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 40 6 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 39 7 Scott 11 34 8 MS Evil Racing 29 9 Animal Commencal 28 10 Suspension Center 28 11 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 26 12 MSC Bikes 24 13 Norco World Team 24 14 2Stagefactory 24 15 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 22 16 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 20 17 Specialized Team America 20 18 Kenda Morewood 19 19 Team Vario Racing 19 20 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 18 21 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 9 22 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 8 23 Massi 8 24 Duncan Riffle Racing 5 World Cup standings after two rounds Individual 1 Tracy Moseley (GBr) Trek World Racing 460 pts 2 Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 392 3 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 335 4 Myriam Nicole (Fra) 246 5 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team 240 6 Floriane Pugin (Fra) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 189 7 Melissa Buhl (USA) 164 8 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 155 9 Claire Buchar (Can) Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 140 10 Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Scott 11 115 11 Céline Gros (Fra) Morzine-Avoriaz 74 111 12 Joanna Petterson (RSA) 110 13 Helen Gaskell (GBr) 80 14 Petra Bernhard (Aut) Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 62 15 Miriam Ruchti (Swi) Team Vario Racing 45 16 Sarah Newman (GBr) 45 17 Anka Martin (RSA) 40 18 Diana Marggraff (Ecu) 35 19 Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut) 35 20 Elisa Canepa (Ita) Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 30 21 Anita Molcik (Aut) 25 22 Risa Suseanty (Ina) 25 23 Jessica Stone (GBr) 2Stagefactory 25 24 Victoria Phillips (RSA) 20 25 Antje Kramer (Ger) 15 26 Micayla Gatto (Can) 10 27 Caroline Sax (Fra) 5 Team 1 Trek World Racing 160 pts 2 Santa Cruz Syndicate 145 3 GT Bicycles 103 4 Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain Bicycles 98 5 Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz 95 6 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 79 7 Animal Commencal 74 8 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 72 9 Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker 64 10 Suspension Center 63 11 Scott 11 55 12 Norco World Team 54 13 MS Evil Racing 40 14 Kenda Morewood 39 15 Massi 37 16 MSC Bikes 32 17 Morzine-Avoriaz 74 26 18 2Stagefactory 24 19 Duncan Riffle Racing 24 20 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 22 21 Lapierre Powered By Saab Salomon 20 22 Specialized Team America 20 23 Team Vario Racing 19 24 Subaru Mountain Bike Pro Team 14 25 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 9 26 XMS-Devinci World Cup Team 6
