Moseley prevails, extends World Cup lead
Pugin and Jonnier podium for host nation
Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing) took her fourth win of the season to solidify her lead in the UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup, at round six in La Bresse, France. Moseley now leads second place finisher, and second-ranked, Floriane Pugin (Scott 11) by 150 points going into the final round in two weeks' time. Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) continues her comeback, posting a season-high third on the course she won on in 2009.
After a dry run during qualifying a day earlier, the rain moved in and soaked the course all night and the morning of the final, changing lines and sending riders scrambling for spiked tires. While it was not raining during the women's race, there were still plenty of slippery sections and water-filled ruts to give riders problems.
Junior World Cup leader Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) set the first fast time, and held onto the lead until one of the favourites, Rachel Atherton (Commencal), smashed her time by nearly five and a half seconds, to finish in 2:46.385. Atherton had crashed in training and just rolled the start of the qualifier, so she rode much earlier than usual. Atherton's time was even more impressive given that she slipped on one of the singletrack sections low on the course and laid her bike down momentarily.
Atherton retained the lead until Jonnier, third in qualifying, posted the first sub-2:40 time. The French rider, cheered on by thousands of compatriots, was 1.1 seconds up at the first time split, 1.8 seconds ahead at the second, and then completely crushed the lower section to finish over 8.5 seconds ahead at the finish line.
Pugin, one of only two riders to beat Moseley this year (Atherton is the other), was expected to offer the greatest threat to Moseley, but she struggled with the pedaling section at the top of the course, nearly 3.5 seconds behind Jonnier. By the second split she had improved to only four-tenths of a second back, but was a minuscule one-hundredth of a second ahead of Jonnier at the finish; not the run she was looking for.
Moseley, on the other hand, stepped up her game for the final, and was fastest through every section of the course, despite hitting a big puddle near the top which temporarily blinded her. The world champion finished nearly five seconds ahead of her French rival to extend her lead in the overall competition to 150 points, with Atherton third, a further 235 points behind.
"It didn't feel that good at the start, that's probably the worst start I've ever had at a World Cup," said Moseley. "I took a line that absolutely drenched me, there wasn't a puddle there before today. I was soaked, through the helmet ...I could not see a thing. I had to grab a tear-off from my goggles.
"After that awful start I just tried to keep it going, I had lost so much speed that I felt like I was starting from zero again. It was a pretty tough track, and it had changed a lot from yesterday. I knew that I would have to give it everything to beat Floriane in a home race, and she is often a better mud rider than me. I just had to bury myself and go for it. I'm just glad that I managed to stay on, it's pretty amazing."
1 | Tracy Moseley (GBr) Trek World Racing | 0:02:32.829 |
2 | Floriane Pugin (Fra) Scott 11 | 0:00:04.991 |
3 | Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain | 0:00:05.001 |
4 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) Commencal | 0:00:13.556 |
5 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Team GR | 0:00:14.662 |
6 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Riding Addiction Commencal | 0:00:17.736 |
7 | Harriet Rucknagel (Ger) | 0:00:18.634 |
8 | Manon Carpenter* (GBr) Madison Saracen | 0:00:19.007 |
9 | Jill Kintner (USA) | 0:00:20.992 |
10 | Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Team GR | 0:00:23.686 |
11 | Petra Bernhard (Aut) Alpine Commencal Austria | 0:00:24.863 |
