World Championship in Australia: two top 10 for C�dric and C�cile Ravanel

It all started with a bronze medal after the relay race. Then Alexis Vuillermoz (Team Lapierre International XC) and Danny Hart (Team Lapierre powered by Saab Salomon) finished 2nd and 3rd of their respective races

09.11.09 It all started with a bronze medal after the relay race. Then Alexis Vuillermoz (Team Lapierre International XC) and Danny Hart (Team Lapierre powered by Saab Salomon) finished 2nd and 3rd of their respective races. And now Cdric and Ccile have shown they were in great form too!

Cdric and Ccile finished respectively 6th and 7th of the World Championships in Australia. Cdric had made the choice to ride for the 1st time in competition his X-Control 700, and judging from his results, it seems to have been a pretty good idea! If you want to find out more, read the email Cdric sent us just after the race:

Hi everybody,

This is our 3rd and final summary of the World Championships in Australia.

Elite Womens Race: Saturday at 10 A.M, 5 laps of a circuit that requires technical skills and strength Ccile finished 7th !

I was given plate number 7, so that I was on the front row and this was the 1st time it happened to me in the World Championships! I felt under pressure like never before. The race started, I took the lead right away to get around a tight corner and avoid falling.

I was in second position after the 1st climb, which actually consisted of a pretty technical single track. I was following Italian rider Eva Lechner, and I didnt ride at top speed: she seemed to have difficulties with each obstacle. After 10 minutes, the climb came to an end, and I could take the lead, the Italian girl was the only one who managed to follow me in the downhill. At this stage I was the leader of the World Championships, but I didnt want to think about it, and concentrated instead on the group of riders on my heels.

Lechner didnt manage to catch up with me in easy parts, but at the end of the first lap, 5 girls were coming dangerously closer.

Second lap: Norwegian rider Lene Byberg and Olympic champion Sabine Spitz took the lead. I was third with American rider Willow Koerber, who did her best to catch up with the two leaders. I managed to follow her for a few seconds, but felt they were riding too fast. I found myself isolated in 4th place, 15 seconds behind the leader.

Fourth lap: Irina Kalentieva, a Russian rider who has already won the world championships in the past, was making up for lost time. I had the bad idea to try and follow her, which left me shattered! Kalientieva left me behind, and headed for a 2nd victory.
At the same time Polish and Canadian riders Szafraniec and Pendrel also overtook me.

I was 7th, but I started to feel strained and there was still one lap left. Even if I was shattered, I couldnt slow down if I wanted to keep this position. I was told other riders were 45 seconds behind, so I knew I could keep this 7th position if no major problems appeared. And indeed, I did finish the race 7th place.

You can see the pics of the race on Vlo Vert
http://www.velovert.com/Reportage_VTT_en_direct/43/295/05-09-XC-Elite-Femmes

Read the summary of the female race on Universal Bike.com
http://www.universalbikeracing.com/-Mondiaux-Canberra-XC-Incroyable-Kalentyeva-epreuves-vtt-188.html

Check complete results at
http://oldsite.uci.ch/UciDoc/MTB/2009/CM/XCO_RES_WE.pdf

Elite Mens race: Saturday at 2 PM. 6th place for myself!!!

A very quick start was given on asphalt before climbing a wide, long track among eucalyptus.
I was among the first 10 riders before riding a small technical single track a few days ago, this single track made us lose our first place in the relay race. Indeed, once you have entered this single track, it is impossible to overtake anyone and a rider that has technical difficulties can slow you down a lot.

I was at this moment around 10th place, but in the beginning of this steep climb, I derailed and my pedal was trapped in the front wheel of Swiss rider Lukas Flukiguer. Usually this type of problem is solved very quickly, but five minutes after the beginning of the race, we were all under pressure, and we were both trying to pull our bikes apart without much success.
The leading group was out of sight after this first climb, but I was not worried. The race is very long, and after seeing how the female Russian rider rode against the others this morning, I still thought everything was possible.

After one lap, I was in 16th position; I was in between. I was riding into the wind, a few seconds behind the leading group, closely followed by another group. I let them overtake me on easy parts and I sped up in technical parts.
Bit by bit I was gaining positions but I was bothered by a few riders who had technical difficulties. I lost a bit of time.

At the middle of the race, I caught up with a group fighting for 8th place, but my mate rider of the day, Stphane Tempier, was giving up. This group was led by another French rider, Jean Christophe Praud.
Altogether we were 6 fighting for the 8th position, and as time went by, the group was breaking up, and only three of us remained (Praud, American rider Todd Wells, and I).

Just before the beginning of the 6th lap, we were catching up with 2 riders (Italian rider Marc Aurelio Fontana and Sven Nys from Belgium). They tried to follow us for a while, before completely giving up.

I entered the 7th and final lap, I rode the first small climb fast and left the American rider behind.
I had good sensations, and I took advantage of them to overtake Praud. My new full suspension X-Control worked wonders in this technical part! By the way, I was the first rider of the classification who chose to ride a full suspension bike. Some riders chose to save a little weight with a hardtail, but a few made the wrong choice given the time they made me lose in some technical parts!

I got over some rocky steps without difficulty even if I started to feel the strain.
2 kilometers before the finishing line, I was 6th, I had my eyes set on Canadian Geof Kabush who was only 35 sec ahead. But it was too late and I couldnt manage to reach him before the end. I was therefore ranked 6th place in this 2009 World Championship!

I was overexcited this morning when I watched Cciles great race, and my own result this afternoon put an end with a flourish to these 2 weeks in Australia. We are both happy we improved our position in the global classification, and to go back home with a medal won in the relay race.

See the pictures of the race on Vlovert.com
http://www.universalbikeracing.com/Mondiaux-Canberra-elites-Schurter-prend-le-pouvoir-epreuves-vtt-189.html

Read the summary of Men race on Universal Bike.com
http://www.universalbikeracing.com/Mondiaux-Canberra-elites-Schurter-prend-le-pouvoir-epreuves-vtt-189.html

Full results on uci.ch
http://oldsite.uci.ch/UciDoc/MTB/2009/CM/XCO_RES_ME.pdf

Now we must recover from this race and the long trip back home, since the 7th race of World Cup will take place next Sunday in Switzerland.

See you there!

Cdric