World champ Kalentieva captures World Cup opener

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The 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season opened on Sunday in Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire, with World Champion Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) swapping her World Championship jersey for the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup leader's one.

The 6.2-kilometre course won high praise from the riders, who deemed it a true mountain bike course. Spectators came out in droves, to cheer on all riders.

Kalentieva won the women's 36km, five-lap race in 1:54:57, beating American Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher) by 11 seconds. Czech Katarina Nash (Luna) took third. Kalentieva and Koerber quickly distanced themselves from the remainder of the field, as many of the top favourites struggled on the first lap, falling well back.

"We were able to work together very good," said Kalentieva. "Willow was better on the climbs, and I was better in the technical parts, and we worked together to open a bigger gap. On the final lap, I was able to get in front for the longer climb, and then opened a small gap, and that was just enough to keep to the finish."

For Koerber, it was the top World Cup result of her career, and she was happy with second. "Irina and I were well matched to work together during the race," she said. "I was better on the climbs, but she would gap me in some of the more technical stuff. On the final climb, I made a bit of a mistake, and Irina was able to just get a little gap, but that was enough."

Canadian stars Catharine Pendrel (Luna) and Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) both dropped back to the high 30s early in the opening lap, as did Specialized's Lene Byberg. All three steadily worked their way forward, but it was a hard effort through the field on the tight, technical course.

Pendrel moved up to join Luna teammates Nash and Georgia Gould by the halfway point, leading the chase to the front duo, and pulling to within 15 seconds before running out of steam. The three Luna riders, joined by top under 23 rider Julie Bresset (BH-Suntour), rode steadily within a minute of the two leaders for the rest of the race, but could not close the gap.

Pendrel faltered in the final lap, enabling Bresset to get by her for the fifth and final podium spot.

"I don't really know what happened at the start," said Pendrel. "I had good position on the start line, but in the first lap lost a lot of places, and then it was difficult to pass and work my way back up. Then, on the last lap, I crashed and lost some time. It was a bit disappointing, but I know my form is good, and I hope to do better in the next round."

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