Round five of the Tissot-UCI Mountain Bike World Cup held a
technically challenging contest on the high-altitude mountain of Vail Mountain in
Colorado, as the site of the 1994 World Championships prepared for next year’s 2001
Worlds with a brand-new downhill course for the modern era of the sport. Dropping
432 metres into the venue below, the course is one of the most difficult on the circuit,
and challenged all riders not to just win, but to finish cleanly.



Steve Peat (GBR, Team GT) has endured four rounds of racing, waiting to earn his
season’s first win. He’s come as close as third twice, but took until this fifth
round to go all the way. With the weather calling for rain mid-race, Peat took it
easy in his qualifying run and came down the mountain with 13 men remaining.



But the weather held and produced a sunny afternoon, as the 77 men crossed the finish
line after a huge table-top jump at the finish. Most riders commented that the course
was extremely difficult and were gasping for air at the finish after their anaerobic
effort at this high altitude.



"It was a pretty good run," said Peat. "But I stopped dead at the
bottom on the largest drop and lost a bit of momentum. But everything else went well.
I knew I had to dig deep – especially at this altitude, but I got here Thursday and
had a good rest, so I felt good today."



Nicolas Vouilloz (FRA, Vouilloz Racing Team) came down the hill two minutes later,
posting a split time that was two seconds faster than the Englishman’s. But Nico
flatted his rear tyre on the final straightaway section, and missed Peat’s time by
2.5 seconds in the end.



"I’ve had some bad luck this season for sure," said Vouilloz. "I’m
here to win, not get 2nd or 3rd place, and will try again next week. But I felt good
on the bike during the race and thought I could have caught Steve. I’m already thinking
of Worlds next year, and hopefully I’ll win the overall this season – as long as
I remain consistent. But I’ve lost some of the fire this season."



Nathan Rennie (AUS, Yeti) had qualified fastest in the semi-finals, but it was another
young rider – Greg Minnaar (RSA, Animal Orange) – who had been occupying the hotseat
until Peat arrived. Rennie ended his day with his best-ever world cup finish, the
1999 Jr. World Champion saying he’s finally riding to his potential.



"I’ve learned the secret of going really fast in the finals," Rennie said.
"You need to just go – and not think about it. My riding has really gone to
the next level in the past few weeks, so mentally I’m much better."



Several other riders besides Rennie came close, but no one could post a time faster
than 4:24, and Peat took his season’s first win. David Vazquez (ESP, Subaru-Specialized)
finished 4th with a strong run, but said he used the brakes a bit too much. Minnaar,
who has spent so much time at the lead, finished 5th for the day to become the first-ever
African to make a world cup MTB podium.







