Klaas Vantornout has never won a World Cup race. But he came pretty close this weekend in Igorre, Spain. He led the race early on, before Nys and a few others managed to bridge up. But when he showed up in the pits and there was no bike ready for him, it looked like his chance was effectively over. But even though he conceded ten seconds to Nys, he was able to catch up. That’s good, because that would be a bad way to lose. It was a crash in the mud with two laps to go that did him in. Nys, ever the opportunist, did not let him catch up this time around. He wins his second World Cup of the season. Vantornout settled for a second place finish that still has to be considered fairly impressive, all things considered. Vervecken was third. Lars Boom was supposed to make his return to racing after taking a couple of weeks off with a urinary tract infection. But it doesn't look like he showed up. Bummer. More from CN.
Highlights:
Over in the USA, the domestic season wrapped up this weekend in Portland. On Saturday it was Trebon who had bad luck. He was in a leading group with the teammates Johnson and Powers, but hit the ground when his front wheel slid out on the final lap. Johnson took the win in his first race back after spending some time on the sidelines with a bum knee. Powers was second and Trebon third. On Sunday, in conditions that were decidedly muddier, Trebon got his payback. He attacked on the third lap and stayed away until the end, taking an impressive win in the last race before next weekend’s Nationals. Todd Wells and Johnson rounded out the podium. In the women’s races, it was a show of force by Team Luna. Katerina Nash won both races, and her teammate, Gould, finished second in both. Rachel Lloyd finished third ahead of Sue Butler on Saturday, while they switched positions on Sunday. Canadian Champ Wendy Simms was back in the USA after spending some time in Europe. She finished fifth on both days.
After next weekend in Kansas City, that’s it for the US season. Some will head over to Europe, but the results will not be the same. That’s bad news for Jonny M. He’s been riding a string of victories in the US races to make up some serious ground on Gary. But he did gain some ground in the World Cup too. So it’s hardly over. Gary still leads, but Jonny has cut his lead to just 160 points. After those two, the rest of us are a long way back. David S has moved up into third overall, but he’s over 900 points out of second place. So it looks like we have ourselves a two-horse race. Let’s hope they make it exciting for the rest of us. Full scoring spreadsheet here.
Weekend Results:
Jonny M 1180
David S 1080
Rachel 915
Gary 895
Chris A 885
Deanna 805
Dallas 750
Matt 740
Vic 680
Chris H 665
Charlene 665
Tomek 645
Paddy & Naomi 640
Olli 620
Ian 620
Adam 600
Brad 580
Bill 455
Jonny G 380
Andy 340
Hal 330
Overall Standings:
Gary 8710
Jonny M 8550
David S 7625
Rachel 7505
Chris H 7305
Chris A 7190
Paddy & Naomi 6925
Olli 6900
Deanna 6875
Charlene 6735
Matt 6635
Tomek 6265
Jonny G 5820
Dallas 5805
Adam 5710
Vic 5665
Ian 5655
Brad 5435
Bill 5185
Hal 4970
Andy 4855
Monday, December 08, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment