July 27, 2012 (Val d’Isère, France) – After a month long break, the 2012 RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup resumes with the 7^th and final xc round and the penultimate 6th dowhill round, from Val d’Isère, France.  This will be the final cross-country World Cup event of the season, and it is the last time these athletes will compete against one another before the 2012 London Olympic Games. The DH riders finale is Sept. 14-15 in Hafjell, Norway.

With the notable absence of Canadian Olympian Max Plaxton, almost all of the Olympic Games riders have registered to compete in Val d’Isere, creating an interesting dynamic to gauge the form of the competitors. Sadly, Maja Wloszczowska (CCC Polkwice), the 2010 MTB Worlds champ and 2008 Beijing Games silver medalist, will miss the final World Cup and the Olympics due to an injury to her foot a week ago while training in Italy.

The Val d’Isère course is not as technical as the previous two sites at Mont-Saint-Anne or Windham. It follows a figure-eight and takes the riders into the town centre over some man-made features and then up a short single track climb.  The course is well suited for spectating as a lot of the course winds through the centre of town.

Lining up for one final race before London is Olympic team member Geoff Kabush of the SCOTT – 3Rox Racing team.  His morale is high after a solid break from racing.

“I took full advantage of the break in racing to do some testing in Vancouver, make some adjustments in training, and lay out a plan through to London,” Kabush told Pedal.  “Training has been going excellent and I’m keeping the pressure on through this weekend.” After some high altitude training at his home in New Mexico and some solid training rides in the French Alps Kabush is keen to race at 1,800m in Val d’Isère. “I’ll be looking to improve on my 8th place in Windham and continue to build momentum for London.” Peter Glassford (Trek Canada) will join Kabush in the men’s race.

Canadian Catharine Pendrel (Luna) has already locked up the World Cup series overall with back-to-back wins at the North American rounds, but is still looking to hone her form for the Games.  On the start line with Pendrel will be 2011 World Cup champion Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour-Vallandry Peisey) and the duo can be expected to battle it out on the race course…perhaps a preview to the London Games.

Join Pendrel are fellow Canucks Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) and Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain), both eager to improve their places in the final WCup standings. Batty is also fine tuning for London.

The World Cup championship is still up for grabs on the men’s side as Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower) leads the overall standings by only 12 points over South Africa Burry Stander (Specialized). Other riders to watch in Val d’Isère are Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Julien Absalon (Orbea), the two-time defending Olympic champion.  Absalon skipped the last two rounds of the World Cup in lieu of preparation for London, but won the last World Cup he raced – Round 4 in La Bresse, France.

Racing gets underway with the men and women’s XCO races on Saturday while the Downhill goes Sunday.