August 13th, 2014 2:16pm
Wyndham may be the shortest course on the UCI World Cup Circuit, but it delivered on excitement like no other this season. The short course meant there was no margin
for error and several key sections were critical to making on the podium.
The day started with Michael Jones (England) taking the Hot seat for quite a long time. In fact he held on to the top spot until Sam Blenkinsop finally bested his early run time with a serious effort on the bottom of the track showing his pedal fitness.
Then it was a show down between the top 15 qualifiers to see if there was more speed still out on the track that was getting rougher as the week wore on. Riders like Sam Hill, Brook MacDonald, Gee Atherton all took their shots, but could replace Blenkinsop. Not until Troy Brosnan - the current World Cup Points leader took his run. Brosnan managed to arrive 1.1 seconds quicker than Sam.
With only a handful of riders left the drama was building and it was Aaron Gwin - trying to make it three wins in a row on the Wyndam track - who put in a stellar run. Looking exceptionally quick through the rock garden Gwin managed to better Brosnan by over half a second leaving only the top qualifier- Josh Bryceland to spoil his three peat chance.
From the start, Bryceland was smooth but didn't look fast. Smooth always looks like your just cruising. But the general rule of racing is that smooth is fast. Bryceland was both. In every section the "Ratboy" was a bit smoother and faster than every competitor on the hill. At the finish line, all that smoothness translated into a 1.5 second victory and his second world cup win this season.
Bryceland's win and Brosnan's third place means the fight for the world cup overall is getting really tight at the top. Brycleland, Brosnan and Gwin are all in it with a chance to win the World Cup Overall. With so many capable competitors, this season and every race for that matter is the most exciting one we have seen in years.
Josh Bryceland enjoying the top step for the second time in 2014. Bryceland is now the overall points leader also.
Men's Pro Final Podium
1 - Josh Bryceland
2 - Aaron Gwinn
3 - Troy Brosnan
4 - Sam Blenkinsop
5 - Brook Macdonald
Emmeline Ragot crushed the womens division with a dominant and confident run.
On the Women's side of the table, Emmeline Ragot crushed the competition with a dominating performance over field beating Rachel Atherton by almost a 3 second
margin. Ragot's run was impressive for all the right reasons of carrying speed through the entire course and because of the lingoring memory of her high speed crash
on the final jump of the course back in 2012. But Emmeline was committed the entire run and it showed working in unison with her Lapierre bike for her seventh world
cup win.
Manon Carpenter could only manage a forth place which ensured the fight for the World Cup overall title would go to Meribel France. Carpenter, Ragot and Atherton are
all still in the hunt going into the final round.
Women's Pro Final Podium
1 - Emmeline Ragot
2 - Rachel Atherton
3 - Tracey Hannah
4 - Manon Carpenter
5 - Jill Kitner
Cross Country
Catherin Pendrel set a pace early that was dominant. Pendrel is in dominant form this month. (Photo credit:Dave Kraus/KrausGrafik.com)
On a course that can best be described as one big climb and one big descent, the mens and ladies cross country raced on one of the warmer days on the weekend.
The women took to the hill first and team Luna rider Catherine Pendrel quickly flexed her fitness muscles taking command of the race early on. Pendrel is comming off a podium finish at Mont Ste Anne and a win at the Commonwealth Games which showed here training peak was spot on. Pendrel took out the win
Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR
1 Catharine PENDREL CAN 34 1:25:47 250 250
2 Tanja ZAKELJ SLO 26 1:26:16 200 200
3 Annika LANGVAD DEN 30 1:26:19 160 160
4 Jolanda NEFF SUI 21 1:26:23 150 150
5 Blaza KLEMENCIC SLO 34 1:27:11 140 140
6 Maja WLOSZCZOWSKA POL 31 1:27:32 130 130
7 Lea DAVISON USA 31 1:27:39 120 120
8 Emily BATTY CAN 26 1:27:48 110 110
9 Sabine SPITZ GER 43 1:28:11 100 100
10 Irina KALENTIEVA RUS 37 1:28:23 95 95
The dust with so many compeititors and narrow single track descents making passing tough, the start is critical for the mens race. (Photo credit:Dave Kraus/KrausGrafik.com)
Pro Men followed suite doing seven laps on the big climbing course. The start was critical in fortelling the result as Nino Schurter, known for quick starts, led out the peleton followed by Julien Absalon and Lukas and Mathias Fluckiger. While Schurter and Absalon began switching the lead, it was Schurter who was able to hold on to final sprint effort to win by six seconds.
Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR
1 Nino SCHURTER SUI 28 1:40:58 250 250
2 Julien ABSALON FRA 34 1:41:04 200 200
3 Lukas FLÜCKIGER SUI 30 1:41:14 160 160
4 Daniel MCCONNELL AUS 29 1:41:20 150 150
5 Mathias FLÜCKIGER SUI 26 1:42:10 140 140
6 Manuel FUMIC GER 32 1:42:25 130 130
7 Sergio MANTECON GUTIERREZ ESP 30 1:43:02 120 120
8 Stéphane TEMPIER FRA 28 1:43:25 110 110
9 Florian VOGEL SUI 32 1:43:38 100 100
10 Ralph NAEF SUI 34 1:44:14 95 95
Location: News >> Windham World Cup Shines with close racing and results
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