Bresset moves into Mountain Bike World Cup lead

Image 1 of 5

Julie Bresset (BH Suntour Peisey-Vallandry) cruised to her first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup cross country victory of 2012 in Nové Mesto na Morave, Czech on Sunday, and she took over the lead in the overall World Cup standings from previous leader and reigning world champion Catharine Pendrel (Luna). She now has 590 points to Pendrel's 540 points.

Bresset crossed the line in one hour, 29 minutes and 17 seconds, nearly 30 seconds ahead of Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon Racing Team) of Russia and 50 seconds ahead of Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team), who was racing in front of a home crowd.

Although Bresset won the elite World Cup overall in 2011 as an under 23 racer and took three victories en route to doing so, Sunday's win in Nove Mesto was her first World Cup triumph among the elite women this season. She had finished fifth in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in March, and second in Houffalize, Belgium, in April.

Bresset was on or at the front for most of the race although Nash is the woman who had jumped into the early race lead. Eventually Bresset caught the Czech rider and halfway through, she attacked to solo to the finish.

"She knew what she had to do and where she could put pressure. She raced in full control, it's a really great day for her," said BH Suntour Peisey-Vallandry assistant team manager Pierre Lebreton according to www.universalbikeracing.com.

Bresset is especially looking forward to next weekend's World Cup in La Bresse, France.

See Cyclingnews' full coverage of the elite women's cross country at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Czech.