Specialized (and Victor Lucas) have just posted up a video showcasing the La Bresse XCO course that claimed both Rosara and Karen in the weekend. This clip gives us a pretty damn good look at the just how hard the course was, and in my view how all XC courses should be. It looked like a fun track but there is no way in hell I’d want to ride it with my seat up my arse and on 680 bars with 80mm of travel!!!

Local knowledge was obviously helpful at La Bresse and it turns out that winner Julien Absalon's brother Remy (enduro legend) helped design the super technical course. I think if leaders are crashing in World Cup XC races then something finally is right in the world of cross-country! Photo: Colin Meagher via Mountainbike.com

A perilous course proved the undoing of much of the field including New Zealand’s Karen Hanlen in the fourth round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in France today.

The Whakatane rider dropped out on the second of six laps in a race that claimed a significant number in the field with only half the field finishing on the same lap as the winner as 20,000 fans thronged to La Bresse in the Alsace region today.

Hanlen was chasing Olympic qualification in the final race to earn points for London, after rival Rosara Joseph crashed and broke her wrist during practice.

After starting from 14th the National Champion dropped back to 58th by the end of the first lap and was in some difficulties before being unable to continue.

It is a serious blow for both Hanlen and Joseph who were chasing a high placing to support their Olympic bids. Hanlen started the World Cup campaign with an eighth placing to Joseph’s 11th in South Africa and 18th against 38th in Belgium before a 26th in the Czech Republic where the Beijing Olympian finished 22nd.

New Zealand is expected to earn a single elite women’s spot for London when quotas are finalised by the UCI.

Experience and patience proved the key at La Bresse with legendary Norwegian Rita-Gunn Dahle claimed her first World Cup victory in four years.

It proved a double success for mountain bike legends with double Olympic gold medallist Julien Absalon, who lives nearby, winning the men’s honours.

Dahle, the 39 year old Athens Olympic gold medallist and four time World Champion, has had a break from the sport after becoming a mother. She was back in fourth until leader Katherine Pendrell (CAN) crashed on the demanding downhill with series leader Julie Bresset (FRA) falling while trying to avoid her.

Katerina Nash (CZE) took control from Dahle before she fell twice on the final descent to allow the Norwegian through for the victory.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Dahle. “I am first of all a mum. So I can’t believe it. I was focussing on not going over my limit. I thought she might be over her limit and she was. I did a very good race on this course which was tough up and tough down.”

The shining light for New Zealand at La Bresse was another outstanding ride by Samara Sheppard who was third in the under-23 race on Saturday following her fourth placing in the last round as she moved to eighth on the overall classification after four rounds.

The cross-country battle moves to North America for rounds in Canada and USA in late June, while the downhillers are back in action with the World Cup at Val di Sole in Italy in two weeks.

Results, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Cross-Country:

Elite women: Gunn-Rita Dahle (NOR) 1:39.57, 1; Katerina Nash (CZE) at 16 sec, 2; Julie Bresset (FRA) at 55s, 3; Catharine Pendrel (CAN) at 1:12, 4. Also: Karen Hanlen (NZL) dnf.

Elite men: Julien Absalon (FRA) 1:37.33, 1; Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE)at 7 sec, 2, Ralph Naef (SUI) at 40s, 3.

Samara in Action at Champery Photo Gary Perkin

New Zealand mountain biker Samara Sheppard produced a remarkable charge on the final lap to earn a podium finish in the fourth round of the UCI World Cup in France on Saturday (NZ time).

The 22 year old was still in fifth place halfway through the final lap of four of the women’s under-23 race at La Bresse before producing a withering burst to pip South Africa’s Candice Neethling on the line for third.

It is the first World Cup under-23 podium placing for Sheppard, who is racing for the Swiss-based Wheeler IXS team this year. It follows her outstanding fourth placing in last week’s World Cup round in the Czech Republic.

Sheppard, the Rotorua-based Wellington rider, made a fast start in today’s race, to be second after the starting loop on a challenging course at La Bresse, a town in the Alsace region near the German border.

She slipped back to fourth on lap one and by lap two was fifth, nearly five minutes behind the leader, Swiss teammate Jolanda Neff who won the last round.

