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May 15, Elite women four cross:

Griffiths rides to four cross win

By:
Rob Jones
Published:
May 15, 2010, 17:05,
Updated:
May 17, 2010, 17:08

Beerten, Buchanan crash in final.

Women's four cross winner Fionn Griffiths of Norco at the World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia

Women's four cross winner Fionn Griffiths of Norco at the World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia

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Czech rider Jana Horakova managed to hold onto her World Cup series lead after the second round of the four cross World Cup, despite not making the final round of racing in Maribor on Saturday. Extremely muddy conditions led to an upset the women's race, with Fionn Griffiths (Norco World Team) taking the win.

The incredibly sloppy conditions meant that riders were sliding and crashing in every round. A strong start at least kept a rider out of the battle behind, but was no guarantee that an error wouldn't take her out anyway. In the 16-rider women's field, defending World Cup champion Anneke Beerten (Suspension Centre) and World Champion Caroline Buchanan (Commencal) each won their respective opening heats and then went one-two in the semi-final to make the final four.

Griffiths finished second in each of her first two rides, but it was enough to move on to the final, along with Australian Sarsha Huntington.

World Cup leader Jana Horakova ended up sixth in the final standings.

In the final, Griffiths and Buchanan bumped into each other, with the World Champion Buchanan going down, and Beerten crashing into her. This gave Griffiths a clear run to the finish line.

"It could have gone either way," said Griffiths, "so I'm very happy to get this result. My gates are not great, as everyone knows, so I hung back a bit to see how things would work out. She [Buchanan] bobbled on a corner and bumped into me. I pushed back a bit, she went the other way and went down. Then I just pedalled as hard as I could."

Horakova continues to hold onto the World Cup lead, followed by Huntington, with Beerten in third.

Full Results

Elite women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team    
2 Sarsha Huntington (Aus)    
3 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center    
4 Caroline Buchanan (Aus)    
5 Anita Molcik (Aut)    
6 Jana Horakova (Cze)    
7 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center    
8 Angelika Hohenwarter (Aut)    
9 Mio Suemasa (Jpn)    
10 Katy Curd (GBr)    
11 Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut) RC Alpine Commencal Austria    
12 Steffi Marth (Ger)    
13 Lucia Oetjen (Swi) Thoemus Racing Team    
14 Romana Labounkova (Cze)    
15 Tereza Votavova (Cze)    
16 Stephanie Teltscher (Ger) Dr-Gravity Union    
Teams
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Rsp 4 Cross Racing Team 96  pts
2 Norco World Team 40  
3 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 38  
4 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 35  
5 Suspension Center 30  
6 Commencal 14  
7 Rc Alpine Commencal Austria 6  
Elite women - World cup individual standings after two rounds
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Jana Horakova (Cze) 120  pts
2 Anita Molcik (Aut) 105  
3 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team 100  
4 Sarsha Huntington (Aus) 95  
5 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center 90  
6 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center 60  
7 Caroline Buchanan (Aus) 40  
8 Romana Labounkova (Cze) 30  
9 Katy Curd (GBr) 10  
10 Angelika Hohenwarter (Aut) 5  
11 Lucia Oetjen (Swi) Thoemus Racing Team 5  
Teams - World Cup standings after two rounds
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 RSP 4 Cross Racing Team 160  pts
2 Suspension Center 75  
3 Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 75  
4 Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team 54  
5 Norco World Team 40  
6 Commencal 32  
7 Agang Racing 30  
8 Rocky Mountain UK 20  
9 RC Alpine Commencal Austria 12  
10 2Stage Factory 5  
11 Thoemus Racing Team 3