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MTB World Cup Cross Country #5, Downhill #5 & Four Cross #5 2010

Date range:
July 30 - August 1, 2010

July 31, Elite men four cross:

Rinderknecht wins with aggressive ride

By:
Rob Jones
Published:
August 1, 2010, 16:53,
Updated:
August 2, 2010, 20:44

Graves takes fourth to secure World Cup title

Overall leader Jared Graves (Yeti-Fox).

Overall leader Jared Graves (Yeti-Fox).

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Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox) locked up the men's overall four cross title despite finishing fourth behind Swiss champion Roger Rinderknecht, at round five of the World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy.

A large crowd came out in the warm evening sun of the Italian Dolomite Mountains to cheer on the 64 men who had made it through qualifying to contest the heats competition. The track was the same as used for the World Championships in 2008, with most contests decided within the first two corners.

Rinderknecht had the rare distinction of beating Graves for the number one seed in qualifying. Both riders advanced steadily to the final by winning all of their heats, and were joined by Tomas Slavik (RSP 4 Cross) and Michal Prokop (Agang Racing) in the men's final.

Out of the gate, through the first corner and the small jumps of the second straight, Graves had a clear lead on Rinderknecht, but coming out of the second corner, the World Cup leader and World Champion had suddenly dropped to fourth.

Video showed afterward that Rinderknecht and Graves had clashed in the corner, with the Swiss rider on the inside coming up on Graves and sticking his elbow right up into the Australian's throat. Just the rough and tumble of four cross or a foul? Officials did not sanction it, and Graves didn't protest, so Rinderknecht took the win, ahead of Slavik and Prokop, with Graves rolling in fourth.

Graves was nonetheless angry with the move by Rinderknecht. "He stepped over the line, I think. It's all part of racing, but that was pretty dodgy."

With Graves' only potential rival for the overall title, Slavik, finishing second, Graves now has 535 points to Slavik's 400. With 125 points for a win, it means that the Australian has won the men's title with one race remaining.

Full Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Roger Rinderknecht (Swi)    
2 Tomas Slavik (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team    
3 Michal Prokop (Cze) Agang Racing    
4 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team    
5 Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team    
6 Joost Wichman (Ned) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team    
7 Quentin Derbier (Fra)    
8 Robert Kulesza (Pol)    
9 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain UK    
10 Jakub Hnidak (Cze)    
11 Jakub Riha (Cze)    
12 Peter Prajczer (Hun)    
13 Petr Muhlhans (Cze)    
14 Johnny Magis (Bel)    
15 Michael Mechura (Cze)    
16 Simon Waldburger (Swi)    
17 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze)    
18 Michal Marosi (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team    
19 Cédric Gracia (Fra)    
20 Sidney Gerber (Swi)    
21 Duncan Ferris (GBr)    
22 Daniel Prijkel (Ned)    
23 Fabien Cousinie (Fra) Blackmountain Morewood United    
24 Premek Tejchman (Cze)    
25 Scott Roberts (GBr)    
26 Will Longden (GBr)    
27 William Evans (GBr)    
28 Aiko Göhler (Ger)    
29 Jakub Pytlik (Cze)    
30 Livio Zampieri (Ita)    
31 Nico Seidel (Ger)    
32 Richard Cunynghame (GBr)    
33 Reto Schmid (Swi)    
34 Jelle Van Den Elzen (Ned)    
35 Adrian Kiener (Swi)    
36 Kristjan Medvescek (Slo)    
37 Piotr Paradowski (Pol)    
38 Tom Dowie (GBr)    
39 Renato Rufener (Swi)    
40 Vincent Rasera (Fra)    
41 Attila Kovacs (Hun)    
42 Lukasz Baran (Pol)    
43 Markus Sedlak (Aut)    
44 Andrej Bratina (Slo)    
45 Jules Grimaldi (Fra)    
46 Rick Schubert (Ger)    
47 Quentin Geynet (Fra) US Cagnes VTT    
48 Daniel Fülle (Ger)    
49 Pascal Seydoux (Swi)    
50 Patrick Campbell-Jenner (GBr)    
51 Aurélien Giordanengo (Fra) Mondraker Factory Team    
52 Hannes Slavik (Aut) RC Alpine Commencal Austria    
53 Benjamin Kistner (Swi)    
54 Marko Runst (Ger)    
55 Felix Beckeman (Swe)    
56 Werner Muther (Swi) Thoemus Racing Team    
57 Adrian Weiss (Swi) Scott 11    
58 Fabian Kuttel (Swi)    
59 Gabor Vigh-Kiss (Hun)    
60 Gaetan Ruffin (Fra) Commencal Superiders    
61 Lee Feery (GBr)    
62 Iakov Auster (Rus)    
63 Luca Fusani (Ita)    
64 Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn Montgenevre    
Teams
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 55  pts
2 Suspension Center 40  
3 Agang Racing 30  
4 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 26  
5 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 22  
6 Rocky Mountain UK 14  
7 Thoemus Racing Team 10  
8 RC Alpine Commencal Austria 3  
World Cup individual standings after round 5
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 535  pts
2 Tomas Slavik (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 400  
3 Joost Wichman (Ned) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 325  
4 Michal Prokop (Cze) Agang Racing 233  
5 Michal Marosi (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 206  
6 Roger Rinderknecht (Swi) 205  
7 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze) 134  
8 Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 111  
9 Romain Saladini (Fra) Team Sunn Montgenevre 100  
10 Dan Atherton (GBr) Commencal 67  
11 Jakub Riha (Cze) 64  
12 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain UK 64  
13 David Graf (Swi) 58  
14 Quentin Derbier (Fra) 49  
15 Guido Tschugg (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 46  
16 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing 30  
17 Lukas Mechura (Cze) 30  
18 Cédric Gracia (Fra) 28  
19 Robert Kulesza (Pol) 25  
20 Jurg Meijer (Ned) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 25  
21 Jakub Hnidak (Cze) 21  
22 Mickael Deldycke (Fra) 20  
23 Premek Tejchman (Cze) 17  
24 Sidney Gerber (Swi) 17  
25 Petr Muhlhans (Cze) 16  
26 William Evans (GBr) 14  
27 Peter Prajczer (Hun) 11  
28 Tom Dowie (GBr) 11  
29 David Habicht (Aus) 11  
30 Felix Beckeman (Swe) 11  
31 Clément Doby (Fra) 11  
32 Reto Schmid (Swi) 8  
33 Hannes Slavik (Aut) RC Alpine Commencal Austria 8  
34 Johnny Magis (Bel) 6  
35 Luka Novak (Slo) 6  
36 Michael Mechura (Cze) 4  
37 Simon Waldburger (Swi) 2  
38 Richard Levinson (Aus) 2  
39 Daniel Fülle (Ger) 2  
40 Marek Pesko (Svk) 2  
World Cup team standings after round 5
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 377  pts
2 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 181  
3 Suspension Center 175  
4 Agang Racing 98  
5 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 90  
6 Norco World Team 70  
7 Team Sunn Montgenevre 46  
8 Commencal 44  
9 Rocky Mountain UK 40  
10 Thoemus Racing Team 28  
11 MS Evil Racing 18  
12 RC Alpine Commencal Austria 15  
13 2Stage Factory 5  
14 Unior Tools Team 3