The New Zealander was still fifth and 44 seconds behind South Africa’s Candice Neethling in fourth at the start of the final lap but by the halfway point she had reduced the gap to 18 seconds.

Neff struck difficulties on the final lap and failed to finish which presented Ukraine’s Yana Belomoyna with the victory and elevated Sheppard to fourth. The Kiwi flew down the final descent to pip Neethling in the dash to the line to claim third place.

Sheppard now has a break for a month until her next race, with her performances over the last two weeks cementing her qualification for September’s World Championships.

Meanwhile the Rotorua pair of Dirk Peters and Sam Shaw will contest the men’s under-23 race later in the day while Whakatane’s Karen Hanlen is the only Kiwi racing in the elite women’s race on Monday (NZ time) after Rosara Joseph broke her wrist in practice.

Results, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, La Bresse, France:

Under-23 women:
Yana Belomayna (UKR) 1:23.33, 1; Rebecca Henderson (AUS) at 1:37, 2; Samara Sheppard (NZL) at 2:21, 3; Candice Neethling (ZAF) at 2:22, 4.

The third round of the XCO World Cup series was run at Nova Mesto in the Czech Republic on the weekend, with some great results posted by New Zealand riders. In the U23 women’s race, Spoke contributor Samara Sheppard rode to a brilliant 4th place (the race was won by her Wheeler-IXS teammate and off-season New Zealand-visitor Jolanda Neff). Rotorua’s Dirk Peters also had a great ride to bag 14th in U23 men, while Rosara Joseph and Karen Hanlen finished 22nd and 26th respectively in the Elite women’s race.

Cam Cole gettin it done. Maybe if he didn't have a bottle stuffed in his pants he may have been able to take Anton down?

Because I wasn’t there I can’t really give you a race report, but by all accounts Christchurch’s first enduro event, The Port Hills Enduro, went down a treat, with over 90 racers showing up on the day to try this new style of racing. Just like Super Ds of old, the rider list is a good healthy mix of cross-country, downhill and good old fashioned trail riders. I mean just look at the podium; Joe Nation in 1st, Anton Cooper in 2nd and Cam Cole in 3rd. (Full results below.)

We’d love to hear in the comments from anyone that raced to get a bit of a first hand account. Oh and if you click any of the photos it will take you through to the a photo gallery provided by race organisers Bikecycle.co.nz.

Is enduro the cure for bike bigotry? With DH and XC sharing the podium we think so.

One time Nelson local and now traveling hillbilly Leif (not that Leif) even showed up.

See, Anton was so damn fast the camera couldn't even catch him. Either that or the fact that he was wearing Lycra made the photographer pull away.

Joe Bowman releases his much anticipated film series on the most loved man in mountain biking, Steve Peat.

This Is Peaty Episode One takes you on an international whirlwind adventure. Starting at the legendary Ingle Gym, Sheffield, along with close friend and heavyweight boxer David Howe, Steve hasn’t been slacking in the off-season, that’s for sure.

Getting in quality downhill runs in the UK is tough for someone like Steve, whose nearest uplift is almost two hours away, so any excuse to head for San Romolo has to be a good one. Staying over at Argentina Bike with SPS rider James Swinden in tow, one Piaggio purchase later and a few amazing days in the sun, the season was off to a solid start.

It might have been an early start to the season this year, but everyone came out swinging at Round 1 Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Huge jumps, dropper posts, Weetabix and an ‘almost’ fairytale finish for the Santa Cruz Syndicate.

Obviously psyched for his team-mate Greg Minnaar, but a tough start to the year for Steve, back in 15th place. But don’t worry, he’s not out of reach just yet though, with a long season still to follow.

Val Di Sole is basically Wharncliffe but a bit longer anyway, right?

In Association with:
Five Ten Footwear

Supported by:
Smuggling Duds
Royal Racing
Santa Cruz Bicycles

http://www.ThisIsPeaty.com

A Steel City Media Production

As always this is shaping up to be a kick arse event, with all proceeds going towards getting their junior riders to the Worlds in Leogang, Austria.

