World Mountain Bike Championships Day 2

 

Wednesday 5 September

Cross-Country - Under-23 & Junior Female

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

 

Junior Women XC
It was day two, Wednesday, and the junior women lined up to do battle in the Cross-Country on a right 'dritch' day as they would say locally. The mist was low and the rain consistent but fortunately the crowds that turned up to cheer didn't seem in the least bit bothered by the dull start to the day.

Annie Last gets going at the start of the race

Thirty-four junior girls were entered with two first year juniors, representing GB - Annie Last, back from a short bout of illness and ready to stretch her legs and Annabel 'Simo' Simpson. Both were confident, though nervous as they took their places on the start grid. Soon all that nervousness was blown away as the start gun fired and they were off. With no real favourites in this race it was wide open. Perhaps if you were to put your money somewhere it might have had to been on the Swiss, due to their reputation for dominance in most XC events these days.

First through though at the end of the first of three laps was French rider Julie Bresset, closely followed by team-mate Claire HassenFratz, with Ukrainian rider Alla Boyko coming in a few sec adrift in 3rd. GB girls Last and Simpson came in 17th and 18th respectively.

Last (left) and Simpson gave it their all in foul conditions

Second lap and the riders were virtually unrecognisable as they crossed the line ready to start the last lap, covered in a thin layer of best Scottish mud. First back was Czech rider Jitka Skarnitzlova, having come through the ranks to grab the lead. Just 2 seconds later Boyko came through with Bressett another10seconds later in third.

Meanwhile for the Brits: Last had held her ground to come past in 17th, but team mate Simpson had suffered a disastrous lap, puncturing just past the tech zone, meaning she had to ride the remaining part of the climb, then tackle the top berm section, all with a flat before she could replace the wheel and set off in pursuit of the race which by this time had left her languishing in last place. Disappointed but undeterred she gritted her teeth on the last lap, putting everything in to regain four places to salvage 22nd spot overall, whilst Last picked up another spot and finished in a creditable 16th.

Meanwhile, at the head of the race, Boyko pulled off the first ever Ukraine World mountain Bike title as she cruised to the finish, having amassed a 30 second lead on silver medallist Skarnitzlova. French early leader Julie Bressett had to settle for bronze but looked delighted through all that mud to have finished the race on the podium. As the rest of the field finished all the girls looked exhausted, as the weather and the tough course seemed to have taken its toil.

Winner, Alla Boyoko looks well in control, whilst the day has clearly taken its toll of Annabel Simpson

With a quick break before the under-23 women set off on their race, I went in search of the GB juniors to ask them how their respective races had gone, and to get a bit of respite from the never ending rain. Scotland land of the brave and eternal wetness?.don't ya just love it!

When I caught up with Annie she told me:

"That was a pretty hard race, such a different experience from any race I've done before, but I enjoyed it. I did my best and that's all I could do. After the first lap I caught the Polish girl in front and there was another girl and I tried to hang onto them. The weather didn't really bother me, you really didn't notice it unless you were on someone's wheel and all the muck was flying up into your face, the muddy section couldn't have got any worse than it already was, so the rain wasn't an issue really. The first two laps I had pretty clean runs, no one to hold me up on the descent and on the last lap my aim was to get in front of the Polish girl before the descent and I did, so it went well, I did what I wanted to do."

Despite being distraught, due to a disastrous 2nd lap puncture, Annabel Simpson dug deep and got round a few riders. I spoke to her about her race and her disappointment:

"I punctured on the second lap on the transition stage, so I had to run the really steep climb and I rode right to the top and I had to come down the first bit of the descent on the rim and then down to the next tech zone to get a new wheel. I was dead last and I had a motorbike following me to show everyone I was dead last, but I managed to catch 4 people on the last lap, so I didn't come last, but I'm so disappointed. The weather didn't really bother me, I'm quite glad it rained really. The race was so annoying for me to end like this as I knew the course so well I knew I could have done better, but I did my best despite everything and I was knackered at the end."

Under-23 Women Cross-Country

Whereas the competition was wide open for the juniors, all the money was on the Chinese women in the under-23's, with defending champion Ren Chengyuan hot favourite. Representing GB was Amy Hunt.

