Results: Canberra World Cup

The start of the men's XC Photo courtesy of UCI

The final round of 2008 Word Cup events before finals in Schladming, Austria the Canberra World Cup stop was highly regarded for its chalenging and well-built courses. In fact the Canberra venue was chosen for the 2009 UCI World Championships to be held next August. But this year the final stop of the World Cup series occurred just one week after the Olympics, relegating many big cross-country competitors to opt out and rest their legs. Julien Absalon, Marie-Helene Premont, Marga Fullana and Jean-Christoph Peraud include just some of the racers who decided to sit this round out.

XC
In Premont's absense, Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) charged to victory, winning her sixth World Cup. New Zealander, Rosara Joseph (Team Ghost International) had the best performance of her career with the second place. Fourth in China last week, Catherine Pendrel (Luna Women) took the third place just ahead of the Czech Tereza Hurikova. American Marry McConneloug (Kenda-Seven) finished 5th, her first podium of the World Cup season. Premont now is an untouchable 287 points ahead of Catherine Pendrel.

Swiss rider Ralf Näf (Multivan Merida) didn't qualify for the ultra-competitive Swiss Olympic team, but that doesn't mean he can't win a World Cup race. Ralf's victory at Canberra was his second World Cup victory after Fort William in 2005. Multivan Merida scored again with Jose Antonio Hermida taking second. In third place, Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis) took a bite out of Christoph Sauser's overall standing and jumped up to second place. Back in France, after his second Olympic title, Julien Absalon is assured to win the World Cup series for the fourth time (after 2003, 2006 and 2007).

4X
The women's four-cross was dominated by a relative newcomer to the series. Australia's Caroline Buchannan (KHS), who's just 17, stormed to her first World Cup victory relying on intmate knowledge of her home-town circuit to control her semi-final and final races. Anekee Beerten's second place finish gives her the World Cup lead going into the finals.

Four-cross point leader Rafael Alvarez Luca has a broken wrist, and will not compete in any more of the series this year. This created the perfect opportunity for Jared Graves (Yeti) to take a victory after a crash knocked him out of contention in Olympic BMX finals just over a week ago. Sam Willoughby finished second.

DH
The English – French battle continues in the women’s category. After one victory for Sabrina Jonnier and three victories for Rachel Atherton, Tracy Moseley took her turn with a second World Cup victory this year afer taking Fort William in June. The British rider has ensured her third place overall. Rachel Atherton's lead crept wider with her second place finish--seventeen hundredths in front of Jonnier. If Jonnier wants to deprive the English of a double victory (World Cup and World Championships) she must win both races in Austria, and pray that the World Champion has an off-day.

Greg Minnaar showed he will be the main contender for the DH rainbow title after his victory in Canberra this weekend. The deal was clear for the former World Champion (2003)--he had to beat Sam Hill in Hill's homeland. Minnaar is having a great season after winning Fort Wiliam and taking fourth at the Val Di Sole World Championship. That luck carried through to Canberra giving him the win and the World Cup lead. In second place, Nathan Rennie, performing in front of his home crowd, claimed his best performance this season. Gee Atherton took third place. But the big news of the day was the 11th place of Sam Hill. Already deprived of his world title, Hill, who is now 116 points behind his rival, must pull out all the stops in the final. Four-time winner on the Austrian course, the man from Perth cannot afford to make a mistake.

Greg Minnaar Photo courtesy of UCI

Tracy Moseley Photo courtesy of UCI