Out of many competitive bids from all over New Zealand, AKDH are happy to confirm their bid to hold the 2012 16″ National Champs was successful. This is a very hotly contested race with some of last year’s times being faster than the 26″ bikes. The winner will get to keep the infamous 16″ sleeveless denim jacket for a full 365 days.

Get your early entry for both races in here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6b68dq4W4WReTIyWnBDOUpLV1E/edit?pli=1

This video’s been doing the rounds but it’s a must see. You won’t mind at all having this 2 minutes 22 seconds taken from your life, I promise.

Just got this press release from the folks at Cyclocross Hawkes Bay regarding the UCI sanctioned New Zealand Cross Champs. It seems that ‘Cross is growing exponentially here. Well it better be, ’cause we’re only 110 years behind the French on this one. We have a bit of catching up to do.

This is the first time cyclocross will be a official sanctioned BikeNZ event in New Zealand. BikeNZ have recognised the importance of having another form of exciting cycle racing and have endorsed the national event for the first time. In the past Hamilton and Queenstown have run numerous successful National events. BikeNZ have also gained a UCI status for the 2012 event. This is the first time a UCI cyclocross event will be held in Australasia. The UCI recently decided they needed to grow the sport on a worldwide stage, and with the strong growth of Cyclocross in New Zealand and Australia it looks to be a new breeding ground for international cyclocross talent.

With cyclocross in its first development stages in New Zealand, we would like to ask for your support to help promote this exciting new winter sport. With 7 regions offering Cyclocross series racing of 4-6 races each, including a 5 race National points series. Hawkes Bay will hold the National Champs, including an all-comers race for anyone wanting to try out this new sport. We will also be offering a 6-race regional series (see below), building on last year’s four events. One of our main focuses in Hawkes Bay is the development of kids’ racing, called Bike-X. This is a free event for the kids, who last year all loved getting dirty in the mud!

CXHB Series
June 17 – Blackbarn, Havelock North.
July 8 – EIT Taradale. (NZ Champs)
July 22 – Roy’s Hill, Hastings.
August 12 – BlackBarn, Tukituki Valley, Havelock North.
September 2 – Clearview Winery, Napier.
September 16 – Chesterhope Park, Hastings.

For info flick an email to the Cyclocross Hawkes Bay here.

At the moment it seems the phrase “Super D” and “mate’s races” are on the tip of everyone’s tongues.

With that in mind the crew at West Coast Riders Club spent 50 hours of the last few weeks carving out a buff “Super D” trail in their ever expanding Riverhead Bike Park. To christen the 6-7 minute trail they held Auckland’s first Super D race.

Winner - Byron Scott

The nice thing about this style of racing is that you get all sorts of riders from DH slayers to Lycra clad 29er XC boys showing up. That said, it was washed up DH legend Byron Scott that trashed the competition with a time of 5:33, over 30 seconds up on second place.

An awesome trail, combined with great weather and a Unimog for uplifts equalled a kick-arse afternoon of racing. Bring on the next Super D.

There’s plenty of descriptions for Enduro racing out there, but I just stumbled across this video from the Bell Super Enduro up in Santa Cruz’s Demo Forest last week. This video breaks it down and makes it pretty damn clear, well, Ali G does. Watch it then enter the Bikecycle.co.nz event in Christchurch, or put one on yourself!

Oh by the way, Demo Forest is in Santa Cruz, not Morgan Hill, so why did Specialized name a bike after a trail that is in another bike company’s back yard?

And here is the official video description…

“Combining a series of hair-raising, timed, technical descents with untimed but challenging climbing segments, the 2012 Bell Super Enduro was a first-of-its-kind mountain bike race in the US.  [Not sure about this, I think Ross Schnell put an event like this on at Trestle MTB park in Colorado last year.]

Borrowing on the European phenomenon of multi-stage enduro events, the race was part of the third annual Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival in Aptos, California.

Held on the crest of mountains between Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz the race showcased the amazing trails of the Soquel Demonstration State Forest and featured six stages–three untimed climbs and three timed runs on all-mountain-style descents.

