February 1, 2009 (Hoogerheide, Netherlands) – Marianne Vos (Netherlands) is the new world champ taking the final sprint and the women’s title at the 2009 Cyclocross World Championships on Sunday over reigning champ Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) in second and the USA’s Katherine Compton in 3rd. Canada’s Wendy Simms (BC) finished in 18th while team mate Natasha Elliott (ON) was 21st and Pepper Harlton (AB) was 30th.

Natasha Elliott on her first CX Worlds
“I was off to one of my best starts in Europe especially after having a late 3rd row call up. But unfortunately there was a crash in the first corner of the race on the cobbles – a girl slid out into a few other riders and I went over the front of my bars. I had nowhere else to go but straight into the girl on the ground in front of me,” said Elliott. “I was about 2nd or 3rd last off the start after that going into the grass section of the course and the peloton had about 100 metres on me.”

“I made my way up to the back end of the race in the first lap and then started picking my way through the field. I ended up having a really strong 2nd half and I was pleased with my recovery from the initial set backs. I am happy to have experienced Worlds for the first time and got to represent Canada. I look forward to many more to come and only hope that my results will improve. Next years focus – top 10 at Worlds. Thanks for all the support from our fans, family and friends back home,” added Elliott.

Results

1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 42:39
2. Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) 0:01
3. Katherine Compton (United States Of America) 0:02
4. Sanne Van Paassen (Netherlands) 0:29
5. Caroline Mani (France)
6. Sanne Cant (Belgium)
7. Daphny Van Den Brand (Netherlands) 0:30
8. Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Netherlands)
9. Eva Lechner (Italy) 0:31
10. Maryline Salvetat (France)
11. Rachel Lloyd (United States Of America) 0:32
12. Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (France) 0:37
13. Georgia Gould (United States Of America) 1:02
14. Nikki Harris (Great Britain) 1:13
15. Joyce Vanderbeken (Belgium) 1:34
16. Helen Wyman (Great Britain) 2:03
17. Susan Butler (United States Of America) 2:04
18. Wendy Simms (Canada) 2:30
19. Laura Van Gilder (United States Of America) 2:57
20. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France) 2:58
21. Natasha Elliott (Canada)
22. Mika Ogishima (Japan) 3:29
23. Sabrina Schweizer (Germany) 3:38
24. Gabriella Day (Great Britain) 3:39
25. Veronica Alessio (Italy) 4:04
26. Ayako Toyooka (Japan) 4:05
27. Daniela Bresciani (Italy) 4:06
28. Milena Cavani (Italy)
29. Elke Riedl (Austria) 5:10
30. Francesca Cucciniello (Italy) 5:11
31. Pepper Harlton (Canada) 5:24
32. Jana Kyptova (Czech Republic) 5:43
33. Nadia Triquet-Claude (France) 6:09
34. Lise Müller (Switzerland) 6:20
35. Katrin Leumann (Switzerland) 7:25