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September 12, 2004
After taking four medals on Saturday, the United States closed out the 2004 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships with today's elite cross country events which saw both Olympic champions back up their success in Athens with world championship efforts in France.
Presented with sloppy conditions after a night of heavy rains showered the small Alpine village, a field of 73 women lined up to negotiate five laps of a 6.3km course that included even more challenging climbs and treacherous, slick descents given the weather conditions.
The conditions didn't affect the overwhelming favorite as Gunn-Rita Dahle (NOR) became the first woman to win the Olympic Games and the World Championships in the same year. Two weeks removed from her gold medal performance in Athens, Dahle beat Maja Wloszczowska (POL) and perennial podium finisher, Alison Sydor (CAN) to take her second-ever rainbow jersey.
Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in what could be her final world championship race with retirement knocking at the door, was the top American finisher in seventh place, 6:44 behind Dahle.
Starting in the second row, Dunlap quickly made her way to the front during the short start loop, but the adverse conditions soon took their toll on the 2001 World Champion. "I had a great start, but I struggled in that first downhill section. That's where the others pulled away. They're better than me in that kind of stuff," said Dunlap. "The course was so sloppy, the first lap we had to push up most of the climbs and walked down some of the downhills. I never fell but had lots of slips when I had to pull out of the pedals."
Out front, Dahle and Wloszczowska had a gap on the remainder of the field, but Dahle slowly rode away from the 2003 Marathon World Champion, eventually winning by a margin of 1:06. Dahle, who was won all five of the world cup races she has competed in this year, has already sewn up the overall title with one stop remaining next weekend in Livigno, Italy. Dahle's impending world cup championship along with her world and Olympic titles will result in an unprecedented triple crown of women's mountain biking.
Behind Dahle and Wloszczowska, Sydor easily took the bronze, her ninth medal in 14 world championships in which she's never finished lower than fifth.
U.S. Olympian Mary McConneloug (Fairfax, Calif.) finished 16th, 12:50 back while Kelli Emmett (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed 24th, Dara Marks-Marino (Flagstaff, Ariz.) placed 29th and Gretchen Reeves (Boulder, Colo.) placed 48th. Willow Koerber (Horseshoe, N.C.) did not finish.
In the men's race, Olympic Champion Julien Absalon (FRA) added a world championship to his list of accomplishments after beating countryman Cedric Ravanel (FRA) and Thomas Frischknecht (SUI).
After the race was shortened by a lap from seven to six due to the weather conditions that saw a steady rain fall during the first half of the race, 95 riders lined up, including seven Americans.
Olympian Todd Wells, (Durango, Colo.) was the highest placed rider for the U.S. squad in 14th, 9:26 behind Absalon. Adam Craig (Bangor, Maine) and Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonurg, Va.) placed 24th and 25th respectively. Other American performances include Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass.) in 55th and Jay Henry (Avon, Colo.) in 57th. Ryan Trebon (Corvalis, Ore.) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.) did not finish.
The 2004 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships conclude with one rainbow jersey and four medals for the U.S. squad after Saturday's gravity events yielded loads of success for American riders. Led by Eric Carter (Temecula, Calif.), whose world championship in the men's 4-cross event capped of a day that also included medals courtesy of Jill Kintner (San Jose, Calif.) and Tara Llanes (Newport, Beach, Calif.) in the women's 4-cross and Kyle Strait (Redlands, Calif.) in the junior men's downhill, U.S. riders now look forward to next weekend's world cup finals and the first-ever U.S. National Mountain Bike Championships, September 23-26 at Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
