Cross-Country

Report: Saturday Cross-Country

Images & Words: Joolze Dymond

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A great ride into 9th place, only a minute and a half down on the winner, Florien Vogel of Switzerland, by Oli Beckingsale was the highlight of a strong showing by the British men in the Cross-Country race at the Fort William World Cup. Liam Killeen continued his rehabilitation with 26th place, whilst Ian Bibby produced by far the best World Cup ride of his career to claim 39th place. He was also an impressive 4th best under-23.

The dust rises as the Women's race gets underway

Marie-Helen Premont of Canada took the women's race, with Fiona MacDermid, named last week in the GB Team for the wordls, the only British rider, finishing in 45th place.

Joolze Dymond's Report

WOMEN'S RACE

11am saw the start of the Women's XC, again under some stunning blue skies, but with added heat and dust, just to make the going, especially for those unfortunate to be at the rear, that bit more difficult.

Marga Fullana leads eventual winner Marie Helene Premont

The women had 5 laps ahead of them of a slightly shortened course. Gone was the very top switch back, gone too was the natural section, the course now resembling a very fast highway to mountain bike heaven.

As per usual the start was frantic as the leaders did their utmost to get into position on the first steep section, leaving those behind choking on their dust. The second half of the field was reduced to walking pace as the riders struggled en-mass up the first short sharp incline, the hustle and bustle making hard to see what exactly was going on.

Marie Helene Premont

Those in front were laughing, metaphorically at least, as clear dust-free trails were the order of the day. Marie- Helene Premont along with Margarita Fullana, made the most of the situation and soon opened up a sizable gap on the strung-out field behind them. The race unfolded with both Premont and Fullana taking turns on the front, until the last lap where Premont turned on the gas and finally opened up a narrow gap on Fullana taking the win, just 13secs ahead.

GB interest was in the form of Fiona MacDermid, keen to have a better experience than she had last week in Andorra where suffering from jet lag she wasn't feeling her best.

Kate Potter, left, and Fiona MacDermid

She started off well, despite a back grid position, she was keen to get stuck in. having only taking up mountain bike racing 3 years ago: this mother of 3 is as keen as mustard to get stuck into a full programme of World Cup racing to improve her abilities and just see where it'll take her.

Unfortunately she got snarled up in the chaos of lap 1 and spent the rest of the race playing catch up. She finally came home in a not too disappointing 45th place, with more experience under her belt and plenty more to come.

MEN'S RACE

The leading men get clear off the start: 22 Roel Paulissen, 14 Florian Vogel, 7 Kashi Leuchs, 20 Jurg Graf

Then it was onto the men's race, with World number one Julien Absalon absence, the race was wide open, but with plenty of GB riders providing some interest. Again the race opened up as a mad gallop up the first climb, where the first of many crashes of the day took place, as the mass of riders surged round a wide bend straight into the barriers, each fighting for an inch, before a few run out of space completely. Again those at front had a clear run, with no such problems to encounter.

Meanwhile, at the back it's the usual chaos!

Pretty soon a train had developed containing Swiss riders, Vogel, Schurter, and Sauser, with Burry Stander, Jakob Fuslang along for the ride. Brit Oli Beckingsale had a blinding start and was up there mixing it with the top 2 groups. Sporting a pretty full on lucky beard, Beckingsale was looking confident as he drove up the climbs, with a first World Cup podium firmly in his sights.

Eventual winner Florien Vogel leads Nino Schurter

Meanwhile up front the battle continued between he Swiss riders, it was anyone's guess who would take this one: many had Sauser as the man to beat, however it came down to a nail biting sprint with Vogal piping Schurter and Sauser to the post.

Christoph Sauser took third

Beckingsale continued with his blinding ride, unfortunately not being able to forge the gap he needed on the climbs, where he is so strong, he had to settle eventually for a still cracking 9th spot, the highest in his World Cup career and a clear pointer that he is on fire.

Left, that Beckingsale beard. Right, Liam Killeen

Compatriot Liam Killeen also had a cracking ride, though he was disappointed in himself to begin with for not moving up quickly enough on the first opening laps he knew he'd miss any of the deciding action. He continued to ride a calm and controlled race, coming home in 26th place another indication that Killeen is very nearly back to fighting weight.

Youngster - well under 23 - Ian Bibby was another GB rider who quite literally rode his socks off, scoring a World Cup best of 39th spot and narrowly missing a podium position in the under 23's.

Paul Oldham and Ian Wilkinson ponder their prospects on the start line

GB Academy Team mates Dave Fletcher and Ross Creber both and varied races, but both rode well and took a lot of experience away from this race ready for the World Championships in just 2 weeks time.

