News: Madrid World Cup XC 2008

Georgia Gould in the lead on lap 1 Colin Meagher

For a photo gallery of images from this event go HERE

The Caso de Campo park (think Central Park in NYC, but warmer, and with a shit ton of mountain bike trails) has seen a number of World Cup XC races contested within its boundaries—in total numbers of world cups, I think it’s second only to Houffalize in Belgium. The course is not exactly a favorite amongst the racers; rather it’s more like an old friend with a lot of quirks. The quirks in this case being a number of punchy climbs, multiple power sections, downhills that are just pedally enough to not let you rest much, huge crowds that occasionally spill onto the course (strangely absent this year—it’s a holiday weekend so a lot of folks are out of town), and the occasional bit of broken glass or other debris related to Casa De Campo’s somewhat shady side—it’s a place notorious for prostitution and late night beer drinking—two activities that are, strangely enough, somewhat linked.

But according to Giant’s Adam Craig, there are number of “sweet doubles” on the backside of the course, so it’s always fun, even if it ain’t a favorite. And besides, you’re in Spain—these people know HOW to party, so how can a race in Spain be all that bad?

The ladies:
World Champion Irena Kalentieva was in absence this weekend limiting the usual suspects list to a still shaky a, a surprisingly strong early season Marie Helene Premont, local favorite Margarita Fullana, Germany’s Sabine Spitz, and the Chinese army—I mean the Chinese women’s team.

From the gun it was a pitched battle with Georgia Gould of Luna seizing the lead on the back half of the course, only to slip to fourth place just before before lap 2, a bobble put her a scant two seconds behind a power trio of Gunn Rita, Fullana, and Marie Helene. From there it was a knock down drag out battle between Gunn Rita and Marie Helene for the overall lead, with Fullana hanging just close enough to be a threat.

Georgia Gould eventually slipped to 5th, her first world cup podium place, I believe, with Sabine Spitz taking 4th, Marga Fullana in 3rd, MHP taking second, and Gunn Rita returning to her winning form with a well executed sprint just before the finish.

“I noticed I was gapping her (MHP) in a little section just before the last singletrack, so I hung on and then put in a hard effort just before that and was able to hold her off until the finish.”

Other top North American finishes included Catherine Pendrel of Luna in 9th, Mary McConneloug in 15th, Heather Irmiger in 26th, Mical Dyck in 27th, and Alison Sydor in 32nd. Strangely enough, only one of the Chinese women cracked the top 10—Ying Lui with a solid 7th place.

The Men: So far this season it’s been the Julien Absalon show. Today was no different other than the Orbea Rider waited until the fifth lap before putting the dagger into the field and getting a good gap in. But he wasn’t able to shake Merida’s Jose Hermida until the final lap. The two towed each other around the track for laps 5 and 6—I’m not sure if that was the two of them working together, or just the way it worked out. But lap 7 saw the world champ open a gap that Hermida simply could not close, finishing 12 seconds back. Jean-Christophe Peraud took 3rd, with Ruben Ruzafa (who?) in 4rth, and Marco Fontana (um, another who?) in 5th.

Americans Jeremy Horgan Kobelski and Todd Wells both took in top 20 finishes, with Canadian Geoff Kabush in 21st, the Swiss legend Thomas Frishkenech—how old IS that guy—taking 25th, Canadian Seamus McGrath in 27th, and Giant’s Adam Craig in 31st.

It’s a bit of a chill down period on the XC weenie side of the World Cup for the next few weeks, but look for the first of the gravity races to go down next weekend in Maribor, Slovenia. I’m hitching a ride 2000 km to the venue. Should be interesting…

For a photo gallery of images from this event go HERE

Julien Absalon makes his move. Colin Meagher