The under-23 start and the Chinese women (red and yellow kit) forge towards the front together

The inclement weather, despite a 20 minute dryer patch, was back to its worst, though to be honest it didn't seem to make any difference to the race itself, as the track is perfectly ridable in most extreme conditions (it hasn't snowed yet, so I can't vouch for that..).

Anyway, as predicted it was the Chinese riders, Chengyuan and team mate Ying Liu who opened up the race, taking hold of the lead on the climb and quickly opening up a gap of nearly a minute on third placed rider Italian Eva Lechner, on the first of 4 laps. Amy got settled into a group and seemingly struggled to get into the race, losing places on the climb, but fortunately her classy descending saw her making time up, when she could get past slower riders. She came through in fourteenth spot and that's were she finished having fought her own battles - she was kicking herself for not being able to respond on the climbs.

Amy pushes on through the rain

Meanwhile out in front the Chinese just blew the rest of the field away. By the end of lap 4 it was not Chengyuan who came home to retain her title but team mate Liu, with a cracking 3 min gap mainly gained in the last 8km. She seemed unfazed when she crossed the line and didn't even punch out a winner's salute much to the amusement of the photographers. Chengyuan picked up silver with a delighted Elisabeth Osl crying as she crossed the line to pick up a bronze for Austria.

Amy Hunt - muddied but unbowed!

Despite not breaking into the top ten, as she'd have liked to do, Amy had a great race and she clearly has loads of potential yet to realise. I spoke to her as she returned to team camp:

"I got a good start and up to the bridge I was about sixth. I held that to the second climb and then I packed up a little bit on the next climb and on the climb after that. It took me a bit to ride into the race, a bit more than I expected to. So that meant I got held up on the descent, but it was great to see how much faster I was on that section compared to everyone else, which is good, but I was like, 'excuse me I need to get past'! Then after that it split up a little bit. There were four of us together and I was catching them on the descent and passing them and then slowly put surely they'd come past me on the climb, that happened on the second and third laps and on the last lap I started to come round a bit and, although I was tired, I managed to hold my position on the climb. That gave me a free run down and I got a gap there and held it to the finish. I was pleased with how it went, I wasn't pleased with my climbing but you can only do what you've got on the day and I did my best."

Later I caught up with team coach Phil Dixon to get his thoughts on how the girls did:

"Junior race I think we had an unlucky one, with Simo puncturing about 10 metres after the pits and she had to do half a lap on the rim before she could get it sorted. She still finished and caught a few riders on the way back in so she did good despite everything. Annie did a good ride there, but she had quite a few problems going into this event, so she should be pleased.

Amy had a good start, but then struggled on the climb on the first lap, she actually rode herself into the race and was really strong then and I know she gave a hundred percent as she's absolutely knackered. I'm proud of her. I think the girls have all done what they can on the day and technically they were very good and we can start to move forward from this and build on it. We're learning all the time really."

Other News

 

Elsewhere in the World Champ village, despite the weather things are just rolling on. Downhill riders had their first proper training runs today, getting to grips with one of the toughest courses in the World. The new, extra section at the top, just adding to the length of an already long descent was making it a tiring battle for the riders.

Trials - even tougher in the rain

GB junior Josh Bryceland is just one of many of our riders who are confident of a podium position - fingers crossed - and he looked to be going well. It was great to see Peaty, at the opening Parade last night. We know he'll give his all, but will that recent ankle injury be his downfall, I certainly hope not?

More good news on top GB riders returning from injury, is the surprise announcement that Liam Killeen is making a welcome return to XC racing on Saturday in the Senior men's, despite uncertainty on his race fitness. The feeling in the GB camp and to be honest the whole of the UK is that it'll be great to see Liam getting stuck in, in front of a home crowd: The spectators are just going to go wild!

Trials semis for junior men 20" got underway today with GB rider Chris Boyes making it to the last 8 and onto the finals. More from the trials as it happens later in the week.

