Ragot tops women's downhill

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Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center) took her second successive World Cup victory in two weekends in round five of the women's Downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy, tightening the overall standings and denying Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) a chance to lock down the women's title

Japan's Mio Suemasa set the first fast time for the women, and would claim the Hot Seat until the final five riders made their runs. Myriam Nicole (Commencal Superiders) took the lead by five seconds from Suemasa, but only held it for a few minutes before Jonnier came down over 10 seconds faster.

Next was Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing), but she could only slot in behind Jonnier. Finally, it was World Champion Ragot, the fastest qualifier, who knocked another 2.4 seconds from Jonnier's time to claim the victory.

With her victory, Ragot moves from second to third behind Jonnier in the overall standings, 175 points behind her rival. While Jonnier still holds a commanding lead, it is by no means a sure thing, since a victory by Ragot and a poor showing by Jonnier could still cause an upset.

"I think my ride was okay," said Ragot. "I didn't make a lot of mistakes, but I thought I had flatted my tyre on the first part, because the ground was so soft.

"My strategy was to just be smart, don't do crazy stuff. Just try to stay smooth on the bike. Don't go like crazy. And it worked, it went so good, that maybe I will try that for the  World Championships."

"Sabrina has a lot of points, and I missed the first race and crashed in the next two," said Ragot. "So now I am second, but I don't know how it will go from there. But, I am feeling good and I have a new bike; I've only ridden it twice now [qualifying and final] and it rode well."

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