1999 World Cup Mountain Biking
Nevegal, Italy
June 5-6, 1999



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France Attacks Italy
Chausson and Vouilloz Dominate...Again
Nevegal, Italy: DH/DL #3

They're French, they're fit and they can ride a bicycle... really fast. So it was no big surprise this weekend when two athletes with nothing in common except their nationality (i.e. Chausson and Vouilloz) won yet another world cup downhill. At least this third round of world cup action held a couple surprises — namely from mother nature.

Pro Mt. Biker Katrina Miller Katrina Miller
Sun was the word of the weekend as glorious skies and warm weather made the typically wet and rainy Nevegal experience more like summer camp than a typical Euro-downhill. Even though cynical industry hacks grumbled that they couldn't use the triple-layer Gore-Tex coats they lugged around for a month, everyone else was nonetheless ecstatic at the prospect of another sunny weekend of racing. "I'm just happy to go home without mildew on my uniform," chimed Katrina Miller (AUS, Jamis).

Miller was speaking just after she and Brian Lopes (USA, Volvo-Cannondale) won the Dual on Saturday afternoon. They're both the defending champions of the new discipline, and beat two other great riders in some classic — albeit staid — racing. Tara Llanes (USA, Mountain Dew / Specialized) took second for the women after a string of solid runs, while David Cullinan (USA, Schwinn) was runner-up for the men.

Pro Mt. Biker Anne-Caroline Chausson A-C Chausson
The morning after Dual racing, it was time for Sunday's main event, and the ski lifts quickly filled up with athletes, mechanics and lazy journalists bound for the start house for a fun-filled day of gravity racing.

'Ladies first' is the UCI's motto, and Missy Giove (USA, Foes/Azonic) was first in qualifying when Chausson's rear disc brake seized up in the semi's, forcing her to run for a 10th place seed. Naturally Chausson later took the lead when she came down in the finals, producing a very rare sight of her sitting at the finish waiting for other (faster) qualifiers to just try and unseat her. Fat chance, eh?

"There were more crashes, thrills, spills and dazed competitors than we've ever witnessed..."

Giove had the best chance, but simply couldn't do it after several small mistakes caused her to come to a dead stop in one section and lose precious time. You have to race a perfect run to beat A-C, and Giove hit a tree — not conducive to winning.

Gal-pals Leigh Donovan (USA, Intense) and Mercedes Gonzalez (ESP, Team GT) followed Marielle Saner (SUI, Hot Chili) to round out the podium for the women, as Chausson's grip on the overall lead tightened like a boa. Time for lunch and a standing-up espresso, then back to the course for men's action…

Nevegal's course is actually quite tame when dry — if you ride it slow. Crank the bikes up to more than 62 kph, however, and it becomes a bone-jarring roller-coaster ridden on the ragged edge of adrenaline — which is exactly where guys like Vouilloz had to ride to win this weekend.

Pro Mt. Biker Nicolas Vouilloz Nicolas Vouilloz
Steve Peat (GBR, GT) had qualified fastest in the morning's seeding run, beating Nico only by a second, but serving notice that he is Mr. Consistency thus far this season and is now taking this racing thing way seriously. Heck, he even works out now! Anyway, after several talented guys took their turn in the hotseat on live Eurosport TV, it was time for the serious racing to really begin.

Mickael Pascal (FRA, Sunn) did the honors when he came down third from last with a time that was over six seconds faster than eventual 4th-place Gerwin Peters (NED, Be-One). That's a huge margin considering most leaders were scraping fractions of a second to overtake the lead.

Next up was Nico, who topped Pascal by — you guessed it — a fraction of a second. Nico took his seat at the monitor at the finish line and waited to see if Peat would arrive in the last few turns fast enough to unseat him. No such luck for the Brit who wound up third. Vouilloz smiled and let out a sigh of relief knowing he had again mustered a run better than Peat.

Pro Mt. Biker Leigh Donovan Leigh Donovan
Vouilloz takes over the leader's jersey, 50 points ahead of Peat. Things could get sketchy for Nico's Sunn team, however, as the company announced bankruptcy this week in a press conference. Vouilloz says he wants to finish out the season with a Sunn jersey and bike, even if he has to pay his own way to the races. Stay tuned for more from this ongoing saga.

World Cup action continues in two weeks with the season's only DH/XC double-event in Big Bear Lake, Ca. Steal a car, buy a bus ticket, sell the house — but make sure you make this race... and we'll see you in the pits.

MountainZone.com reporters, searching bags for their return ticket

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