| Round five of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano for cross-country saw both the men's and women's World Cup leaders increase their leads in the overall standings by taking their third wins of the season in Windham, New York. A classic battle was waged in the women's race between World Cup Series Leader Julie Bresset (BH - Suntour - Peisey Vallandry) and round four winner Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro Team). They had attained a 40 second gap over the rest of the field by the end of the first of five laps and never looked back. The duo rode together for the rest of the race with victory coming down to the climb on the last lap. Bresset had the better attack and came over the top in the lead, while Pendrel had some mechanical problems on the descent. Bresset's winning time was 1:35:36, with Pendrel claiming second, 39 seconds back. "I'm very happy with my win," commented Bresset. "Catharine was very fast today. I attacked at the right time and she couldn't follow me. Catharine was more comfortable on the downhills than I was, and she attacked me many times, but I still had enough strength left to launch the final attack." Annika Langvad (Team Easton Rockets) outsprinted Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) for thrd, with Georgia Golud (Luna) taking fifth. Bresset leads the points standings with 1110. Pendrel remains in second with 920. Bresset seems to have a lock on the series title unless she has some disastrous finishes in the remaining two races ... |
