Giove

Giove and Barel Take the Day
DH #4: Usual Suspects Defeated
Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada: July 1, 2000
[Results]  [Missy Giove Interview]

The first racing was the downhill, with qualifying and final runs beginning at 10am and not finishing until late in the afternoon. It was worth the wait, as Missy Giove (USA, Foes/Azonic) beat rival Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) in the women's race. Shortly thereafter another upset surfaced, when France's Fabien Barel topped Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team) by nearly a second.

Women: Giove Steals it by a Second
Missy Giove (USA, Foes/Azonic) finally put it all together for her first win of the season, beating Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA, Volvo-Cannondale) by just under a second for the first time since winning in Big Bear last season. Chausson has now lost two straight World Cups, to Americans Giove and Leigh Donovan (USA, Schwinn/Toyota).

Giove got very emotional as she thanked her team for helping her win, describing her run in characteristically colorful terms and telling how she, as usual, almost went over the handlebars. After healing her foot during the past three rounds, she says she feel almost 100% again, but is battling a bit of a cold. She's calm, deliberate and getting faster by the week.

Giove had qualified second fastest, but went all out to beat A-C in the final, when it counted. For Chausson's part she said she had an unremarkable run, with no problems on the course. "I went as fast as possible," she said. Third place was Katja Repo (FIN, GT), with three Americans next in line.

	Barel

Men: Barel Comes Out of Nowhere
Fabien Barel (FRA, GT) is a young (20-year-old) guy who rides for GT's European distributor and, in Maribor at the last World Cup, finished 4th for his best-ever finish. He was injured last season and didn't race, but this year came back with a vengeance, getting faster with each round and looking for a podium position.

He got that and more Saturday, beating countryman Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team) by .82 of a second for his first World Cup win and announcing his arrival on the international scene. Vouilloz has now lost twice in a row, and didn't have a specific explanation for his run except that he had more trouble than usual in technical sections and isn't physically all there.

Barel was as happy as one would expect with his win, saying how he loves this course. That's no surprise, as he won the Jr. World Championships here in Mont Ste. Anne in 1998. He had qualified third-fastest behind Vouilloz and another Frenchman, Mickael Pascal (FRA, Be-One). But Pascal double-flatted, puncturing both of his tires and finishing 3rd from dead last...and dropping to 5th in the overall rankings. Ouch.

Steve Peat (GBR, Team GT) finished 3rd after going 110% following a crash, but missed the win again. Gerwin Peters (NED, Be-One) was 4th, with David Vazquez (ESP, Subaru-Specialized) on the podium's last rung. Vouilloz and Vazquez are still the top-two ranked men in the sport.

—Ari Cheren, testing my patirnce for MountainZone.com