The UCI XC World Cup is running to a tight schedule for 2004 – just one week after Round 1 in Madrid the teams were in Houffalize, Belgium for Round 2. It’s been a couple of years since the last World Cup at Houffalize, and 30,000 fans showed up to support local heroes Filip Mierhaeghe (Specialized) and Roel Paulissen (Siemens-Cannondale). The 6.6km course was dusty and loose after a spell of dry weather, and a Tarmac climb away from the start gave riders near the back of the grid a chance to get a bit nearer the front before they hit the dirt.

World Cup watchers will be entirely unsurprised to learn that Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida) went off the front at the start. Sabine Spitz, Annabella Stropparo, Alison Dunlap (Luna) and Paola Pezzo (Fusion) took up the chase but to no avail. Three laps in Dahle was 1:45 ahead, four laps in she was 2:14 ahead of a diminished chasing group of Dunlap and Stropparo and by the finish the Norwegian had pulled out nearly another minute, crossing the line 3:12 ahead of Dunlap, with Stropparo just five seconds back. In fourth was Barbara Blatter (Specialized) after a strong ride up from 35th place just after the start.

Two wins from two puts Dahle on top spot in the rankings, with a hefty 200 point advantage over second-ranked Annabella Stopparo. But there’s a long way to go yet…

The men’s race took place on Sunday afternoon in gathering cloud, but conditions stayed dry. Current series leader Filip Mierhaeghe (Specialized) was anxious to do well in front of his home crowd (and a selection of his local sponsors). It nearly went wrong early on when Mierhaeghe narrowly avoided being taken down by a crash in the first 200m. He came out of it OK but the incident placed him in the 20s going on to the dirt. Up the front, the Siemens-Cannondale duo of Roel Paulissen and Christoph Sauser were working together to pull out a gap on the field, and by the time Mierhaeghe had worked himself up to join Miguel Martinez (Commencal-Oxbow) in third they had a substantial buffer.

Mierhaeghe put in a huge effort to close the gap, but Paulissen and Sauser had already done too much, and the energy he expended meant he dropped a place to a late-charging Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) in the closing stages. Paulissen took the chequered flag eight seconds in front of Sauser, with Absalon 3:55 down. Mierhaeghe was fourth with Martinez rounding out the podium in fifth. Special mention to Britain’s Liam Killeen, putting in an excellent ride to finish in ninth place. Cheer him on at Fort William…

It’s shaping up to be a dramatic season in the men’s World Cup, with at least five riders very much in the frame. After two races it’s Paulissen in the lead with 450 points, 50 ahead of Meirhaeghe. Absalon’s on 340 and Sauser just behind with 330. So it’s all to play for at Round 3 this weekend at Fort William. And the XC racers will be joined by the DH and 4X crew – it’s Round 1 for them…

Full results and series standings at www.uci.ch.