12 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) | 0:00:25.926 |
13 | Jessica Stone (GBr) | 0:00:27.600 |
14 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Scott 11 | 0:00:29.888 |
15 | Agnes Delest* (Fra) | 0:00:29.962 |
16 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) | 0:00:32.592 |
17 | Jacqueline Harmony (USA) | 0:00:34.454 |
18 | Sarah Atkin* (NZl) | 0:00:35.751 |
19 | Emma Wareham (GBr) | 0:00:46.691 |
20 | Céline Gros (Fra) Team Morzine - Avoriaz / Haute - Savoie | 0:02:53.819 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Trek World Racing | 94 | pts |
2 | Commencal | 61 | |
3 | Mondraker Factory Team | 53 | |
4 | Scott 11 | 42 | |
5 | Santa Cruz Syndicate | 40 | |
6 | Team GR | 34 | |
7 | Chain Reaction Cycles / Nukeproof | 33 | |
8 | Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain | 30 | |
9 | Lapierre International | 28 | |
10 | MS Evil Racing | 28 | |
11 | Devinci Global Racing | 24 | |
12 | Riding Addiction Commencal | 20 | |
13 | Monster Energy / Specialized / Mad Catz | 20 | |
14 | Giant Factory Off-Road Team | 18 | |
15 | Morewood Unitedride | 17 | |
16 | Madison Saracen | 16 | |
17 | Labyrinth Shimano Racing Team | 15 | |
18 | Unior Tools Team | 13 | |
19 | Team Sunn Montgenevre | 11 | |
20 | Alpine Commencal Austria | 10 | |
21 | Team Lac Blanc / Solid / Massif Des Vosges | 9 | |
22 | Dirt Norco Race Team | 5 | |
23 | Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team | 2 | |
24 | Team Morzine - Avoriaz / Haute - Savoie | 1 |
1 | Tracy Moseley (GBr) Trek World Racing | 1330 | pts |
2 | Floriane Pugin (Fra) Scott 11 | 1180 | |
3 | Rachel Atherton (GBr) Commencal | 945 | |
4 | Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) Team Maxxis - Rocky Mountain | 795 | |
5 | Myriam Nicole (Fra) Riding Addiction Commencal | 689 | |
6 | Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Team GR | 560 | |
7 | Emilie Siegenthaler (Swi) Scott 11 | 510 | |
8 | Petra Bernhard (Aut) Alpine Commencal Austria | 492 | |
9 | Jill Kintner (USA) | 357 | |
10 | Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Team GR | 352 | |
11 | Manon Carpenter* (GBr) Madison Saracen | 305 | |
12 | Céline Gros (Fra) Team Morzine - Avoriaz / Haute - Savoie | 287 | |
13 | Micayla Gatto (Can) | 235 | |
14 | Miriam Ruchti (Swi) | 210 | |
15 | Mio Suemasa (Jpn) | 181 | |
16 | Harriet Rucknagel (Ger) | 174 | |
17 | Jacqueline Harmony (USA) | 165 | |
18 | Jessica Stone (GBr) | 130 | |
19 | Miranda Miller (Can) | 105 | |
20 | Morgane Charre (Fra) Passion Velo Thiers Stemtee | 85 | |
21 | Anita Ager-Wick (Nor) | 80 | |
22 | Zarja Cernilogar (Slo) | 45 | |
23 | Fanny Lombard (Fra) | 35 | |
24 | Joanne Muoser (Swi) SC - Intense | 30 | |
25 | Agnes Delest* (Fra) | 30 | |
26 | Rika Olivier (RSA) | 25 | |
27 | Joanna Petterson (USA) | 20 | |
28 | Darian Harvey (USA) | 20 | |
29 | Maria Michalogiannaki (Gre) Unior Tools Team | 20 | |
30 | Katy Curd (GBr) | 15 | |
31 | Gabriela Williams (Cze) | 15 | |
32 | Sandra Reynier* (Fra) CK Racing Santacruz | 15 | |
33 | Sarah Atkin* (NZl) | 15 | |
34 | Anne Laplante (Can) | 10 | |
35 | Emily Horridge (GBr) | 10 | |
36 | Emma Wareham (GBr) | 10 | |
37 | Lauren Daney* (USA) | 5 |
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Richie Porte back in Europe for Paris-Nice appointment
Two-time winner part of strong Ineos Grenadiers line-up -
Amanda Spratt leads Team BikeExchange at Strade Bianche but options open
Women's squad bolstered by two other top ten finishers with Kennedy and Ensing -
Canyon issues 'stop ride' for Aeroad after Van der Poel handlebar failure
Alpecin-Fenix to switch models as company investigates possible handlebar fault -
Strade Bianche: Cycling turns to crowdfunding to equalise prize money
’There's no magic answer but it’s all part of creating an environment where women feel valued’ says Lizzy Banks on prize discrepancy
Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy
Thank you for signing up to Cycling News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.