Moseley moves up with downhill win

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The 2009 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup concluded on Sunday in Schladming, Austria, with the downhill. World Cup leader Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) had to settle for fourth on the day behind Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing).

Jonnier had already won the women's title, with six wins in the first seven races, but she was still hoping to close out the season with a seventh victory. Unfortunately for her, Moseley, who won the opening round in April in Pietermaritzburg, was on fire after a relatively poor qualifying run on Friday.

"I've never done well here before," said Moseley. "I always struggle with the length and the steepness, and it was like that all week in training, so I was thinking that the best I would be able to manage was top three. So, this was a real surprise for me. The course had dried up a lot from earlier in the week, but the top sections were still greasy, and there were huge holes in the track from practice; this was the roughest, toughest Schladming I've ever done."

Moseley took the lead from Canadian champion Claire Buchar (Chain Reaction/Intense) with a time of 4:54.73 . Neither the world champion, Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Centre), nor Jonnier could come within five seconds of Moseley's time. The fastest qualifier, Floriane Pugin (Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker) came closest, 0.84 seconds back, followed by the French national champion, Cecile Gros (Morzine-Avoriaz 74).

Moseley's win was enough to move her into second overall behind Jonnier, bumping Ragot down to third in the final standings.

Jonnier's knowledge that she had already won the World Cup title certainly helped with her mental state. "I was definitely more relaxed, knowing that it was all decided, but I still wanted to win today. Unfortunately, I just couldn't put it together. I had too many mistakes, a lot of little mistakes."

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