From the moment they arrived in Livigno, Brian Lopes and Jill Kintner were the class of Italy. Not that they needed any help, but if a World Championship courses ever suited their styles, this was it. With run times coming in right around one minute, the long Livigno course fovered riders who knew how to put the power down. Every time the two thoroughbreds shot out of the gate they simply checked out. It was the same story, start after start, throughout qualifying and on race day. No one was even close.
HIGH 4-CROSS DRAMA
*2003 4-Cross World Champ and current Jeep KOM Champion Michal Prokop (Cze) crashed out early and severely broke a leg.
*Prokop's injury makes the World Championships a double victory for Lopes. The Czech was the only rider who had a mathematically chance of beating Lopes for the World Cup 4-Cross Championships. With Prokop out it automatically guarantees that Lopes will win the 2005 World Cup title. The finale is next weekend in Great Britain.
*Current World Cup 4-Cross leader Anneke Beerten (Ned; Specialized) had a crash during practice and opted out of the race.
*Anneke holds a slim 10 point lead over Kintner heading into next week's World Cup finale. It now looks like Jill Kintner's chance of also winning the World Cup title is almost a certainty.
2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 4-CROSS RESULTS
1. Brian Lopes...GT
2. Jared Graves (Aus)...Yeti
3. Mickael Deldycke (Fra)
4. Greg Minnaar (RSA)...G-Cross Honda
5. Eric Carter...Mongoose-Hyundai
6. Roger Rinderknecht (Swi)...Commencal Oxbow
7. Kamil Tatarkovic (Cze)...Kona Les Gets
8. Rafael Alvarez De Lara Lu (Spa)
9. Damien Godet (Fra)
10. Wade Bootes (Aus)...WBR
13. Mike King
20. Kyle Strait...Specialized
36. Robin Baloochi
47. Cody Warren...Haro
WOMEN
1. Jill Kintner...Yeti
2. Katrina Miller (Aus)...Jamis
3. Tara Llanes...Giant-Pearl Izumi
4. Melissa Buhl...KHS
5. Joey Gough (GBr)
6. Leanna Gerrard...Cannondale
7. Anita Molcik (Aut)...Arbo RSP
8. Vanessa Quin (NZl)...Intense
9. Jana Horakova (Cze)
10. Lucia Oetjen (Swi) |