Pendrel sews up World Cup title

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Catharine Pendrel (Luna) was crowned as the new World Cup champion as the 2010 UCI cross country Mountain Bike World Cup concluded on Saturday in Windham, New York. Pendrel capped her World Cup season with her second victory of the year. For Canada, the women's race provided a strong lead in to the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships next week at Mont Ste Anne, Canada, as Marie-Hélène Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) showed her form of old, finishing second.

"This is amazing, to win my second World Cup of the season, and the World Cup title, all a week before the world championships take place in Canada," said Pendrel. "To win a World Cup race is always special, but to be consistent right through the season and win the title is hard. The race for the title was so tight all season, that it is extra special to win it."

The 5.4-kilometre course was straightforward: a long climb followed by a quick descent. The riders zig-zagged their way up the climb, alternating open double track with loose, rocky and rooty singletrack, then descended through more of the same back to the start.

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Pendrel and Premont distanced themselves from the rest of the field quickly as the five-lap race commenced. Pendrel, the World Cup leader coming into the race, had two worries: Eva Lechner (Colnago Arreghini Sudtirol) only 54 points back in the standings, and Willow Koerber (Subaru-Trek) at 59 points. Koerber was the bigger worry on this track, having won here in the national series race the previous year, and with a home crowd behind her.

In turned out that neither was a factor. Pendrel quickly shot to a 25-second advantage over Premont, with her Luna teammate Georgia Gould sitting in third, but steadily falling further behind through the race. Koerber started in fourth but faded badly to eventually finish sixth, 4:21 down, while Lechner was a distant 18th, over eight minutes in arrears.

The only real battle was at the front - Pendrel would start each lap approximately 25 seconds in front of Premont, who would close the gap on the climb, only to see it open on the descent. In the final lap, the 2008 World Cup champion gave an extra surge and caught Pendrel just before the top of the climb.

"I'm usually stronger in the first half of the race," said Pendrel. "So I wanted to go out hard and establish a gap. But Marie was climbing well, and I knew she was coming up. I was able to get the front into the descent and then I could control things, and it was enough."

Pendrel’s winning margin was a scant four seconds over Premont. Gould took third, but over two minutes down, with Blaza Klemencic (Felt Oetztal X-Bionic) fourth and last year's World Cup champion Elisabeth Osl (Central Pro) taking fifth.

Premont, who struggled last year and earlier this season, was extremely pleased to see her form peaking just before the world championships take place in her hometown.  She moved from 13th to eighth in the final standings.

"I had a very good start, and I was able to be at the front and stay within 15 to 30 seconds of Catharine,” she said. “Then on the last lap I knew it was my final chance, so I gave it everything I had, but Catharine was able to get in front for the downhill. It's a good time to be in this shape, one week before the world championships. I know I can do well next week."

In the final overall standings, Pendrel won the title with 1044 points, followed by Koerber at 865 and Lechner at 810. Gould jumped from fifth to fourth in the final standings and Swiss rider Esther Süss moved up from sixth to the final podium spot with the absence of world champion Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon).

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