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July 25, Elite women four cross finals:

Beerten bests full women's field

By:
Rob Jones
Published:
July 26, 2009, 15:53,
Updated:
July 26, 2009, 16:03

Crashes ruin the chances of favorites Buhl and Kintner

Anneke Beerten (Suspension Center) races to victory

Anneke Beerten (Suspension Center) races to victory

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A brand new World Cup four cross track at Mont Sainte Anne yielded a victory and the World Cup lead for Anneke Beerten (Suspension Center) on Saturday evening during the sixth round of the World Cup series.

In an event that is often hampered by a lack of participants, it was great to see 12 women racers and three full rounds of racing. The main contenders were Beerten, former World Champion and World Cup leader Jill Kintner, and current World Champion Melissa Buhl (KHS). However, a number of crashes ultimately had an effect on the outcome.

Buhl was one of the victims of a crash in the semi-finals. She came back to win the small final for the evening securing a fifth place overall. This set up a final of Beerten, Kintner, Fionn Griffiths (Norco World Team) and Joanna Petterson. Early in the final, Kintner crashed about halfway down and got up quickly only to crash again lower on the course. Griffiths followed Beerten in for second place, with Petterson in third as Kintner limped in for fourth, losing her World Cup lead.

Beerten assumed the World Cup lead with her win. "This course is really technical and quite difficult. It has a lot of mountain bike features in it, especially with the little bit of rain we had today which made it slippery. It was a really fun course to ride. I like the more downhill style courses, so this was maybe a little better for me. I love riding this track."

"Gates have been so important for me to improve on and I was so focused on the final," said Beerten. "I was surprised and happy with this one. I'm back in the lead, but the points are so close its all going to come down to the final."

Kintner was clearly disappointed. "We came out of the gate pretty even. We banged bars on the first straight and she got a little ahead. So I decided to hang back a little bit and wait until I could get by. Then my front wheel just washed out in one of the corners and that was it. I couldn't get my foot clipped back in and I crashed again. I can't catch a break here. I either win or I crash."

Results

Elite women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center    
2 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team    
3 Joanna Petterson (RSA)    
4 Jill Kintner (USA)    
5 Melissa Buhl (USA)    
6 Anita Molcik (Aut) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team    
7 Sarsha Huntington (Aus)    
8 Mio Suemasa (Jpn)    
9 Lucia Oetjen (Swi)    
10 Eva Castro Fernandez (Spa)    
11 Neven Steinmetz (USA)    
12 Anne Laplante (Can)    
Team
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 50  pts
2 Suspension Center 40  
3 Specialized Factory Racing 35  
4 Norco World Team 30  
5 GT Bicycles 26  
6 Animal Commencal 22  
7 MS Evil Racing 18  
8 Team Sunn 14  
9 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 12  
10 Rocky Mountain UK 10  
11 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 7  
World Cup standings after six rounds
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center 405  pts
2 Jill Kintner (USA) 350  
3 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team 300  
4 Jana Horakova (Cze) 205  
5 Melissa Buhl (USA) 205  
6 Caroline Buchanan (Aus) 185  
7 Romana Labounkova (Cze) 90  
8 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 90  
9 Joanna Petterson (RSA) 50  
10 Anita Molcik (Aut) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 50  
11 Mio Suemasa (Jpn) 20  
12 Sarsha Huntington (Aus) 10  
13 Diana Marggraff (Ecu) 5  
14 Rachel Seydoux (Swi) 5  
15 Lucia Oetjen (Swi) 5  
16 Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut) 5  
Team World Cup standings after six rounds
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 235  pts
2 Suspension Center 220  
3 GT Bicycles 167  
4 Team Sunn 139  
5 Norco World Team 125  
6 Animal Commencal 116  
7 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 109  
8 Specialized Factory Racing 95  
9 Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense 67  
10 MS Evil Racing 53  
11 Rocky Mountain UK 40  
12 Ancillotti Doganaccia Racing Team 9