Cross-country course takes toll on riders, gear

By Matt Lanning

Thousands of screaming European cycling fans watched as cross-country favorites fell by the wayside during the 1995 Mountain Bike World Championships in Kirchzarten, Germany.

But as the giants dropped, new faces and aging champions took their places in the lead of the men's and women's events. The champions of the day, the ones who get to wear the rainbow colors in 1996, were Allison Sydor of Canada and Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands.

But as usual in this sport, much drama unfolds behind the leaders.

In the women's race, the much anticipated Juli Furtado/Allison Sydor/Paola Pezzo battle was not to be. Pezzo was never with the leaders, and dropped out in the second lap with a broken derrailleur, while Furtado couldn't find her rhythm and kept cramping up, but held on to finish ninth to grab more Olympic points.

Sydor was, of course, overjoyed with her second consecutive World Championship victory. With tears in her eyes, she told reporters how she just rode her own race, never pushing it too much on the climbs or the descents. She led from the first lap to the finish, and was able to keep a very steady pace for all of the four laps.

There was a fiery battle in the pack, however, as Swiss teammates Silvia Furst and Chantal Daucourt traded second and third place for most of the race before Furst pulled away near the end to grab her silver medal.

The top U.S. finisher was Susan DeMattei who finished seventh, falling to eclipse her second-place finish in the 1994 worlds. Tammy Jaques-Grewal (USA) was feeling good, but her starting position on the grid was too far back to be a serious threat, although she clawed her way to an eleventh-place finish.

The men's event looked to be a repeat of the World Cup finals in Rome, as Italian Luca Bramati jumped out front and put a huge lead over the field during the first lap.

Brentjens threatened his lead, and in the second lap Bramati blew a shift and mangled his derrailleur. This put a quick end to what could've been his greatest day.

From here on out, it was a battle for second, as Brentjens quickly built his lead to three minutes and refused to give ground to the pack, where trouble was brewing for the race favorites.

Swiss rider Thomas Frishcknecht never made it around the second lap, sidelined with a broken chain. Henrik Djernis of Denmark simply wilted and cut his losses by heading back to the truck a bit earlier than he had planned.

Norwegian Rune Hoydahl fell at one point in the race, and was seen beating on his seat to straighten it out.

Today, however, was Miguel Martinez's day in the sun. He won the junior world cross country championships in 1994--was not really on form at any of the World Cups this year--but really turned it on and was the closest competition for Brentjens, albeit over three minutes back. His silver medal is unprecedented in mountain bike racing as a first year senior, especially after winning the junior honors the previous year.

The bronze spot on the podium was filled by one of this year's rising stars, Jan Erik Ostergaard of Denmark. He was back in the pack for most of the race, but churned his way through the field during the final lap to earn his spot on the podium.

The American hopes were resting on U.S. National Champion Tinker Juarez, and he rode very well but was no match for the three podium finishers. His fourth-place finish was admirable, considering the pace and the fitness of the top riders.

Ned Overend had the next best time for a U.S. rider, coming finishing eleventh. From there, one has to move a ways down the list to find the next American, Steve Larsen, in 47th. He was much farther back than that, but came through on the last lap like a man possessed, and worked his to the middle of the field.

It wasn't a great day for the Americans, but it was an interesting day of racing. It's always a success when a race can bring in 112,000 paid spectators (yes, paid at $30 per person) in one weekend, and with few problems (except those caused by having so many people in such a small area). All in all, not bad.