UCI MTB World Cup, Champery, Switzerland - Kiwis Tame the Mudfest!

Europe delivered another wet, muddy weekend to the 2010 UCI World Cup at Champery in Switzerland over the weekend. This 4th round of the World Cup is also the first this year where both Downhill and Cross Country disciplines came together at the same event - and both were affected by the weather.

Downhill qualifying took place on Friday, at about the same time as the rain started. The NZ downhill contingent was 17 strong at Champery, and making the top 80 finals cut from the 200 rider field was always going to be tough. Sam Blenkinsop (Lapierre International, Wanganui) qualified at the top of the field and started Saturday's race run as final man on the mountain. Wyn Masters (Kenda Playbiker, New Plymouth), Junior World Champion Brook MacDonald (MS Evil, Hawkes Bay) and Matt Scoles (Cingolani Protone, Alexandra) showed real pace on the steep Champery race course to qualify 5th, 11th and 14th.

The rain continued right through to 10am Saturday, with the Downhill finals run on a race course already considered the hardest on the international circuit, now made treacherous with traction almost impossible. Blenkinsop and MacDonald were the two Kiwis who dealt with the conditions best and managed to ride their luck to top ten results - MacDonald improving on his qualifying result to a season's best 6th. Final starter Blenkinsop lost some time at the top of the course, but pushed as hard as he could through the middle sections to claim a podium 4th. This also moves the Wanganui talent into outright 3rd on the World Cup points table.

Junior George Brannigan (Ancillotti, Hawkes Bay) continued his see-saw Junior World Cup leaders contest with Australia's Troy Brosnan at Champery. Bannigan relinquished the Junior Leaders jersey to Brosnan on Saturday - and he now trails Brosnan by 19 points, but with two World Cup rounds still to go this highly sought after title is set to go right down to the wire for both riders.

For in-form Cameron Cole (Maxxis, Christchurch), Saturday's race has unfortunately derailled his World Cup season - a fairly innocuous race run crash while attempting a time saving high line (which had proven successful in previous runs) has resulted in a broken right scaphoid for the 2006 Junior World Champion. Cole has dealt with injuries at this level before and is philosophical about his options for rehabilitation with the September World MTB Championships in mind - "It's bad timing, but this happens with what we do. I don't really want to go to the Worlds and just run 40th or 50th. I'd rather go there in the form I know I am in," he says.

The Cross Country riders also enjoyed dry dusty conditions right through to Friday morning for their practice sessions. While the rain stopped on Saturday, it didn't cease early enough to allow extensive drying to happen for Sunday's Cross country races. Richard Anderson (Avanti, Blenheim) carried strong form into his Junior World Cup event, and raced to an impressive 12th place finish. Anderson's race didn't go totally to plan however - the extremely muddy start loop caught Anderson amongst its race start carnage, and he went into the first lap in 33rd position. Anderson clawed his way back during the five lap event, with a typically gritty and determined display at his first World Cup.

The Women's five lap race was more of the same - lots of mud and in places, faster to negotiate parts of the course cyclocross style rather than on the bike. Beijing Olympian Rosara Joseph (UK) was aggressive in her race start, where it was crucial in these conditions to get as close to the front of the race as quickly as possible. Joseph slipped back through the race from a first lap high of 17th, eventually finishing 27th. U23 rider Samara Sheppard (Rotorua) competed at her first World Cup this year but like more than half the Women's starters, could not work her way through the conditions to remain on the lead lap, finshing 65th.

The final event on the Champery programme was the Mens Cross Country race - U23 Dirk Peters (Rotorua) the sole NZ rider. Peters was faced with a tough ask - a starting position of 147 in the 175 strong field - "I hadn't been aware that I'd entered a running event as that's how things panned out for the first few laps at least. 175 riders all fighting to get to the front made for a large amount of congestion and a lot of time was spent off the bike". Peters was determined to make the most of his first World Cup - "Although I gave it everything I was unable to finish, getting lapped after four laps and finishing in 102nd place. I was left feeling a bit disappointed - getting lapped is never a good thing but this is the top level of the sport and due to the extremely fast pace and high attrition rate only 58 riders completed the race"

The MTB World Cup continues this weekend in Val di Sole, Italy, with the combined Downhill, Cross Country and Four Cross Round Five of the six race series.

Brief Resuls:
Champery Downhill
1 Gee Atherton (GBR) 4:02.19; 2 Greg Minaar (RSA) 4:04.98; 3 Brendan Fairclough (GBR) 4:06.75; 4 Sam Blenkinsop (NZL) 4:07.00; 5 Damien Spagnolo (FRA) 4:09.53; 6 Brook MacDonald (NZL) 4:09.53; 28 Matthew Scoles (NZL); 33 Wyn Masters (NZL); 35 Cameron Cole (NZL); 44 Justin Leov (NZL); 52 George Brannigan (NZL); 75 Joseph Nation (NZL)
Other NZers, from Qualifying
85 Rupert Chapman; 92 Jed Rooney; 106 Hayden Lee; 115 Nathan Rankin; 123 James Rennie; 124 Richard Leacock; 125 Dan Simms; 132 Sam Baker; 145 Tom Matthews

Champery Junior Men Cross Country
1 Julian Schelb (GER) 1:38:58; 2 Jeff Luyten (BEL) +00:23; 3 Julien Trarieux (FRA) +00:48; 12 Richard Anderson (NZL) +05:48

Champery Elite Women Cross Country
1 Nathalie Schneitter (SUI) 1:45:40; 2 Eva Lechner (ITA) +02:13; 3 Willow Koerber (USA) +02:29; 27 Rosara Joseph (NZL) +13:14; 65 Samara Sheppard (NZL); DNF Annika Smail (NZL)

Champery Elite Men Cross Country
1 Florian Vogel (SUI) 1:44:08; 2 Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) +00:11; 3 Nino Schurter (SUI) +00:35; 102 Dirk Peters (NZL)

Full Results Champery Downhill
Full Results Champery Junior Men Cross Country
Full Results Champery Elite Women Cross Country
Full Results Champery Elite Men Cross Country