Though elapsed racing time was less than 30 minutes for each racer, total ride time was in the five hour range, demanding the fitness and stamina to complete some 7,000 feet of climbing, as well as the technical riding skills to rail the long descents.”

Martin Söderström tore through a strong field at the 2012 Sea Otter Classic’s Speed & Style comp, finishing strong with a 360-tailwhip to cinch 1st place. Specialized designer Alain Lanusse made a strong showing as did Allride Tour leader Kirt Voreis.

So New Zealand (apart from Rotorua’s Triple Crown) still seems stuck on the Super D buzz. There’s nothing wrong with it but after spending time with both Jerome Clementz and Nico Vouilloz recently they both insist that the future is Enduro racing. Which is basically a bunch of Super Ds thrown together over one or a few days. Some stages might not be so super, they could be grass slalom like the LOG’s Snakes in the Grass race. But like Super D races, Enduros are about mountain biking; not XC, not DH, but the perfect mix. Just look at the lineup for the Mavic Trans Provence!!! Anyhow it’s no surprise that a bunch of Euros (sorry guys) decide to put one on in Christchurch. The guys at bikecycle.co.nz are backing the Enduro format hard and with Gravity Canterbury are hosting the South Island’s first Enduro event. All the details are below…

WHAT: 4 stages of self assisted ENDURO

RACING spanning the Port Hills. Tracks will be predominately downhill and suited to all skill levels. Each stage will be timed, riders will have to ride between stages. Rider with the lowest combined time over the 4 stages wins.

WHERE: Registration at the start of the TRAVERSE TRACK from 8.30AM. Racing starts at 10AM. Final stage will finish at Halswell Quarry followed by a BBQ and Prizegiving around 3.30pm. COST: $20 per rider.

See www.gravitycanterbury.org.nz or search Gravity Canterbury on Facebook for more information.

The Trans-Provence is arguably the world’s most high profile enduro event. For 2012 there will be 300km / 10,000m up / 15,000m down, 26 timed stages over seven days with probably the heaviest hitting pro race roster in recent enduro history. It’s gonna be a serious battle and the folks at Trans Provence want to keep us in the loop promising daily video updates, tweets, ‘grams and Facebook updates (bookmark all the links down the bottom of the page). Anyway watch the video and get excited, and jealous of Nelson locals Sven and Anka Martin who will be racing and providing media updates!

The organisers of Trans-Provence have teamed up with legendary French bike system and rider equipment company Mavic to bring you the 4th edition of their 7-day MTB enduro rally. With a startlist featuring a number of current world-class cross-country, enduro and downhill professionals, MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 promises to be the best edition yet and indeed, one of the most exciting races in the world to follow this year. As the title brand of the event, Mavic will provide comprehensive neutral technical bike support to all MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 race competitors, and will also be the primary prize donor.

Trans-Provence creator and race director, Ash Smith’s perspective:
“As a French-based organisation and event, Trans-Provence is very proud to collaborate with Mavic, a French company of worldwide importance throughout the cycle industry. Mavic pretty much invented the idea of neutral tech support in multi-day cycle races (something which makes so much sense for the rally-style nature of our event) … indeed they’re known generally for being a company which places big enthusiasm and professionalism in the development of the new and exciting aspects of our sport. ‘New’ and ‘exciting’ are what Trans-Provence is all about, so it adds up to what we see as being a perfect match.”

Mavic marketing manager, François-Xavier Blanc adds:
“Almost 30 years ago, Mavic pioneered technical mountain bike assistance at the first Roc d’Azur bike festival (1983). At that time, Mavic introduced the first MTB wheelset. Today Trans-Provence shows the way of progressive and challenging mountain biking practice evolution. Mavic shares the same vision of the sport through innovative, high-performance and distinctive products… it’s why this partnership makes perfect sense.”

