The first round of the 2010 4-Cross World Cup in Houffalize, Belgium, saw both a familiar face and a newer one on the top step of the podium. Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox), the world champion, 2009 World Cup champion and defending Houffalize champion easily repeated to take the lead in the men's series, while Jana Horakova (SKC Prostejov) took only the second victory of her career to win the women's competition.
World Cup leaders: Graves and Horakova.
The Houffalize race is run at night, under the lights, with fans pouring into the small Ardennes village to hang out course side, drink the local Chouffe beer, and eat frites. The course was almost unchanged from last year, however, dry weather had turned it into a dust bowl; with the final rider of any foursome almost completely obscured by billowing dust. Loose gravel made every corner treacherous, and there were multiple crashes.
WOMEN'S 4-CROSS
Sixteen women made it through qualifying to the heats, and the final four was pretty much as expected: Horakova, defending World Cup champion Anneke Beerten (Suspension Centre), her new team mate Emmeline Ragot and Austrian Anita Molcik, the fastest qualifier
Jana Horakova and Sarsha Huntington.
Molcik and Beerten were fastest out of the gate for the final, but tangled in the first corner, allowing Horakova to sneak through. Molcik managed to avoid going down and took second, followed by Ragot, with Beerten limping home in fourth.
"I was pretty happy with my gates," commented Horakova, "But I wasn't thinking that I could win. In the final, Anita cut inside, and forced me to go higher on the first corner, which was a good thing when she and Anneke bumped, because it allowed me to go through to the front."
Anita Molcik and Romana Labounkova.
MEN'S 4-CROSS
Graves leading in final.
Graves was untouchable in the men's heats, often three or four bike lengths clear of his competitors by the first corner. He was joined in the final by Tomas Slavik (RSP 4 Cross Racing), Michal Prokop (Agang Racing) and Dutch mainstay Roger Rinderknecht. Once again, Graves got the holeshot, with the two Czech riders Slavik and Prokop bumping elbows through the first couple of corners before Slavik finally pulled ahead in the lower half of the run.
Left to right: Tomas Slavik (6), Roger Rinderknecht (3), Scott Beaumont (15) Joost Wichman (2).
Dan Atherton got taken out in both his semi-final and the small final.
Michal Prokop and Dan Atherton.
"On those first two turns you had to be careful," Grave explained "because anything can happen there. A good start definitely helps on this course, but you still aren't completely safe, because there are plenty of spots to get passed. It is definitely good to start the season off with a win, because it takes the pressure off, so I'd say am pretty happy right now."
Michal Prokop, Jan Novak, Jakub Pytlik.
4 CROSS RESULTS
Large crowds swarmed the podium.
WOMEN
Anneke Beerton, Anita Molcik, Jana Horakova, Emmeline Ragot, Romana Labounkova.
Big Final
1 Jana Horakova (Cze)
2 Anita Molcik (Aut)
3 Emmeline Ragot (Fra) Suspension Center
4 Anneke Beerten (Ned) Suspension Center
Small Final
5 Romana Labounkova (Cze)
6 Sarsha Huntington (Aus)
7 Katy Curd (GBr) 2stage Factory
8 Lucia Oetjen (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team
1/4 Finals
9 Steffi Marth (Ger)
10 Helene Valerie Fruhwirth (Aut) Rc Alpine Commencal Austria
11 Tereza Votavova (Cze)
12 Stephanie Teltscher (Ger) Dr-Gravity Union
13 Fionn Griffiths (GBr) Norco World Team
14 Dana Elena Schweika (Ger)
15 Eva Castro Fernandez (Esp)
16 Neza Knez (Slo) Unior Tools Team
MEN
Men's podium: Rinderknecht, Slavik, Graves, Prokop, Wichman.
Big Final
1 Jared Graves (Aus) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team
2 Tomas Slavik (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team
3 Michal Prokop (Cze) Agang Racing
4 Roger Rinderknecht (Sui)
Small Final
5 Joost Wichman (Ned) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team
6 Scott Beaumont (GBr) Rocky Mountain Uk
7 Dan Atherton (GBr) Commencal
8 Johannes Fischbach (Ger) Ghost A.T.G. Pro Team
1/4 Finals
9 13 Mickael Deldycke (Fra)
10 Sidney Gerber (Sui)
11 Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze)
12 Clément Doby (Fra)
13 Petr Muhlhans (Cze)
14 Michal Marosi (Cze) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team
15 Hannes Slavik (Aut) RC Alpine Commencal Austria
16 Marek Pesko (Svk)
1/8 Finals
17 David Graf (Sui)
18 Premek Tejchman (Cze)
19 Adam Stasek (Cze)
20 Jurg Meijer (Ned) RSP 4 Cross Racing Team
21 Petrik Brückner (Ger)
22 Nico Vink (Bel)
23 Kristof Lenssens (Bel)
24 Florian Gottschlich (Ger)
25 Filip Polc (Svk) MS Evil Racing
26 Lukas Mechura (Cze)
27 Martin Söderström (Swe)
28 Pascal Seydoux (Sui)
29 Stepan Novotny (Cze)
30 Lukasz Baran (Pol)
31 Aiko Göhler (Ger)
32 Jan Novak (Cze)
1/16 Finals
33 Jakub Riha (Cze)
34 Jakub Hnidak (Cze)
35 Matthieu Faury (Fra)
36 Nico Seidel (Ger)
37 Daniel Prijkel (Ned)
38 Jake Ward (GBr)
39 Jakub Pytlik (Cze)
40 Benoit Bresset (Fra)
41 Stephen Simms (GBr)
42 Bernard Kerr (GBr) Norco World Team
43 Duncan Ferris (GBr)
44 Benoît Quaegebeur (Fra)
45 Kieran Mcavoy (GBr)
46 Richard Norton (GBr)
47 Will Longden (GBr)
48 Laurent Georges (Bel)
49 Johnny Magis (Bel)
50 Scott Roberts (GBr)
51 Patrick Campbell-Jenner (GBr)
52 William Evans (GBr)
53 Renato Rufener (Sui)
54 Maximilian Wrstala (Ger)
55 Felix Beckeman (Swe)
56 Benjamin Kistner (Sui)
57 Jeremy Morland (Fra)
58 Ziga Knez (Slo) Unior Tools Team
59 Werner Muther (Sui) Thoemus Racing Team
60 Ludovic Gadois (Fra)
61 Dominik Gladen (Ger)
62 Ghislain Ricci (Fra)
63 Stefan Scherz (Ger)
64 Joey Van Veghel (Ned)