6-25-07 // Online Exclusive: Mt. St. Anne WC XC Report

Sue Haywood on course. Colin Meagher

Willow Koerber, flush off the Champrey podium, led out the start loop, but the punishing pace had her a bit gassed, so she dropped back in favor of Luna’s Georgia Gould, with Margarita Fullana hot on her heels and a nice collection of the usual suspects in tow: Irina Kalentyeva, Ren Chengyuan, Sabine Spitz, Marie Helene Premont and Mary McConneloug.

Leads were swapped, crashes occurred, and in short—shit happened. Ian Hylands watched Marie Helene roll out of the woods, covered in dirt and a serious pair of glazed eyes set in her face… The Chinese were back in force, too. With Ren Chengyuen and Ying Lui in the top ten mix. But the lady with the least amount of mistakes wins… and that would be Irina Kalentyeva. Ren Chengyuen took second, followed by Sabine Spitz, Marie Helene Premont, and Margarita Fullana. Goergia Gould and Willow Koerber finished in 6th and 7th respectively…

The Men:

A clean start helped Roel Paulissen snatched the lead on the start lap only to see that lead snatched away in turn by Jose Hermida. On lap one he was out in front, and that didn’t change at all for five more laps… The usual suspects for the men’s field were in tow here, too (Absalon, Sauser, Kessiakoff, Leuchs, and… Geoff Kabush. Geoff’s fast, and it was great to see him crack solidly into the top ten in a World Cup; but with 7 laps, I wasn’t sure if he’d blow up. But then again, he sat out the Champrey World Cup, so he was sporting a fresh set of legs. Fresh enough that Sauser grabbed his wheel when Kabush bridged up on lap four from 6th to 3rd.

With two laps to go, Absalon made his move and put Hermida in the rear view mirror, with Kabush solidly in 3rd, Sauser in 4rth, and Nino Schurter in 5th, and that’d be the finish order, as well. Adam Craig was 22nd, JHK was 23rd, Todd Wells in 24rth.

Absalon rails through a berm on his way to World Cup Victory Colin Meagher

Nice pink socks, Geoff... Colin Meagher