June 27, 2004 (Mont Ste-Anne, Quebec) — The world’s best cross country mountain bike racers gathered at the Mont-Sainte-Anne for the 4th stop on the World Cup Circuit. Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle and Belgium’s Filip Meirhaeghe, rode to convincing wins here in Québec. Based on these results they will be the favoured riders at the Olympic Games in August. Both lead the World Cup Points standings with their wins. Although they may not have won today, there were racers on hand from many different countries that will attempt to stake claims to spots at the Olympic Games based upon today’s results.

The new course at Mont-Sainte-Anne received rave reviews from the riders. However, the weather was not cooperative today. Although there was some sun, there was a little rain during the women’s race, and heavy rain during the men’s race. The added moisture made already challenging conditions that much more difficult. To finish the Mont-Sainte-Anne race was once again an individual triumph for all of the participants.

In the women’s race, Dahle took the lead early in the race, with the only serious challenge coming from local rider Marie-Hélène Prémont from Château-Richer, Québec. Dahle’s winning time was 1:41:07, 41 seconds faster than Prémont. Dahle felt considerable pressure from Prémont. “I kept losing time in the beginning. The gap would get big a little bit and then she closed up. This was definitely the hardest race so far this year.”

Prémont’s location on the course was always known due to the loud cheering from the partisan crowd pushing her on. With this placing, Prémont seems to have a lock on one of the two remaining spots on the Canadian Olympic team. “It’s an incredible crowd here. I saw people with a poster of me in the woods wishing me good luck for the Olympics. Everyone wants me to go.” Alison Sydor of Victoria, B.C., who has already qualified for the Olympic Team finished in a strong 5th place. Other notable Canadian finishers were Kiara Bisaro, who finished 6th, and Chrissy Redden close behind in 8th.

Meirhaeghe has been one of the most consistent performs on the World Cup Circuit for many years. This was his 10th World Cup victory. He did not take the victory for granted though, as he was chased by Switzerland’s Christophe Sauser for much of the race. Meirhaeghe’s winning time was 2:07:48 with Sauser 58 seconds behind. “Not far from the finish I thought I was in trouble because I was having a really tough time on the up hills. I just tried to stay focused on the technical parts because you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake.”

Top Canadian rider was Seamus McGrath of Millgrove, Ontario in 8th place, 5:08 behind the winner. This result puts McGrath in a good position to gain one of the 2 places available for cross country mountain bike men on the Canadian Olympic team. “This was the first race this year that I felt good. It’s been a hard go with my head injury (he was mugged in Spain earlier in the season).” Regarding the Olympics, McGrath

stated, “This is convincing. This was a real mountain bike race. This is one of the hardest races on World Cup circuit and people were going for it today. I think I’ll be in Athens.”

The next stop in the World Cup Mountain Circuit is at the Calgary Olympic Park next weekend.

Cross Country #5
Mont-Sainte-Anne, CAN – June 27th, 2004
Elite Women
Final Ranking Start Time : 11:00
Rank Plate Code Name Nat Team Race Time Gap Pts

Distance : 23.60 kms – Average speed : 14.00 km/h

1. 1 NOR19730210 DAHLE Gunn-Rita NOR MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TE 1:41:07 250
2. 4 CAN19771024 PREMONT Marie-Helene CAN 1:41:48 + 41 200
3. 35 USA19771212 KOERBER Willow USA 1:44:38 +3:31 170
4. 5 SUI19701222 BLATTER Barbara SUI SPECIALIZED MOUNTAIN BIKE 1:45:26 +4:19 150
5. 7 CAN19660909 SYDOR Alison CAN 1:45:45 +4:38 130
6. 20 CAN19751112 BISARO Kiara CAN 1:46:27 +5:20 95
7. 29 USA19710624 MCCONNELOUG Mary USA 1:46:58 +5:51 90
8. 14 CAN19660316 REDDEN Chrissy CAN SUBARU-GARY FISHER 1:48:28 +7:21 85
9. 27 ITA19680704 STROPPARO Annabella ITA 1:48:29 +7:22 80
10. 39 USA19770407 EMMETT Kelli USA 1:49:42 +8:35 75
11. 50 CAN19730101 DEWOLF Karen CAN 1:50:01 +8:54 71

Canadians
21. 33 CAN19690205 SINCLAIR Trish CAN 1:56:42 + 15:35 55
27. 46 CAN19821021 SANDERS Julie CAN 2:05:11 + 24:04 49
32. 61 CAN19810105 COTE Marie-Helene CAN -1Lap 44
33. 58 CAN19801206 BERNIER Marisol CAN -1Lap 43
34. 55 CAN19840923 TORRESAN Elsie CAN -1Lap 42
36. 43 CAN19731123 BATE Madelaine CAN -1Lap 40
37. 44 CAN19831012 JOBIN Anne-Marie CAN -1Lap 39
39. 52 CAN19701106 JOHNSTON Joanne CAN -1Lap 37
40. 60 CAN19840330 HUPIN-DEBEURME Mathilde CAN -2Laps 36
51 CAN19830430 COTE Kasandra CAN DNF