place bib UCIcode name nom nat tt / gs t t+ points



1 3 GBR19740617 PEAT Steve GBR TEAM GT 4:24.41 250

2 1 FRA19760208 VOUILLOZ Nicolas FRA VOUILLOZ RACING TEAM 4:26.96 2.55 200

3 19 AUS19810603 RENNIE Nathan AUS YETI 4:26.97 2.56 170

4 2 ESP19790210 VAZQUEZ LOPEZ David ESP SUBARU-SPECIALIZED 4:27.80 3.39 150

5 11 RSA19811113 MINNAAR Greg RSA ANIMAL ORANGE 4:28.42 4.01 130

6 15 USA19720819 ROCKWELL Myles USA GIANT 4:29.06 4.65 95

7 12 ESP19730828 SAIZ CASTANE Oscar ESP SUBARU-SPECIALIZED 4:30.09 5.68 90

8 18 AUS19780301 KOVARIK Chris AUS INTENSE CYCLES 4:32.51 8.1 85

9 5 FRA19791011 PASCAL Mickael FRA BE-ONE TEAM 4:32.94 8.53 80

10 10 FRA19780323 GRACIA Cedric FRA VOLVO CANNONDALE 4:33.05 8.64 75

11 24 AUS19771105 MCCARROLL Sean AUS GIANT 4:33.24 8.83 71

12 7 NED19770409 PETERS Gerwin NED BE-ONE TEAM 4:33.33 8.92 67

13 13 ESP19760807 MISSER VILASECA Pau ESP MISSER BROS 4:33.47 9.06 63

14 21 USA19730223 SIGFRID Jason USA YETI 4:34.06 9.65 59

15 9 USA19700306 CARTER Eric USA TEAM GT 4:34.17 9.76 55

16 30 NZL19790430 RANKIN Nathan NZL FOES/AZONIC 4:34.57 10.16 52

17 8 USA19740531 VOREIS Kirt USA SUBARU-SPECIALIZED 4:35.43 11.02 49

18 40 USA19780809 BAILEY Colin USA INTENSE/TROY LEE 4:37.02 12.61 46

19 28 SWE19780312 LUNDMAN Jan SWE TEAM GT 4:37.98 13.57 43

20 42 NZL19760430 KIRKCALDIE John NZL NZMBA 4:38.54 14.13 40

21 4 FRA19800726 BAREL Fabien FRA TEAM GT 4:38.88 14.47 37

22 16 GER19720223 BENEKE Juergen GER GIANT 4:38.97 14.56 34

23 26 AUS19750623 RONNING Michael AUS INTENSE CYCLES 4:39.11 14.7 32

24 78 GBR19700916 WARNER Rob GBR GIANT 4:39.27 14.86 30

25 131 USA19740216 MARCH Shaums USA CHUMBA WUMBA 4:39.73 15.32 28

26 75 AUS19810622 RANDO Jared AUS 4:40.01 15.6 25

27 65 GBR19741120 LONGDEN Will GBR MBUK/JAMIS 4:40.54 16.13 24

28 31 BRA19800209 BERCHTOLD Markolf BRA SCOTT MERCEDES 4:40.57 16.16 23

29 60 USA19780320 HOUSEMAN Rich USA TOMAC 4:41.40 16.99 22

30 68 AUS19800920 WADDELL John AUS PRO JRX TEAM 4:41.57 17.16 21

31 25 SUI19770916 CALUORI Claudio SUI TOMAC 4:41.92 17.51 20

32 20 GBR19700526 CARRICK-ANDERSON Crawford GBR GIANT/TOYOTA UK TEAM 4:42.33 17.92 19

33 27 FRA19810320 PAROLIN Franck FRA SCOTT USA 4:42.43 18.02 18

34 47 GBR19720201 PAGE Nigel GBR INTENSE UK 4:42.53 18.12 17

35 6 NED19680416 DE BEVER Bas NED BE-ONE TEAM 4:43.04 18.63 16

36 49 USA19790118 LEDUC Todd USA FOES/AZONIC 4:43.26 18.85 15

37 53 USA19690630 KING Mike USA HARO/LEE DUNGAREE 4:43.71 19.3 14

38 55 ESP19760604 OULEGO MORENO Ivan ESP KASTLE 4:43.77 19.36 13

39 37 GBR19770421 MOSELEY Ed GBR MBUK/JAMIS 4:44.29 19.88 12

40 66 USA19671103 TOMAC John USA TOMAC 4:44.36 19.95 11

41 116 USA19691126 PURDY Jeremy USA FOX SHOX INTENSE 4:44.87 20.46 10

42 51 AUS19671023 SHARPLES Scott AUS HARO/LEE DUNGAREE 4:45.36 20.95 9

43 35 USA19681030 STOCKTON Derin USA MAXXIS 4:45.96 21.55 8

44 29 ESP19720217 SANTANA Jacobo ESP CC SANT JORDI 4:46.70 22.29 7

45 89 ITA19731110 ZANCHI Bruno ITA TEAM BIKE O’CLOCK 4:46.99 22.58 6

46 125 GBR19760727 SMITH Waylon GBR 4:48.09 23.68 5

47 64 USA19781028 YBARRA Scott USA TROY LEE MAXXIS 4:49.21 24.8 4

48 104 USA19740816 TINTSMAN Phil USA IRON HORSE 4:49.71 25.3 3

49 32 SWE19761026 ERIKSSON Kristian SWE SCOTT USA 4:50.01 25.6 2

50 113 USA19730507 EBBETT Kyle USA IRON HORSE 4:52.10 27.69 1

51 23 ESP19810417 ROJO VIDAL Cesar ESP CORONAS TEAM 4:52.16 27.75

52 33 GBR19721010 PONTING Tim GBR ANIMAL ORANGE 4:52.55 28.14

53 126 USA19780713 ONEAL James USA FOES/AZONIC 4:53.12 28.71

54 99 CAN19750601 ONYSCHUK Chad CAN TEAM FORD-DEVINCI 4:54.23 29.82

55 86 USA19700729 SEARS Rob USA DIRTWORKS 4:55.03 30.62

56 70 GBR19780602 BEAUMONT Scott GBR TEAM KONA FORD FOCUS 4:55.16 30.75

57 127 FRA19790713 MOLINARD Thierry FRA 4:56.43 32.02

58 121 CAN19740204 TEMPANY Ted CAN GIANT BICYCLES CANAD 4:56.82 32.41

59 97 FRA19700829 TAILLEFER Christian FRA TAILLEFER BICYCLES 4:57.63 33.22

60 79 CAN19710520 SHANDRO Andrew CAN TEAM FORD-DEVINCI 4:59.39 34.98

61 98 IRL19750929 GILSENAN Paul IRL 4:59.65 35.24

62 91 JPN19701123 TSUKAMOTO Takashi JPN MX/MONGOOSE 5:00.25 35.84

63 14 ITA19660804 HERIN Corrado ITA TEAM SINTESI 5:00.79 36.38

64 124 USA19800520 THOMPSON Tyler USA TIOGA 5:01.27 36.86

65 130 USA19800327 ADAMS Nathan USA BIG CRANK/SANTA CRUZ 5:01.74 37.33

66 114 NZL19810207 DODD James NZL NZMBA 5:02.36 37.95

67 103 IRL19790505 YOONG Andrew IRL 5:02.85 38.44

68 92 JPN19770605 TAKEMOTO Masashi JPN ANCHOR 5:06.57 42.16

69 111 ESP19780424 BAGO MORE Jordi ESP FIAT-ROTWILD 5:12.63 48.22

70 119 RSA19810707 HUTCHINSON Nicholas RSA 5:13.42 49.01

71 108 JPN19831121 TAKAHASHI Tadashi JPN MX/SPEED GAME 5:18.67 54.26

72 118 JPN19750316 OSHIMA Reiji JPN TEAM GIANT 5:29.99 1:05.58

73 132 RSA19780225 GOODWIN Tim RSA TURNER 5:33.78 1:09.37

74 17 ESP19740930 MISSER VILASECA Tomi ESP MISSER BROS 8:52.70 4:28.29



34 USA19800903 HOUSEMAN Gary USA HARO/LEE DUNGAREE DNF

36 AUS19790715 PANOZZO Joel AUS SANTA CRUZ ARNETTE DNF

50 CZE19780529 MAROSI Michal CZE AUTOR-RB SKODA AUTO DNF



117 AUS19770705 SIMPSON John AUS MATTYS BIKE SHOP DNS