Gareth Montgomerie had a superb ride - right, anothe study of Liam Killeen

And the best of the rest, Ian Wilkinson came home in 51st. After a punishing ride in the National marathon Champs the previous week, coupled with a week's long hard graft at work, Wilkinson the infamous powerhouse finally ran out of puff. He just didn't have all cylinders firing and was pretty disappointed with the result. Ian Field picked up 59th, Paul Oldham 61st just ahead of Gareth Montgomerie who was having a blinding ride keeping pace with Killeen early doors, Lee Williams 78th and finally Anthony O'Boyle who despite a real hard race coming home in 84th spot, now knows exactly what he needs to do to pick up his performance. Looks like the plucky Welshman may be doing a heck of a lot of travel next year.

Rider Reaction:

Men's Winner Florien Vogel (SUI)

I can't describe how I feel right now, I am so happy to win a world cup competition. It's been one of my major career ambitions. It's a fun course with long hard climbs but the downs are amazing. You just need to watch out for flats and think about technique. It's been a fantastic competition for the spectators to watch, with the leaders finishing so close together. It was a very tight race.

Oli Beckingsale in action - right, Ian Bibby feels the pain, post race

Oli Beckingsale
That was blinding, I knew I was in good shape I've trained pretty hard these last couple of weeks, I missed last weekend so I could do this and I had quite good legs at the start and I was mixing it hanging off the front trying to use my brain a bit. On the last lap I got into that group and I could see Burry and with it the podium and I was the strongest on the climb but we all came together on the flat and at the end of a race I can't go hard like that. I had to get away on the climb but I couldn't quite crack them.

But top ten, I've done it at the Worlds, but never at the World Cups, it was pretty close today. I chuffed but I'm also pretty pissed, when you're 6th on the climb and you can almost see the podium, and to have been able to stand on a World Cup podium on home soil..well. To be honest, now it's all about the worlds in 2 weeks time. I rode really fast today and really enjoyed it - it was good fun.

Ah the beard! Well I was training away in France with Adam Craig and he's got crazy big hair and I said he couldn't cut his hair and he said I couldn't shave, till here. I think it'll have to stay to the Worlds now!

Ian Bibby on one of the boarded sections

Ian Bibby
Yeah I was pretty happy with my ride today: 39th is brilliant my best finish in a World Cup to date and I've only just missed out on the podium for the under 23's. I got off the line okay, moved up a bit and then there was a crash and I ended up quite far back, but then I moved up quite a bit on the climb again but blew a bit on lap 2 and was really struggling. On the 3rd lap I think everyone blew and I started coming past again. I've had two good rides now, so I'm trying to show now that it's not a bit of a fluke.

Liam Killeen
I felt pretty comfortable out there today; I didn't make as many places as I hoped on the first lap. The first two laps are where the splits are decided in this type of race. But I made the most of my start position I was in the 80's on the first climb, so yeah I feel like I'm getting there. I enjoy this course and the weather made it nice and the home support really gives you that little bit extra. I found that the climb was plenty long enough so cutting out the top switchback I think was a wise move. I would have liked them to have kept the natural section in that was a good part of the course, but yeah it was a good racing course as per usual. So a bit more training now, a bit of rest and yeah I'm feeling a lot more confident going into the Worlds.

Phil Dixon (GB Coach)
Yeah there were some good rides out there today for the boys, outstanding from Bibbs. I think he had a problem from the start, but he pulled it back, we thought he'd got 3rd under 23 and that would have been nice but we counted it and it looks like he's 4th, but this is his best ever World Cup result and it shows progression. Young Dave [Fletcher] had a very good bike ride out there today, he started a bit towards the end I think he was 60 something but the time gap behind the leader wasn't huge and this being his first year as a senior, he's just soaking up the experience. Ross, well he blew up on lap 3 and suffered for the rest of the race, he's a bit disappointed but again he'll be able to take a lot from that race and go forward.

Dave Fletcher had a strong ride

Dave Fletcher
That weren't too bad. I got a pretty good start and just carried on from there. Came to 2 laps to go and I started to die down a bit and suffer but apart from that I was going quite well. Being my first year getting this experience with much better riders just helps bring me along.

Ross Creber tried new tactics in the race

Ross Creber
That was a new race plan out there for me today, normally I start steady and try and pick up as I work my way through to the end of the race. This time Phil wanted me to start as hard as I could and see what happened. I felt I was riding really well for the first 3 laps, I was going up the field, going a cross to gaps and then I made one big effort on the 3rd lap and that just ruined me and I was on my knees certainly for the last 2 laps. I need to do a bit more training to be able to start that hard, I've never ever tried to race that hard before so it was a new thing, it was a risky tactic but I just wanted to see what would happen and there was no pressure on me I can take quite a lot of positives from this and build on it.