Elite Men
Final Ranking Start Time : 14:00
Distance : 33.40 kms – Average speed : 15.68 km/h

1. 3 BEL19710305 MEIRHAEGHE Filip BEL SPECIALIZED MOUNTAIN BIKE 2:07:48 250
2. 2 SUI19760413 SAUSER Christoph SUI SIEMENS MOBILE CANNONDALE 2:08:46 + 58 200
3. 4 ESP19780824 HERMIDA Jose Antonio ESP MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TE 2:09:48 +2:00 170
4. 11 FRA19770522 PERAUD Jean-Christophe FRA LAPIERRE INTERNATIONAL 2:10:02 +2:14 150
5. 5 BEL19760427 PAULISSEN Roel BEL SIEMENS MOBILE CANNONDALE 2:10:37 +2:49 130
6. 17 GBR19820412 KILLEEN Liam* GBR SUBARU-GARY FISHER 2:10:37 +2:49 95
7. 53 SWE19800517 KESSIAKOFF Fredrik SWE SIEMENS MOBILE CANNONDALE 2:12:26 +4:38 90
8. 31 CAN19760503 MCGRATH Seamus CAN 2:12:56 +5:08 85
9. 30 USA19810815 CRAIG Adam USA 2:15:12 +7:24 80
10. 37 CAN19770414 KABUSH Geoff CAN 2:16:00 +8:12 75

Canadians
11. 14 CAN19801209 HESJEDAL Ryder CAN SUBARU-GARY FISHER 2:17:05 +9:17 71
14. 84 CAN19850529 PLAXTON Max* CAN 2:18:17 + 10:29 62
17. 38 CAN19730419 SHEPPARD Chris CAN 2:19:13 + 11:25 59
22. 63 CAN19811008 FEDERAU Ricky CAN 2:21:45 + 13:57 54
29. 80 CAN19771010 REAIN Greg CAN 2:25:27 + 17:39 47
39. 96 CAN19840127 BUSSIERES Frederic* CAN -1Lap 37
40. 126 CAN19850612 LAMB Jamie* CAN -1Lap 36
41. 103 CAN19780117 CARBONNEAU Ian CAN -1Lap 35
42. 76 CAN19830503 WATSON Andrew* CAN -1Lap 34
48. 81 CAN19830407 HADLEY Matthew* CAN -2Laps 28
49. 95 CAN19840725 LAZARSKI Martin* CAN -2Laps 27
50. 83 CAN19770212 JAKOMAIT Jesse CAN -2Laps 26
52. 86 CAN19761007 SIMARD Benoit CAN -2Laps 24
53. 72 CAN19820319 SNEDDON Kris* CAN KONA CLARKS LES GETS -2Laps 23
54. 94 CAN19841019 ZANDSTRA Derek* CAN -2Laps 22
56. 122 CAN19831019 BATTY Eric* CAN -2Laps 20
57. 101 CAN19820103 LAFONTAINE Martin* CAN -2Laps 19
58. 99 CAN19800128 PROVOST Jean-Philippe CAN -2Laps 18
61. 102 CAN19801001 PATTERSON Matt CAN -2Laps 15
62. 93 CAN19780708 LABBE Zacharie CAN -2Laps 14
64. 100 CAN19760407 INGHAM Ryan CAN -2Laps 12
67. 112 CAN19840311 TRUDEL Jeremy* CAN -2Laps 9
68. 104 CAN19751024 YOSHITO Tsuji CAN -2Laps 8
70. 98 CAN19760330 LAFONTAINE Bruno CAN -2Laps 6
72. 117 CAN19851203 PERRON Jean-Sebastien* CAN -2Laps 4
78. 113 CAN19810910 DAIGLE Marc-Andre CAN -3Laps
79. 108 CAN19840331 TREMBLAY Sébastien* CAN -3Laps
80. 111 CAN19800506 CARLETON Timothy CAN -3Laps
81. 107 USA19851019 THOMPSON Joey* USA -3Laps
82. 106 CAN19850116 VENNES Jean-François* CAN -3Laps

7 CAN19740729 GREEN Roland CAN TREK-VOLKSWAGEN DNF
54 CAN19760803 TOULOUSE Mathieu CAN DNF
105 CAN19761122 DAIRON Luc CAN DNS

DNS=Did Not Start – DNF = Did Not Finish – DSQ = Disqualified – *=Under 23