Luna’s Pendrel and Gould Podium at Windham

WINDHAM WORLD CUP: MEN’S XC GALLERY

World Cup cross-country series leader Julie Bresset of France and winner of last week’s race in Quebec,  Catharine Pendrel of Canada, battled it out Saturday in Windham, New York with the French rider taking the win.

The duo attained a 40-second gap over the rest of the field by the end of the first of five laps and never looked back. The two rode together for the rest of the race with victory coming down to the climb on the last lap. Bresset (BH-Suntour-Peisey Vallandry) had the better attack and came over the top in the lead, while Pendrel (Luna Pro Team) had some mechanical problems on the descent.

Bresset’s winning time was 1:35:36, with Pendrel claiming second, 39 seconds back.

“I’m very happy with my win,” Bresset said. “Catharine was very fast today. I attacked at the right time and she couldn’t follow me. Catharine was more comfortable on the downhills than I was, and she attacked me many times, but I still had enough strength left to launch the final attack.”

Annika Langvad (Team Easton Rockets), who recently won the mountain bike marathon worlds in Italy out-sprinted, Marie-Helene Premont (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) for third, with Georgia Golud (Luna Pro Team) taking fifth.

Bresset leads the points standings with 1110. Pendrel remains in second with 920. Bresset seems to have a lock on the series title unless she has some disastrous finishes in the remaining two races in the Czech Republic and Italy. Premont is third in the series with 630 points.

Men’s Race

Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) led the men’s in Windham from start to finish. The Czech rider opened a lead on the first climb, stretching it to 11 seconds by the end of the first lap and increasing it every lap from there on.

The dominating performance afforded Kulhavy the luxury of backing off on the final lap, but he still won by a margin of 29 seconds over second-place Nino Schurter. Kulhavy’s winning time was 1:35:34 for six laps of the race course, as he took his third World Cup victory of the season.

“This course does not suit me as well as Mont Ste Anne last week,” said Kulhavy. “But I decided that I would try to take the lead on the first lap on the climb, and it worked.”

The highest-placed North American was hometown favorite Todd Wells (Specialized) who just missed a top-ten finish in eleventh place.

While Kulhavy had a lock on first place, there was a fierce battle for second among eight riders. Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) prevailed, after dropping world marathon champion Christoph Sauser (Specialized) in the final descent. Burry Stander took fourth to put a third Specialized rider on the podium, and Maxime Marotte (BH-Suntour-Peisey Vallandry) took the fifth and final podium spot.

With his third win of the season Kulhavy now has 1110 points to second placed Schurter’s 870. In third place in the points race is Julien Absalon, who decided not to race in North America. Even with only three races to his credit this season Absalon has 650 points.

Women’s Brief Results

1 Julie BRESSET FRA 22 1:35:36
2 Catharine PENDREL CAN 31 1:36:15
3 Annika LANGVAD DEN 27 1:37:00
4 Marie-Helene PREMONT CAN 34 1:37:05
5 Georgia GOULD USA 31 1:37:06
6 Irina KALENTIEVA RUS 34 1:37:25
7 Katerina NASH CZE 34 1:37:38
8 Blaza KLEMENCIC SLO 31 1:37:50
9 Elisabeth OSL AUT 26 1:37:51
10 Maja WLOSZCZOWSKA POL 28 1:38:09
13 Katherine COMPTON USA 33 1:39:01
15 Lea DAVISON USA 28 1:40:31
18 Emily BATTY CAN 23 1:41:31
25 Heather IRMIGER USA 32 1:43:44
30 Amanda SIN CAN 34 1:44:39
32 Mary MCCONNELOUG USA 40 1:45:34
37 Judy FREEMAN USA 37 1:47:48
40 Mical DYCK CAN 29 1:50:03
41 Erin HUCK USA 30 1:50:28
44 Krista PARK USA 37 1:51:00
46 Katherine SHERWIN USA 38 1:52:40
49 Sarah KAUFMANN USA 30 1:53:36
51 Carolyn POPOVIC USA 33
52 Zephanie BLASI USA 35
53 Bryna BLANCHARD USA 38
55 Meghan KOROL USA 27
DNF Chloe FORSMAN USA 24

Men’s Brief Results

1 Jaroslav KULHAVY CZE 26 1:35:34

2 Nino SCHURTER SUI 25 1:36:03
3 Christoph SAUSER SUI 35 1:36:0
4 Burry STANDER RSA 24 1:36:22
5 Maxime MAROTTE FRA 25 1:36:48
6 Marco Aurelio FONTANA ITA 27 1:36:58
7 José Antonio HERMIDA RAMOS ESP 33 1:37:07
8 Stéphane TEMPIER FRA 25 1:38:13
9 Lukas FLÜCKIGER SUI 27 1:38:23
10 Mathias FLÜCKIGER SUI 23 1:38:26
11 Todd WELLS USA 36 1:38:38

18 Geoff KABUSH CAN 34 1:39:52
19 Adam CRAIG USA 30 1:40:00

29 Jeremiah BISHOP USA 35 1:41:11
33 Jeremy HORGAN-KOBELSKI USA 33 1:42:30
34 Derek ZANDSTRA CAN 27 1:42:38
45 Samuel SCHULTZ USA 26 1:44:58
48 Matthew HADLEY CAN 28 1:45:20
52 Adam MORKA CAN 25 1:45:54
58 Andrew WATSON CAN 28 1:47:03
59 Peter GLASSFORD CAN 27 1:47:30
61 Eric BATTY CAN 28 1:48:06
62 Spencer PAXSON USA 27 1:48:44