1998 World Cup Mountain Biking
Napa Valley, California
March 28-29, 1998

CLICK FOR AUDIO INDEX Rune Hoydahl Miguel Martinez (In French)

Rune Hoydahl Audio

Rune Hoydahl (NOR, Giant) overcame the heavily favored Miguel Martinez (FRA, Sunn Un) to take the season opener in Napa Valley, California. Hoydahl, with his strong climbing skills and even better technical downhill prowess, passed the "Mighty" Miguel on the third climb and held on, beating the rest of the pack by more than three minutes.

In the first lap, Andy Bishop (USA, Gary Fischer) had the lead through the starting loop and into the first climb, but Lennie Kristensen (DEN, Giant), Hoydahl's teammate, was able to overtake him after the first climb. Then Martinez, the top-ranked cross country rider and 1997 World Cup champion, proved why he is such a threat and he took a 20 second lead after the second climb. Hoydahl, Christophe Herisset (FRA, Sunn Un), Kristensen, Christophe Dupouey (Sunn Un), Cadel Evans (AUS, Volvo/Cannondale), Pavel Tcherkassov (DBR, RUS) and Filipe Meirhage (BEL, Mt.Dew/Specialized) were grouped about 20 seconds behind Martinez in the second lap.

Miguel Martinez Audio

In the third lap, Martinez's lead was cut to just 15 seconds by Hoydahl. Hoydahl then closed the gap and was able to pass him at the figure 8 descent. By the time Hoydahl had reached the start/finish area, he had put five seconds on Martinez and through the next three laps only increased his lead.

As the race for third and fourth heated up, a few riders were unfortunately forced out by technical problems. Ludovic Dubau (FRA, Sunn Un) became the first victim as he suffered a first lap flat and was forced to drop out. Cadel Evans (AUS, Volvo-Cannondale) was sitting in fourth in the third lap, just under two minutes behind Hoydahl, when he flatted, dropping him back to twelfth. Evans though pulled it out to come back in the last two laps to grab sixth. Christophe Dupoey (FRA, Sunn Un) had two flats and although he was able to fix the first, he abandoned the race after the second.

Thomas Frischknecht (SUI, Ritchey) gave an outstanding performance here. After the first lap, "Frishy" was sitting in ninth, just behind the pack chasing Martinez. Frishy stayed in pursuit as riders dropped back because of technical problems and a demanding course. Continuing strong through the last two laps, Frishy picked off Christophe Herisset in the last lap to take third. By the finish, he was only seven seconds behind Martinez, and overjoyed with his strong comeback.

"I think today I know they don't want to play with Frishy," he exclaimed at the finish. His time was 3:39.92 off Hoydahl's.

Christophe Herisset (FRA, Sunn Un) had the his best world cup performance to date taking fourth at 3:46.71. Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL, Mt.Dew/Specialized) endured the tough course and competition and grabbed the fifth spot at 4:22.93. David "Tinker" Juarez (USA, Volvo/Cannondale) was the top placed American with a 10th place finish; he was 7:19.82 back.

—Brent Brookler, polluted on fine wine for The Mountain Zone