Daily results, videos and other goodies from MAVIC® TRANS-PROVENCE 2012 can be enjoyed as of the start of the event (22/09/2012) via the following media/feeds:

Web: trans-provence.com / mavic.com
Twitter: twitter.com/transprovence
Facebook: facebook.com/transprovence
Vimeo (daily video updates during the event): vimeo.com/transprovence

Spectacular action highlighted the second Dirtmasters Downhill in the Queenstown Bike Park as part of the Queenstown Bike Festival yesterday (April 8). 112 competitors took on the challenge with top honours going to current world number three downhiller Sam Blenkinsop of Wanganui, in a time of 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Blenkinsop was the fastest qualifier and the top seed and a good crowd gathered at the Brecon Street steps to watch him put in the quickest run of the day ousting second fastest rider, Justin Leov of Christchurch, who clocked 3.31, from the “hot seat.”

“This is the second race I’ve competed in since breaking my ankle at the start of the year.” says Blenkinsop,  “I had a pretty horrible time in the first round of the World Cup two weeks ago,  I wasn’t ready. But I came here simply to ride and have fun, and just ended up winning.”

“It was great to be with all the top New Zealand riders,  the course was good, and the best thing was to jump in the Skyline Gondola and then ride. Queenstown would be perfect to hold a World Cup event”.

Festival co-ordinator Geoff Hunt predicts the Dirtmasters will grow into a major event on the national calendar.

“We are certainly looking at different options. This was the second time we’ve been running it and the huge interest it has created amongst both spectators and riders bodes well for the future.”

“This is a developing sport and judging by the numbers of people on the hill, lining the street and gathering on nearby balconies, it’s the sort of action people love.”

Competitors rode the Skyline gondola to the top of the course which was held on tracks established by the Queenstown Mountain Biking Club, and tweaked by local downhill rider and course designer Blair Christmas.

The race itself was finished at Ben Lomond Crescent, and riders then rode into the final finish arena via the Brecon Street steps.

“This year’s course was very different from the last, featuring much more technically demanding sections and a shorter race time,” says Christmas.

“Riders loved the new loose section combined with some of the existing trails, it gave a wide variance in track surface and type. There were a few crashes, me included, but generally plenty of smiles and laughing.”

“Plenty of practise runs were possible due to the efficiency of the gondola. I was very pleased with the general relaxed vibe on race day, with riders having the opportunity to practise between their qualifying and race runs thanks to the experience and flexibility of Hamish Seaton doing the timing and scheduling.”

In the open men’s section Matt Scoles of Alexandra put a strong challenge and placed third in 3.32.

Rupert Chapman won the under 19 section in 3.44 followed by Christchurch’s Matt Prior in 3.54, and Tyler Brooker of Christchurch in 4.00.

In the Junior 16-17 men section Leo Sandler of Atawhia easily won in 3.47 over his next opponent Dan McCombie who finished second in 3.52, followed by Raphael Kammlein-Cutler in 3.54.

The veteran men’s title went to Nicholas Sutcliffe of Christchurch in 3.53, heading off local guru Paul Angus by a mere .28 of a second and Fraser Gordon of Queenstown in 3.55.

The master’s title went to well known Queenstown rider Niall Renwick, who put on a very credible performance recording 3.54.

In the Junior 12-15 men category, the title went to Mathew Gillan of Queenstown in 4.17, second place to Sam Robbie also of Queenstown in 4.22, and third place went to Carlos Wilson of Dunedin in 4.23.

Competing under this category, Boaz Hebblethwaite of Queenstown, 11 years old and youngest competitor in the event, finished in a very credible 5.16.

Hebblethwaite, an avid young mountain biker, had been practicing his downhill skills on the Rock Garden and Grundy tracks in the Queenstown Bike Park after school.

“It has been a week since I first went down Grundy, and I have really enjoyed practising and racing with the other boys in my category. It was also really awesome to be competing with riders like Justin Leov too. I can’t wait for the coming winter to be over so that I can bike again.”

The fastest woman of the day was Gabby Molloy of Rotorua competing in the Open Women section and clocking 4.04, followed by Scarlett Hagen of Dundedin in 4.14 in second place and Harriett Latchen in 4.17 in third place.

Veteran Naomi Wilson of Queenstown won her category in 4.18 while the Under 19 women’s title went to Veronique Sandler of Nelson in 4.34.

The Junior Under 17′s title went to Sophie Tyas of Methven in 4.37 and local Sara Leadbetter won the Master Women category in a time of 5.38.

Full Results here.