Fiona MacDermid
I've been in New Zealand for the last 5 years with the family and started racing over there. I only got into mountain biking 3 years ago and since I started I've won the New Zealand National Series and this year I won a big race in the Southern Hemisphere and I won that by 16 mins, but 6 seconds off the record so I was pleased and gutted at the same time. I'm at the higher age range, I'm 35, I was very late getting into the sport. I figure that some of these girls here, they'll be thinking about starting a family soon and they'll be ready to retire. Well I've done all that, an d I'd say I've got fresh racing legs now. I'm focusing all my attention on World Cup racing now as I realised that there isn't the competition over there and if I want to see how good I can get in the sport the only way I can do it is coming over and doing the World Cups really. It's all self-funded at the mo, but if there are any sponsors out there?

I'm gonna see how it pans out really obviously I've got 3 young kids, 6,8, and 10 they're at school and we're gonna see if my husband can get a sabbatical. I'm pretty committed to this and really want to give it a go, to see where I can get. I only got into biking as I dislocated my knee doing indoor netball, I couldn't do running or anything, so biking came my means for rehabilitation and got into the sport through that. I started on World Cups last year, I came and rode Houfflease and that was a real culture shock, there were a 120 starters and I just wasn't prepared for how aggressive these girls are, coming from New Zealand where I was used to going off from the front and staying on the front, it was a real culture shock. But I finished and I didn't get lapped out, so for my first World Cup I was really pleased. Hoffenberg I broke my arm, it was a really technical course and I rode it absolutely no trouble but somebody rode into the back of me in the feed zone, end of story.

I rode Andorra last week, but I'd only just arrived from New Zealand was wasn't feeling my best and I had no support there, like I've got here from the GB team, they've been fantastic. Hopefully I'll continue to receive support from any races that I do that they're at. Today I had a great start I was really pleased, the first climb everyone was off their bikes, so I was off but I had trouble getting back on as I was kept being pushed from behind and I couldn't get clipped in so I lost loads there and everybody passed me, I was at the back from there I just gradually picked up a few places. I was really disappointed with my first lap but pleased that I managed to pick it up a bit, I guess 45th isn't too bad, but I would have hoped to do better than that.

But as Phil (Dixon) say's you're still learning, you've not done too many world cups and they're a whole different kettle of fish. Like I said I'm in the upper age range and I don't know how many years I've got, Gunn Rita is the same if not slightly older than me, so I think there's some hope for me out there. Next for me is the World Champs, I'm quite excited to be representing GB, than after that well I think I'll stick to this, up until my eldest daughter starts beating me on a bike!

RESULTS

MEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY

1 VOGEL Florian SUI 02:06:27
2 SCHURTER Nino * SUI +0:00:01
3 SAUSER Christoph SUI +0:00:09
4 FUGLSANG Jakob DEN +0:00:47
5 STANDER Burry * RSA +0:01:00
6 NYS Sven BEL +0:01:19
7 SOUKUP Christoph AUT +0:01:20
8 KESSIAKOFF Fredrik SWE +0:01:21
9 BECKINGSALE Oliver GBR +0:01:31
10 GUJAN Martin SUI +0:01:56
11 PERAUD Jean-Christophe FRA +0:02:14
12 GRAF Jsp;SUI +0:02:25
13 WELLS Todd USA +0:02:50
14 BRENTJENS Bart NED +0:03:04
15 RAVANEL Cedric FRA +0:03:15
16 CRAIG Adam USA +0:03:36
17 FUMIC Lado GER +0:03:53
18 JONGEWAARD Chris AUS +0:03:55
19 SPESNY Milan CZE +0:04:05
20 MARKT Karl AUT +0:04:08
21 MCGRATH Seamus CAN +0:04:25
22 PAULISSEN Roel BEL +0:04:28
23 KUGLER Andreas SUI +0:04:29
24 KABUSH Geoff CAN +0:04:56
25 HERMIDA RAMOS Jose Antonio ESP +0:05:00
26 KILLEEN Liam GBR +0:05:02
27 KURSCHAT Wolfram GER +0:05:07
28 COLOMA NICOLAS Carlos ESP +0:05:14
29 LINDGREN Emil SWE +0:05:19
30 WEISS Michael AUT +0:05:27
31 KASS Jochen GER +0:05:32
32 MANETSCH Gion SUI +0:05:44
33 HOVDENES Anders * NOR +0:06:09
34 PLATT Karl GER +0:06:20
35 BOHME Tim GER +0:06:41
36 LAKATA Alban AUT +0:06:43
37 SCHULTZ Samuel USA +0:07:01
38 TABERLAY Sid AUS +0:07:07
39 BIBBY Ian * GBR +0:07:16
40 GIGER Fabian * SUI +0:07:31
41 FRIEDL Jiri CZE +0:07:55
42 WENGELIN Mattias * SWE +0:08:00
43 TOULOUSE Mathieu CAN +0:08:00
44 LEUCHS Kashi NZL +0:08:32
45 SCHOTMAN Frank NED +0:08:42
46 ROHRBACH Nicola * SUI +0:08:53
47 WETTERHALL Alexander * SWE +0:09:00
48 FL܃KIGER Lukas SUI +0:09:42
49 MCCONVEY Connor * IRL +0:09:44
50 KAMLER Josef * CZE +0:09:53
51 WILKINSON Ian GBR +0:09:59
52 PETERS Bas NED +0:10:04
53 BREMS Bjorn * BEL +0:10:10
54 PUSCHEL Javier Eduardo CHI +0:10:42
55 BISCHOF Christof SUI +0:10:55
56 NORRIS Lachlan * AUS +0:11:00
57 NILSSON Mattias * SWE +0:11:04
58 JIANHUA Ji CHN +0:11:11
59 FIELD Ian * GBR +0:11:14
60 BRODERICK Michael USA +0:11:38
61 OLDHAM Paul GBR +0:11:44
62 MONTGOMERIE Gareth GBR +0:12:01
63 PIETERSMA Jelmer NED +0:12:29
64 KJEN Ola * NOR +0:12:44
65 PLANTET Pierre Geoffroy FRA +0:13:07
66 GEHBAUER Robert * AUT +0:13:18
67 FLETCHER David * GBR +0:13:54
68 VAN DER PLOEG Paul * AUS +0:14:00
69 MOTTET Ludovic BEL +0:14:38
70 TANN Rene GER +0:14:55
71 FRIBERG Calle SWE +0:15:12
72 BISHOP Jeremiah USA +0:15:33
73 CREBER Ross * GBR +0:16:23
74 METZLER Hannes AUT +0:16:31
75 NORDSKAR Jo Thorson * NOR +0:17:15
76 MCCONNELL Daniel AUS +0:18:34
77 VANGENECHTEN Rob * BEL +0:19:56
78 WILLIAMS Lee GBR +0:20:37
79 VOIGT Rumen * GER -1Lap
80 HORGAN-KOBELSKI Jeremy USA -1Lap
81 LJUNGBERG Anders SWE -1Lap
82 ULLMANN Tobias GER -1Lap
83 HAZBUN VELASQUEZ Ricardo * CHI -2Laps
84 O'BOYLE Anthony * GBR -2Laps
85 PEKATCH Dror ISR -2Laps

