Many riders had wished for it, and after a week of humid and hot weather conditions, the skies opened up on Mont-Sainte-Anne early Saturday morning before to the Elite Women's race. The course that was previously dusty and loose, became wet and slippery. 

The start of the women's race 
 
That didn't affect Maja Wloszczowska's performance, as the Polish rider claimed her first World Championship title following a three lap solo effort. Irina Kalentieva (RUS) and Willow Koerber (USA) completed the podium. Catharine Pendrel was the top Canadian in fourth, while the crowd favorite Marie-Hélène Premont, completed the event in ninth place. 

Catharine Pendrel attacked and lead for the first lap 

 
The heavy showers stopped about an hour before the riders were called to the line to start their five and a half lap race. As expected, Premont received the loudest reception when introduced to the estimated twenty thousand spectators who came to watch the event. 

Willow Koerber and Catharine Pendrel battle up the final climb 
 
The race started well for the Canadians; Pendrel was in the front group running third behind Italian Eva Lechner and Wloszczowska on the opening start loop. With five laps to go, the British Colombia rider attacked on the climb. The first chase group with Wloszczowska, defending champion Kalentieva, Koerber, Natalie Schneitter (SUI), Lechner and Sabina Spitz (GER) was 13 seconds behind. Anna Szafraniec (Pol) and Premont were another 42 seconds down. 
 

Irina Kalentieva then attacked at the top of the last climb 

It took Wloszczowska half a lap to bridge up to Pendrel and the two rode the next half lap together, before Wloszczowska attacked the Canadian as she stumbled in the long singletrack portion of the course, quickly gaining a ten second advantage. From there on, no one would be able to challenge the Polish rider's lead. 

Behind, the chase group was breaking up, with Koerber leading the Russian and German riders. Elisabeth Osl (AUT) came from behind and overtook Premont. The American kept pressing, slowly reeling in Pendrel, while putting distance on the others behind her. By the beginning of the third lap the crowd favorite, Premont, was sitting in sixth place. 
 
The last two and a half laps saw Koerber, Pendel, Kalentieva and, for a time, Spitz battle for silver. Pendrel had the advantage for a lap, but Koerber caught and passed her with a lap to go, while Kalentieva was never far behind either of them. 

Maja Wloszczowska's performance was unaffected by the heavy rain 
 
With one lap to go, the American got a gap that Pendrel and the Russsian could not close, but Koerber hit the deck in the "Beatrice" rock garden descent, which allowed the other two to overtake her. Kalentieva then attacked at the top of the last climb and gapped Pendrel, who was giving everything she had left to catch her in the following sections. Although momentarily down, Koerber hadn't give hopes of being on the podium yet and was chasing furiously with less than 500 meters to go. 
 
Kalentina was able to maintain a her lead to finish second, while Pendrel slide in a corner, 200 metres from the finish line, opening the door for Koerber who didn't miss her chance to grab third place. Pendrel came in fourth, two seconds behind. Osl came in fifth, while Premont finished the race in ninth place. 

 Maja Wloszczowska claimed her first World Championship title  

 
Wloszczowska skipped the World Cup finals in order to better prepare for the Championships and it paid off. "I knew that Mont-Sainte-Anne is very technical so we decided to come here and have more rest instead of going to Windham," said Wloszczowska. 
 
Last year's World Champion didn't have any regrets after the event, "I feel very good about my race today. Of course, just one can win and be the World Champion, but I'm very, very happy with second place," said Kalentieva. 
 

The colourful American bronze medalist was more than pleased with her performance, "I just think you need to go into the World Championships wanting to win, but third place is great. Especially since I was fourth until the last three seconds. I'm happy," exclaimed Koerber. When asked if the chase group she was part of was working together to catch Wloszczowska, Koerber replied: "I wasn't working with anyone. I was just like 'I want to get away from them'! " 

Kalentieva, Wloszczowska. Koerber 

For Pendrel, the end of the race was like déjà vu, "It was a little bit of Olympic flashback, when Irina and I were riding together on the last lap," said Pendrel. "I kept thinking 'Please not let her take me at the finish'. " 

 
The local favorite, Premont, didn't have the performance she was looking for: "I tried to accelerate to make up time, but when I tried to make up the time I started making technical errors," explained Premont after the race. "I'm still proud of myself, and the training that I put in this week ... today I just couldn't push as hard as I would have liked, because my tire would slip out." 
 

