1998
Mountain Biking
World Championships

Mont Sainte- Anne,
Quebec, Canada
September 18-20

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Nico's 7th Championship

Would you like to hear the French national anthem? We Zoners have memorized the tune after hearing it three times yesterday. Three of the four gold downhill medals, you see, went to France.

Not that that should surprise anyone who reads the Mountain Zone�s elite race coverage. The French simply own the downhill this season and proved it again in these ninth World Championships in Mont Ste-Anne, Quebec. Just as in the three races previous, Anne-Caroline Chausson and Nicolas Vouilloz ruled the roost... and roosted the world.

Chausson and Vouilloz are nice kids - really. Just because they�re French, serious and extraordinarily talented doesn�t mean for a minute that these two Sunn teammates aren�t a pleasure to talk to. They aren�t necessarily friends, but they race as if they�re brother and sister.

They also share a bond of the more worldly type. Each has won every single World Championship they�ve entered. That�s six for Chausson, seven for the "alien" Vouilloz. While some new faces did appear on the podium (thank God), it was all about the riders with the rainbow striped uniforms who stepped up and removed any doubt that they simply rule.

Chausson's Whoop-Ass

The women�s race did announce the ultra-elite arrival of Cheri Elliott (USA, Intense/Maxxis) who uncorked a stellar run for third place and a bronze medal. She was ecstatic with her run, and with good reason. Elliott arrived at the finish as the fourth best qualifier, rain dumping on over 10,000 fans. It was yet another shot in the arm of women�s DH racing which continues to shine on the world cup circuit.

Only the race�s early leader Nolvenn LeCaer (FRA, GT) was able to approach Chausson�s time, and even it was 10 seconds slower. LeCaer is also French and has won on this course in '95. She�s also the '96 Jr. World Champ and had a great season this year after taking most of '97 off for high school. Ah to be young, beautiful and really fast on a GT Lobo.

Vouilloz is called the alien because he rides like no one from this world. While the men were slipping and sliding all over the muddy course Saturday, Vouilloz took the drier outside line, didn�t slip an inch and opened a big waterbottle of whoop-ass to the tune of nearly five seconds. That�s a long time in conditions like this.

Pascal Proves

Second place was a surprise appearance by a smiling Gerwin Peters (NED, Be- One) who took third in the Arai City finals in Japan. Peters took over the Swatch hotseat with 8 riders remaining, commenting that his run was nothing extraordinary. He was one happy guy when his time stood all the way to the bitter end.

Mickael Pascal (FRA, Sunn-Un) took the bronze after leading for much of the race. Pascal is only 19, rides for Sunn and will inherit the throne vacated when Nico leaves for greener sponsors next season. He was cool as a cucumber, commenting that after a season of stellar results, he wasn�t too surprised at his bronze medal.

So what did we learn from these '98 Worlds? That the French still hold a massive lead over the U.S. in DH men�s, but the women can still compete. That the Sunn bike really does rock, it has performed brilliantly over the course of the season. That it sucks when the rains begin during a race, but c�est la vie. And, that Canada is a good place to have a race.

Saturday night featured an un-official Swatch Dual race, just for the crowd. It was a blast - under the lights with at least 10,000 fans lining the course. Lopes and Palmer battled in the men�s division and Tara Llanes (USA, Mt. Dew/Specialized) duked it out with Katrina Miller (AUS, Jamis). The winners were Lopes and Llanes, but it�s not important because it was total mayhem, with Steve Peat riding his mini-moto down the course, a unicyclist doing the same and Hans Rey hopping around in between runs.

— Rich Neare, watching Palmer and Voreis go at it again in pool halls, for The Mountain Zone.