* denotes under-23

WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY

1 PREMONT Marie-Helene CAN 02:00:42
2 FULLANA Margarita ESP +0:00:14
3 SPITZ Sabine GER +0:03:11
4 BYBERG Lene NOR +0:03:20
5 LEBOUCHER Laurence FRA +0:03:34
6 LIU Ying CHN +0:03:54
7 KLEMENCIC Blaza SLO +0:04:49
8 DAHLE FLESJAA Gunn-Rita NOR +0:04:57
9 HENZI Petra SUI +0:04:59
10 RUSCA Maroussia SUI +0:05:20
11 GOULD Georgia USA +0:05:29
12 PENDREL Catherine CAN +0:05:56
13 MORATH Adelheid GER +0:06:41
14 NASH Katerina CZE +0:06:59
15 OSL Elisabeth AUT +0:07:11
16 ZAKELJ Tanja * SLO +0:07:16
17 MC CONNELOUG Mary USA +0:07:17
18 IRMIGER Heather USA +0:07:21
19 ENGEN Alexandra * SWE +0:07:28
20 DAVISON Lea USA +0:07:31
21 VAN ROOIJ-VINK Elsbeth NED +0:07:41
22 OSL Maria AUT +0:08:04
23 LEUMANN Katrin SUI +0:08:21
24 ENAUX Sabrina FRA +0:08:27
25 REN Chengyuan * CHN +0:08:31
26 KRAFT Ivonne GER +0:08:44
27 BISARO Kiara CAN +0:09:38
28 POLSPOEL Maaike * BEL +0:10:22
29 SIMMS Wendy CAN +0:10:58
30 STARR Dellys AUS +0:11:19
31 STEVKOVA Janka SVK +0:11:27
32 MICHIELS Githa BEL +0:11:28
33 POTTER Kate AUS +0:12:13
34 RODE RAVANEL Cecile FRA +0:12:27
35 TURPIJN Laura NED +0:12:31
36 VAN MEURS Arielle NED +0:12:35
37 HAYWOOD Susan USA +0:13:07
38 SCHWING Katrin GER +0:13:19
39 KOERBER Willow USA +0:13:28
40 WALTER Sandra CAN +0:13:50
41 WANG Jingjing CHN +0:14:12
42 CAMPOS SALAS Francisca CHI +0:16:58
43 KING Zoe AUS +0:20:16
44 KALNES Maria NOR +0:20:55
45 MACDERMID Fiona GBR +0:23:26
46 BUNZLI ROJAS Daniela CHI -1Lap
47 MCDONALD Anja NZL -1Lap

* denotes under-23