MEN’S WORLD XC CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

 
The cross-country events at the Mountain Bike World Championships concluded on Saturday with the Elite men. Jose Hermida of Spain took a very popular victory, ahead of Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) and Burry Stander (South Africa). Geoff Kabush, in his best ride all season, was the top Canadian in eighth place. 

 

The men's race started very fast. 

For the first time all week, riders woke to heavy rain, which changed the dynamics of the race significantly, favouring some riders and disappointing others. The rain had backed off by the start of the women's race in the morning, leaving the rock gardens with a slick, slippery film of mud. However, shortly after the start of the men's race, the rain rolled back in for one lap, which was enough to keep the track greasy for the rest of the race. The men raced two start loops and six full laps, for a total of 33 kilometres. 

Burry Stander 
 
Kulhavy, led defending champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) into the first lap with a gap on the rest of the field, after Hermida, Julien Absalon (France) and others got caught in a crash at the start and lost places. 

 
Kulhavy set the pace in the early laps with Schurter, and followed by Hermida, as Stander faded a bit and Absalon couldn't quite close the gap. Kabush was working his way up steadily, picking off riders one by one as he moved into the top-ten by mid-race. 
 

Hermida was getting stronger as the race progressed.

Jaroslav Kulhavy set the pace in the early laps.

Schurter and Kulhavy rode together until the Swiss rider began to run into mechanical problems mid-race, stopping in the pits in both the second and third laps after suffering a flat. This dropped him to 14th by the end of lap three, and he could only recover to fourth by the end of the race.  

Jose Hermida and Burry Stander chase in the early laps.

By the fourth lap the podium was set; the only question was who would get to don the rainbow jersey? 

Hermida was getting stronger as the race progressed, and he and Kulhavy dropped Stander for the final time on the fifth lap, leaving two to duke it out for the title. 
 

Kabush was working his way up steadily, picking off riders one by one as he moved into the top ten.

Both riders looked equally strong, and Kulhavy was coming off a win in the World Cup final a week earlier ... But the Spanish rider started to pull away after the singletrack in the first half of the lap, leading by 12 seconds at the start of the first long climb. He held it through the rock garden descent and added a few more seconds on the switchback second climb. From that point it was a forgone conclusion, and Hermida came into the finish arena with time to get off his bike and walk across the line with it held in the air. 

Jose Hermidastarted to pull away from Jaroslav Kulhavy after the singletrack on the last lap.

Nino Schurter's ride was plagued with mechanicals.

 "For 14 years I have been wanting to win this championship," said an emotional Hermida, who often choked up when speaking. "To win here, in the cathedral of mountain bike, it is unbelievable."

Jose Hermida of Spain took a very popular victory.

"I knew after Windham [World Cup final] that my form was coming along pretty good, and my Team Relay lap was also good. But there are many strong riders here. When it was just [Kulhavy] and me, I wasn't sure, because he still seemed pretty strong, I couldn't tell. But then I got a small gap, it wasn't an attack, and I was able to climb faster than him." 

