Graves extends lead with Ft. William win

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There were no surprises in round three of the four cross Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William, Scotland, with Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox) extending his frontrunner status.

Fort Bill was uncharacteristically warm and dry, making the course dusty and loose, and causing numerous washouts in the corners. The organizers also replaced a rock garden halfway down the course with extra turns, after rider complaints that it was too narrow. Despite the conditions, the top three qualifiers in both the men's field made it through to the finals.

In the first two rounds all the top seeds easily qualified for the quarter finals. Graves had a slight scare in his eighth-final, when his foot slipped off a pedal, but the world champion was already in the lead, and quickly regained control.

In the quarter final, Graves again had a scare, when he flatted late in the run, but managed to hold on for second, moving on to the semi final round. The first of the high seeds went out in this round, with Rinderknecht finishing third to Michal Prokop (Agang) and Tomas Slavik (RSP 4 Cross) in a race that could have quite easily been the final, while Guido Tschugg (Ghost ATG) and Dan Atherton (Commencal) both went out when they banged bars and Tschugg crashed.

Graves again shot to the front of his semi heat, while Prokop and Slavik tangled in the battle for the second slot/ Slavik got the worst of it, crashing out while Prokop moved on. In the other semi final, Joost Wichman (RSP 4 Cross) and Romain Saladini (Team Sunn Montgenevre) had an easy ride to the big final. Graves had another scare prior to the start of his semi, when he flatted in the truck on the way up to the start gate.

The final saw Graves once again shooting to the front out of the gate, closely followed by Prokop, who managed to squeeze in ahead of Wichman before the first corner. However, Wichman fought back, with an incredible inside pass on the third corner to take the second spot behind a disappearing Graves. Graves easily held on for the win, while Wichman managed to hold off Prokop for second. Czech rider Kamil Tartarkovic won the small final for fifth.

"The corners were getting bad," admitted Graves, "so I was pretty much worried the whole way down. I'm so happy to get the win; it was a sketchy start [to the final]. I was banging elbows with Joost, and I thought we might both go down. He certainly kept me honest today."

Graves now has a commanding lead over second place Wichman, with 350 points to 225. Slavik sits third at 150 points.