Peter prevails in men's eliminator cross country

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The sixth round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup opened on Friday evening in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, with the new eliminator race, which provided the large crowd with sprint finishes for both the men and women.

Remarkably, both winners were first-time participants in the event, and from Switzerland. Jolanda Neff (Swiss National Team) took the women's title, outsprinting Eva Lechner (Colnago Farbe Sudtirol), while Stefan Peter (MK-Zentralschweiz) held off Paul van der Ploeg (Felt Oetztal X-Bionic) for the men's.

Elite women

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The qualifiers (31 women and 32 men) worked their way through four rider heats, with the top-two from each race moving on to the next round. Local women's favourite Katerina Nash (Luna) remarkably survived a near crash in the first round and mechanical problems in the second, but her luck gave out in the semi-final, and she did not make the final.

Joining Neff and Lechner in the women's final were Alexandra Engen (Sweden) and Lea Davison (Specialized). The junior-aged Neff couldn't clip her foot in at the start of the final, riding out of the opening straight in last place, but by the halfway mark she was up to second behind Lechner, and then took the lead in the last 75 metres to win. Engen took third, Davison fourth, and Nathalie Schneitter (Colnago Farbe Sudtirol) won the small final for fifth.

Elite men

The men's competition had its share of crashes and mechanicals, but it came down to Peter, van der Ploeg, Manuel Fumic (Cannondale Factory) and Ralph Näf (Multivan Merida) for the final. Early favourite Thomas Litscher (Felt Oetztal X-Bionic), winner of the Offenburg eliminator, crashed in his semi-final, but recovered in the small final to take the fifth and final podium spot.

In the men's final, Näf and Fumic crashed out of contention before the halfway mark, leaving van der Ploeg to chase down the very fast starting Peter. The Australian came very close to taking it on the line, but his Swiss rival had just enough energy left to hold on for victory.