Medal winners: Jaroslav Kulhavy, José Hermida, Burry Stander

RESULTS: MEN’S XC—33km
1 José Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spain) 1:52:26 
2 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) at 0:29 
3 Burry Stander (South Africa) 1:10 
4 Nino Schurter (Switzerland) 2:03 
5 Julien Absalon (France) 2:23 
6 Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Spain) 2:43 
7 Liam Killeen (Great Britain) 2:51 
8 Geoff Kabush (Canada) 3:58 
9 Florian Vogel (Switzerland) 4:14 
10 Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Spain) 4:30 
11 Ralph Naf (Switzerland) 4:35 
12 Cédric Ravanel (France) 4:57 
13 Manuel Fumic (Germany) 5:23 
14 Moritz Milatz (Germany) 5:41 
15 Stéphane Tempier (France) 6:37 
16 Martin Gujan (Switzerland) 7:42 
17 Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland) 7:58 
18 Maxime Marotte (France) 8:21 
19 Emil Lindgren (Sweden) 8:31 
20 Samuel Schultz (United States Of America) 8:31 
21 Todd Wells (United States Of America) 8:32 
22 Fabian Giger (Switzerland) 8:45 
23 Jan Skarnitzl (Czech Republic) 8:45 
24 Tony Longo (Italy) 9:13 
25 Martino Fruet (Italy) 9:23 
26 Oliver Beckingsale (Great Britain) 9:39 
27 Jukka Vastaranta (Finland) 9:45 
28 Kohei Yamamoto (Japan) 10:18 
29 Adam Craig (United States Of America) 10:29 
30 Catriel Andres Soto (Argentina) 10:37 
31 Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Spain) 10:51 
32 Christoph Sauser (Switzerland) 11:23 
33 Marek Galinski (Poland) 11:34 
34 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (United States Of America) 11:55 
35 Rubens Valeriano (Brazil) 12:18 
36 Christoph Soukup (Austria) 12:20 
37 Derek Zandstra (Canada) 12:38 
38 Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez (Spain) 12:55 
39 Max Plaxton (Canada) 13:10 
40 Evgeniy Pechenin (Russian Federation) 13:16 
41 Michael Broderick (United States Of America) 13:25 
42 Karl Markt (Austria) 14:06 
43 Raphael Gagne (Canada) 14:39 
44 Maxim Gogolev (Russian Federation) 14:44 
45 Matthew Hadley (Canada) 14:48 
46 Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Spain) 15:13 
47 Magnus Darvell (Sweden) 16:26 
48 Carl Decker (United States Of America) - 1Lap 
49 Hannes Metzler (Austria) - 1Lap 
50 Lachlan Norris (Australia) - 1Lap 
51 Andrea Tiberi (Italy) - 1Lap 
52 Matous Ulman (Czech Republic) - 1Lap 
53 Jelmer Pietersma (Netherlands) - 1Lap 
54 Ricardo Pscheidt (Brazil) - 1Lap 
55 Robert Mennen (Germany) - 1Lap 
56 Kris Sneddon (Canada) - 1Lap 
57 Wolfram Kurschat (Germany) - 1Lap 
58 Andrew Watson (Canada) -2 Laps 
59 Edivando De Souza Cruz (Brazil) -2 Laps 
60 Cristobal Silva Ibaceta (Chile) -2 Laps 
61 Chun Hing Chan (Hong-Kong, China) -2 Laps 
62 Rotem Ishai (Israel) -2 Laps 
63 Sven Nys (Belgium) -2 Laps 
64 Ignacio Torres Acosta (Mexico) -2 Laps 
65 Michael Northcott (New Zealand) -2 Laps 
66 Luis Anderson Mejia Sanchez (Colombia) -2 Laps 
67 Zhiqiang Duan (People's Republic Of China) -2 Laps 
68 Spencer Paxson (United States Of America) -3 Laps 
69 Anton Gogolev (Russian Federation) -3 Laps 
70 Jianhua Ji (People's Republic Of China) -3 Laps 
71 Seiya Hirano (Japan) -3 Laps 
72 Kyosuke Takei (Japan) -3 Laps 
73 Shun Matsumoto (Japan) -3 Laps 
74 Stuart Houltham (New Zealand) -3 Laps 
75 Hector Daniel Gasco (Argentina) -3 Laps 
76 Ryo Saito (Japan) -3 Laps 
77 Emmanuel Valencia (Mexico) -4 Laps 
78 Hector Rivero (Colombia) -4 Laps 
79 Andrew Blair (Australia) -4 Laps 
80 Eudaldo Asencio (Chile) -4 Laps 
DNF Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy) 
DNF Rudi Van Houts (Netherlands) 
DNF Michal Lami (Slovakia) 
DNF Dario Alejandro Gasco (Argentina) 
DNF Jochen Kass (Germany) 

