The 2004 UCI XC World Cup got started at the weekend on an 8km course at Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain. The city park course included plenty of singletrack and short, sharp climbs, with rain on Friday and Saturday helping to stick the loose, sandy surface together.

The women’s race was over four laps, and it was business as usual for Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida). She went off the front from the start, put a gap on the initial chasing group of Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), Margarita Fullana, Ivonne Kraft and Irina Kalentieva and stayed there to the end, finishing 1:41 ahead of team-mate Kalentieva. Kraft, Sydor and Annabella Stropparo filled the remaining podium spots. Top Brit was Jenny Copnall (Subaru-Gary Fisher) in 48th.

The six-lap men’s race ran in sunny, warm conditions. A leading group established itself during the first two laps, but on lap three Australian Sid Taberlay made a break. World Champion Filip Mierhaeghe (Specialized) went after him, caught and passed him and then applied himself to opening a gap on the group. None of them appeared very inclined to make a move, allowing Mierhaeghe to establish a lead of 1:18 over second-placed Roel Paulissen (Siemens Cannondale) by the finish. Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) was third, while fourth place went right to the line between Lado Fumic (T-Mobile) and Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale) – Fumic just grabbed it. Liam Killeen was the highest-placed British rider in 16th place.

Round 2 is this weekend at Houffalize, Belgium. Full results at www.uci.ch.