Sabrina Jonnier set the fastest qualifying time in the DH qualifying for the Fort William DH and 4x World Cup 2009 today, showing that she really is in top form, and that her new Rocky Mountain DH rig is definitely working for her. Sabrina is currently leading the World Cup series, and as the first rider down the hill in qualifying she set a smoking hot time that left Emmeline Ragot out in the cold by seven seconds, with Tracy Moseley following a close third. Fourth and fifth went to two more French riders – Celine Gros, and Floriane Pugin.
It’s been raining at Fort Bill making a tough track even tougher for the riders. The DH course is well known for being a big challenge – it’s more than twice the length of the last course in Andorra, as well as being rough, rocky and pedally when you least want to pedal (the end) it also has plenty of features to keep riders on their toes. The top section has been groomed since last year, and there’s a new wooded section. Check out the UCI’s detailed map to get your head around the courses many sections including ‘Disco Hips Kicker’ and ‘Got wood?’.
The 4x track is also familiar to riders from past years, although according to Jill Kintner’s blog ‘they’ve taken out the only good passing section, lame.’ Jill still managed to qualify top of the table in the pouring rain, ahead of Anneke Beerten and Australian rider Caroline Buchanan who qualified second equal, both on the same time down to the hundredth of a second! Caroline has finally kicked off her 2009 4x racing, and she will be looking to dominate at this year’s World Champs on her home soil, so it will be interesting to see how she goes in Fort Bill. Melissa Buhl and Fionn Griffiths round out the top five and are still within a second of the two ahead of them – it’s going to be a tight race!
Full 4x qualifying times here.
The 4x race is tonight (UK time) and the DH tomorrow.
As a side note, at the last World Cup round, there were no trophies. How slack is that – apparently the local hosts supply the trophies… or not. Emmeline Ragot podiumed in both 4x and Dh and was doubly disappointed about not getting trophies to take home as souvenirs. So she’ll be stoked if she gets to keep at least one of these flash Scottish thistles made from bike parts. Very cool!
Click for link, this pic is from DescentWorld’s twitter feed.
Here are the full qualifying results, from the UCI:
Older: German riders Harriet and Steffi blog from Scotland for MTBCut
Fresher: Sabrina Jonnier wins Fort Bill World Cup
Published on 07/06/2009 by Martha Hucker.