RESULTS: WOMEN’S XC—26km 
1 Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) 1:48:21 
2 Irina Kalentieva (Russian Federation) at 0:48 
3 Willow Koerber (United States Of America) 0:52 
4 Catharine Pendrel (Canada) 0:54 
5 Elisabeth Osl (Austria) 2:00 
6 Heather Irmiger (United States Of America) 2:03 
7 Anna Szafraniec (Poland) 2:16 
8 Sabine Spitz (Germany) 2:32 
9 Marie-Helene Premont (Canada) 2:43 
10 Eva Lechner (Italy) 2:57 
11 Nathalie Schneitter (Switzerland) 3:43 
12 Marielle Saner-Guinchard (Switzerland) 4:32 
13 Mary McConneloug (United States Of America) 4:50 
14 Katrin Leumann (Switzerland) 5:31 
15 Chengyuan Ren (People's Republic Of China) 6:34 
16 Katerina Nash (Czech Republic) 7:00 
17 Rosara Joseph (New Zealand) 7:17 
18 Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Norway) 7:18 
19 Annika Langvad (Denmark) 8:42 
20 Cécile Ravanel (France) 8:54 
21 Aleksandra Dawidowicz (Poland) 9:53 
22 Esther Süss (Switzerland) 10:22 
23 Anja Gradl (Germany) 10:29 
24 Rie Katayama (Japan) 10:39 
25 Hanna Klein (Germany) 12:04 
26 Qinglan Shi (People's Republic Of China) 12:31 
27 Margarita Fullana Riera (Spain) 12:33 
28 Amanda Sin (Canada) 12:44 
29 Mical Dyck (Canada) 13:25 
30 Nina Homovec (Slovenia) 13:28 
31 Anna Villar Argente (Spain) 13:55 
32 Sabrina Enaux (France) 14:08 
33 Laura Turpijn (Netherlands) 14:38 
34 Janka Stevkova (Slovakia) 15:14 
35 Elisabeth Brandau (Germany) 15:24 
36 Ying Liu (People's Republic Of China) 16:10 
37 Nataliya Krompets (Ukraine) 16:49 
38 Laura Lorenza Morfin Macouzet (Mexico) 16:57 
39 Daniela Veronesi (San Marino) 17:18 
40 Jean Ann McKirdy (Canada) 18:10 
41 Georgia Gould (United States Of America) 20:04 
42 Catherine Vipond (Canada) 20:40 
43 Sandra Walter (Canada) lapped 
44 Rowena Fry (Australia) lapped 
45 Oksana Rybakova (Russian Federation) lapped 
46 Heather Logie (Australia) lapped 
47 Yolande Speedy (South Africa) lapped 
48 Fiona MacDermid (New Zealand) lapped 
49 Kelli Emmett (United States Of America) lapped 
50 Allison Mann (United States Of America) lapped 
51 Angela Parra (Colombia) lapped 
52 Kate Potter (Australia) lapped 
53 Katherine O'Shea (Australia) lapped 
54 Jennifer Smith (New Zealand) lapped 
55 Viviana Andrea Maya Tabares (Colombia) lapped 
56 Nicola Leary (New Zealand) lapped 
57 Tereza Hurikova (Czech Republic) lapped 
58 Inbar Ronen (Israel) lapped 
59 Carla Salgado Gonzalez (Mexico) lapped 
60 Maaris Meier (Estonia) lapped 
DNF Blaza Klemencic (Slovenia) 
DNF Sarah Koba (Switzerland) 
DNF Katie Compton (United States Of America) 
DNF Maria Osl (Austria) 
DNF Magdalena Sadlecka (Poland) 
DNF Rocio Gamonal Ferrera (Spain) 
DNF Roberta Kelly Stopa (Brazil)