 

And Finally

The event village almost amounts to a mini city, such is the range of facilities on site. They've even moved in a special wheelie bin labelled "Body Parts" which they've positioned next to the medical centre. It just shows that the venue's experience of several year's worth of World Cups has been put to good use - wonder if they have to empty it often?  

 

Results

Cross-Country - Junior Women - Distance 25.6km
1. BOYKO Alla UKR 1:25:14
2. SKARNITZLOVA Jitka CZE 1:25:43 + 28
3. BRESSET Julie FRA 1:26:50 +1:35
4. STIRNEMANN Kathrin SUI 1:27:14 +2:00
5. HASSENFRATZ Claire FRA 1:27:54 +2:40
6. MEYER Vivianne SUI 1:28:04 +2:50
7. BENKO Barbara HUN 1:28:45 +3:31
8. CANT Sanne BEL 1:29:01 +3:47
9. THOMA Ines GER 1:29:17 +4:03
10. DEVI Camille FRA 1:29:41 +4:26
11. HAASE Katharina GER 1:29:56 +4:41
12. BRUCHMANN Gesa GER 1:30:51 +5:36
13. ABRIL Valentina COL 1:31:53 +6:38
14. PALMA Roselisa ITA 1:32:03 +6:48
15. BATAGELJ Polona SLO 1:33:31 +8:16
16. LAST Annie GBR 1:33:44 +8:29
17. SULEK Marta POL 1:34:57 +9:43
18. POLSPOEL Maaike BEL 1:37:01 + 11:47
19. SHEPPARD Samara NZL 1:37:11 + 11:56
20. BABANOVA Maria RUS 1:38:36 + 13:22
21. PICHETTE Andreanne CAN 1:40:34 + 15:19
22. SIMPSON Annabel GBR 1:44:37 + 19:23
23. WHITE Stephanie USA 1:46:11 + 20:57
24. PALFRAMAN Melanie RSA 1:47:13 + 21:58
25. STEYN Genee RSA 1:47:41 + 22:27
26. COX Amy USA 1:53:36 + 28:21

 

Cross-Country - Under-23 Women - Distance 34.2km

1. LIU Ying CHN Women 1:45:43
2. CHENGYUAN Ren CHN Women 1:49:15 +3:31
3. OSL Elisabeth AUT Women 1:51:03 +5:20
4. HURIKOVA Tereza CZE Women 1:51:33 +5:50
5. DAWIDOWICZ Aleksandra POL Women 1:52:00 +6:17
6. HOMOVEC Nina SLO Women 1:54:08 +8:24
7. SCHNEITTER Nathalie SUI Women 1:55:47 + 10:04
8. ZAKELJ Tanja SLO Women 1:56:21 + 10:37
9. KLEIN Hanna GER Women 1:56:25 + 10:42
10. BATTY Emiliy CAN Women 1:57:11 + 11:27
11. KRASNIAK Julie FRA Women 1:58:28 + 12:45
12. ENGEN Alexandra SWE Women 1:59:04 + 13:20
13. MANI Caroline FRA Women 1:59:23 + 13:40
14. HUNT Amy GBR Women 2:00:01 + 14:18
15. LECHNER Eva ITA Women 2:01:16 + 15:33
16. METZLER Laura FRA Women 2:01:22 + 15:39
17. KROMPETS Nataliya UKR Women 2:01:56 + 16:12
18. KOZELA Karolina POL Women 2:03:08 + 17:24
19. ANDREEVA Vera RUS Women 2:03:15 + 17:32
20. NAUMANN Agnes GER Women 2:04:04 + 18:21
21. ZAYTSEVA Liliya UKR Women 2:04:06 + 18:23
22. CAMPOS SALAS Francisca CHI Women 2:05:51 + 20:08
23. SCHMID Bettina SUI Women 2:07:08 + 21:25
24. TUEL Caitlyn USA Women 2:08:31 + 22:48
25. FORSMAN Chloe USA Women 2:11:01 + 25:18
26. POLLINGER Judith ITA Women 2:12:05 + 26:22
27. YETIS Semra TUR Women -1Lap
28. FREYSEN Carla RSA Women -2Laps