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11/05/2008. Downhill.

From the qualifications, the pitch is given. Really fast on the Maribor’s track and winner of her second World Cup here last year, the English Rachel Atherton (Animal Commençal) overflies the semi-final in 3'15''48. It is 4''66 ahead of the young French Floriane Pugin (Playbiker Iron Horse), whereas Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis), World Champion, took the third place. Same battle for men! Last year, Julien Camellini (Chain Reaction Cycle) signed the best performance of his career in Maribor. And as he signed the best time of the semi-final, the day started pretty well for him. The French beat Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate). Sam Hill, winner of the last World Cup signed the third time of the morning. But everything still had to be done for the final… 

A little offended as she was dominated the whole morning, Sabrina Jonnier pulled out all the stops "I wanted to show to all the people who thought I would loose that they were wrong" she explained with a smile at the arrival. She won for the first time the Maribor event with a very tiny advance of 0''18 on Rachel Atherton. Tiny but enough to make her happy. As she fell, Floriane Pugin missed the top three. Emmeline Ragot took the opportunity to climb onto the podium.

The Men final was not less animated. Last year, Sam Hill won three rounds of the World Cup out of five. As he started, Fabien Barel took the leadership but not for long. The coyote from Perth signed a record time of 2'47''54. But Camellini or Peat could also steal his “hot seat”. None of them will make it. The French, second, signed the best result of his career, while the veteran of the international downhill circuit took the third place. Winner last year of his first World Cup, Sam Hill took back the leader jersey and the battle for victory promises to be very intense!

4X

Huge surprise on the Maribor Four-cross with the Spanish victory of Rafael Alvarez de Lara. German duo, Guido Tschugg and Johannes Fischbach, are second and third. Among women, Anneke Beerten won without any problem ahead of Anita Molcik (4 Elements Yeti) and Fionn Griffith (Norco World).

Spanish Mountain biking history is rich of victories. Misser, Gonzales and Vasquez have all won major international races in downhill, but an Iberian rider had never won a Four-cross. The damage is fixed. After a suspensful event (Lopes and Wichman were eliminated prematurely) and in the absence of Prokop and Graves (committed in Denmark for BMX) a big change in the hierarchy was expected. Driven by several thousands of spectators massed along the track, Alvarez de Lara had smooth runs. Even if he had to let Guido Tschugg pass in the quarter and semi finals, the brillant Spanish earned his ticket to the final. Winner here last year, Romain Saladini (Sunn) fails in the semi finals. None of the top five of the last final World Cup overall standings figured in final run! "It's incredible! I have seen all the runs that I was not too bad and I hoped to go as far as possible” said Alvarez who won eight times the BMX Spanish national title.

Regarding the Women, Anneke Beerten, winner of the last year’s World Cup didn’t have to work hard. The Dutch rider of Team MS-Intense Factory-Racing won his sixth World Cup round and got the leader jersey. The Austrian Anita Molcik (4 Elements Yeti) is second while Fionn Griffith (Norco) is third.

In three weeks, let’s meet in the Principality of Andorra for the second DHI and 4X round and also for the fourth XCO round. It's gonna be hot!

Source: UCI