World Champion Pendrel wins Houffalize cross country

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World champion Catharine Pendrel (Luna) put on an impressive display of force to win the second round of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Houffalize, Belgium.

Pendrel, who was third on the opening round of the World Cup last month in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, took the lead from defending World Cup champion Julie Bresset (BH SR Suntour Peisey Vallandry) in the third of five laps with an attack on one of the climbs. The French rider had come through the start loop in the lead, but Pendrel quickly joined her. She steadily increased her lead through the remainder of the race to finish 48 seconds ahead of Bresset.

Maja Wloszczowska (CCC Polkowice), the winner of the first round of the 2012 series, fought back from a poor start during which she dropped out of the top 10 on the opening loop to finish third.

"I just felt awesome today," said Pendrel. "It was a good course, I really liked it. It felt a lot like my trails at home, and definitely had steep climbs. There was one section that I knew Julie [Bresset] was really strong on, so my focus of the race was riding that section as smoothly as I can, and then just going as hard as I could on the climbs. Ten years ago, Alison Sydor won here, so it was good to finally get a Canadian win again."

Pendrel and Wloszczowska are tied at 410 points each in the World Cup standings after two rounds; however, Pendrel took the lead in the World Cup by virtue of the more recent victory. Bresset moves into third, just ahead of Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek), second in the opening round.

Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabobank Giant) rode an impressive race to finish fourth.  The U23 French woman set the pace early in the race and was the top U23 rider of the day.  Blaza Klemencic (Felt Oetztal X-Bionic) also had a strong ride to complete the podium in fifth place.

Full Results