1998 World Cup Mountain Biking
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Downhill #5 Hail Britannia Steve Peat finally wins one, Chausson crushes.
While Steve’s had some great runs in his career including a 2nd in Mont Ste-Anne last season he only put together that perfect run this weekend in the hills above Seattle, taking round five of the world cup downhill series and showing that sometimes, size does matter.
As is the routine in world cup downhill, Saturday is set aside for practice and the Dual at 6:30pm, with no DH racing until Sunday morning. Women began at 10am with qualifying where Chausson beat second-fastest qualifier Marla Streb (USA, Yeti) by 26.8 seconds. Then in the final Mercedes Gonzales (ESP, GT), who was only the 8th fastest qualifier, came down with a smoking speed of 4:51 in the final. While stoked just to have a strong run, she was even more pleased to see LeCaer, Bonazzi, Giove and even Streb miss her time. Only Chausson - who would have placed 40th the MENs event - could topple Gonzalez as all the women congratulated each other on a job well done. Snoqualmie Pass is a small ski resort outside Seattle with a 1,100 vertical foot mountain hosting this world cup event. The course is brand new, a virgin trail blazed into dark cool trees and packed down by the riders who couldn’t believe how steep and technical it truly is. One part, “Junior’s Wall” in the Black Forest tree section, begins with a 6-foot rock drop into a non-stop elevator chute descent down rotten trees and dirt shelves. It’s the hardest section of a course, ever... anywhere on the circuit. Some hate it, some love it, but all respect this American course which demanded total concentration for its upper half and hard pedaling on its lower section.
Saturday evening brought out a good crowd for the Swatch Dual World Series where some downhillers take a whack at world cup points in this head-to-head dual slalom. Katrina Miller (AUS, Jamis) won again with conservative style while flyin’ Brian Lopes (USA, Mongoose) took his first Dual win. Mike King watched with a separated shoulder and David Cullinan (USA, Schwinn-Toyota) got ousted early. The course was short and detoured around late-week mud, but was a good side-by-side race the way it should be. And so went the beginning of the rest of the season. Next downhill race is in Sierra Nevada, Spain, so call your travel agent soon. Riders will begin dropping their two lowest scores which will affect the rankings, but for now Chausson looks strong unless Giove starts winning, and Vazquez and Vouilloz have a great battle on their hands for the overall championship.
Fiction and Fact: The Mountain Zone Almanac
Christian Taillefer (FRA, Peugeot Palaisea) says that before Big Bear he dreamt that he would do crappy in Big Bear and take 5th in Wa. Guess what? Myles Rockwell (USA, Volvo-Cannondale) is back! He took 9th here after nearly dying with two broken legs in preseason. Except for Taillefer’s Peugeot squad, the entire men’s and women’s podium was composed of GT, Volvo-Cannondale and Sunn-un.
The entire top-five of the men’s race has won a world cup round this season.
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