One week after a successful start to the second half of the season in
Mont Ste Anne, Quebec, Canada, the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano moves a few hours down the road to the classic Bromont venue for round six of the Cross-country and round seven of the Downhill and 4-Cross.
Mary McConneloug could do well in muddy conditions. Rob Jones photo
Bromont was the site of the 1992 world championships and held numerous World Cup events in the early days of the series, before making a strong return last year with a triple event. Last year, heavy rain had an impact on the courses and the racing, however, the forecast is for near perfect conditions all weekend, plus organizers have spent countless hours rebuilding the circuits to withstand wet conditions.
Irina Kalentieva has a chance to overtake Fullana for the series lead. Rob Jones photo
Bromont was the most talked about 4-Cross track of the series, and was voted the top event od the series by riders, teams and the media. The run has been upgraded and tweaked, but still includes the unique corkscrew 360 degree turn halfway down. Jared Graves (Yeti Fox) has already mathematically won the men's series with two races remaining, but there are lots of other riders hoping to score an individual victory - particularly second ranked Roger Rinderknecht, who crashed out of the final last weekend. The women's series is still wide open, with Anneke Beerten (Suspension Center) opening a small points gap on her perennial rival, American Jill Kintner after Kintner crashed in the women's final, but this series is by no means settled, with Beerten commenting: "This one is going to go right down to the last race, I think."
The downhill course has undergone some modifications, with the big
drop-off at the top of the course replaced by a smaller one, but it is
still a course that requires an all around rider to win. Fionn Griffith
(Norco) says "it's more flowy now, I think, and it has held up really
well in the wet."
Last week's men's winner Sam Hill (Specialized Factory Racing) took over the men's series lead after Mont Ste Anne, and will be hoping to repeat his 2008 win at Bromont. However, the Santa Cruz duo of Greg Minnaar and Steve Peat have won four events so far this season, and will be looking to take back the leader's jersey; especially Minnaar after his crash and mechanical-plagued runs last week. On the women's side, it is all Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), with five consecutive victories this season. Can she extend it to six?
Nino Schurter is still looking for a podium result in 2009. Rob Jones photo
The cross-country course is the one which has undergone the most extensive revision. The entire five kilometre course has been rebuilt, with a new climb in the first half, and hundreds of hours of work in the second, wooded section, to make a track that riders can race come rain or shine. Organizers went into muddy wooded section with a bulldozer to scrape out the dark, soft topsoil - which turns into a bog when it rains - and laid down gravel, rocks and more clay soil. It has definitely worked; after a huge thunderstorm Wednesday night, the circuit was still 99% rideable the next day, according to both Roel Paulissen Cannondale) and Derek Zandstra (3 Rox Racing).
Most of the circuit is unrecognizable from last year, with the straight up the mountain climb that started the lap replaced with a winding switchback course. Once at the top, the rders traverse the hill above the 4-Cross run in a series of linked singletrack sections that allow no time for recovery after the climb. From here the course drops into the woods for more singletrack, followed by a long, fast gravel road descent. Along the bottom, the riders head back into singletrack and three rock gardens before finally finishing the lap. The expectation is that the women will do five laps and the men seven. There is no start loop.
The women's race will see local fans hoping for a battle between top
Canadian prospects Catharine Pendrel (Luna), the defending champion and last week's winner in Mont Ste Anne, and the Quebec favourite Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain). Premont suffered
mechanical problems on her home course in Mont Ste Anne, so she will
certainly be looking for a better performance here. World champion and
World Cup leader Marga Fullana (Massi) will be looking to regain some of the ground she lost in Mont Ste Anne, and this course has a climb that
favours her abilities, with much less technical riding. Second-ranked Irina Kalentieva (Topeak-Ergon), who was second in Mont Ste Anne, will also be looking for a good ride, since she has the opportunity to overtake Fullana in the World Cup rankings.
Catharine Pendrel will be looking to repeat her 2008 win on this course. Rob Jones photo
Julien Absalon (Orbea) will be hoping to repeat his 2008 winning ways
here in Bromont, and take his fifth consecutive win of the season in the
men's race. A win would make him unbeatable for the overall title.
However, both Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida) and Canadian favourite
Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) finished just behind the Olympic
champion a week ago and will be looking to improve upon their placings.
Hermida's team mate Ralph Näf is always a stronger starter, and Bromont
could be the course where he manages to hold that lead to the finish.
One other contender, who is still looking for his first World Cup win,
is Germany's Wolfram Kurschat (Topeak Ergon). Kurschat dropped from second to fourth in the overall standings after a poor showing in Mont
Ste Anne. However, the Bromont circuit plays to his strengths.
The action begins on Friday with Downhill and 4-Cross qualifying,
followed by the finals for both those events on saturday, and ends with
the Cross-country races in Sunday.