With just one run to count (OK, you get points for the semi-final too, but unless things are really tight that won’t make much of a difference) at each round of the UCI DH World Cup, the weather’s always likely to have an impact. So it proved at Round 5 at Calgary, Canada with rain coming and going and the course varying between wet and sloppy to dryish by way of that nasty semi-dried stickiness in between.

One notable victim of the changeable conditions was Gee Atherton, ninth in the semis but just 64th in the finals. Hopefully he’ll be able to just forget about that one, he’s had a great season so far otherwise. The semi-finals were very close, with the top five riders – in ascending order, Markolf Berchtold, Steve Peat, Sam Hill, Nathan Rennie and Cedric Gracia – all within half a second. It’s not all that often that final runs are substantially slower than the semis, but it was the case in Calgary with the winning final run being nearly ten seconds down on the fastest semi run. That winning run belonged to David Vasquez Lopez, tackling the short 0.81 mile course in 2:24.78. He was over a second clear of second-placed Markolf Berchtold, with Steve Peat the best part of another second back. Mickael Pascal was fourth and Colin Bailey fifth. Next highest-placed Brit after Peat was Neil Donoghue, continuing a consistently strong season with a 12th place.

All of which means that Steve Peat is the 2004 UCI Downhill World Cup Champion – he’s 263 points ahead of second-placed Sam Hill in the overall standings, there’s just one round to go and only 250 points for Hill to possibly get. And with any luck sixth-placed Gee Atherton can overhaul Nathan Rennie to get himself on the overall podium…

The Atherton Effect might have deserted Gee in Calgary but it seemed to settle on Rachel Atherton instead. She was top British semi-finalist in Calgary, taking fourth place. Celine Gros was fastest ahead of Vanessaa Quin, Marielle Saner, Atherton and Sabrina Jonnier. Tracy Moseley was sixth. The women’s final was relatively unaffected by the conditions, with most of the same names at the top. Rachel Atherton had a great final run, clocking 2:45.28 for a podium placing in fifth. Kathy Pruitt was fourth, Tracy Moseley couldn’t substantially improve her semi-final time but 2:43.11 was good enough for third, Sabrina Jonnie was second and Celine Gros first.

Overall it’s Jonnier out in front on 977, but her 157-point buffer ahead of Celine Gros isn’t big enough for comfort. Tracy Moseley’s third on 762 followed by Marielle Saner and Vanessa Quin. And there’s two more Brits in the top ten with Helen Gaskell just off the podium in sixth and Rachel Atherton in ninth.

4X

Jonnier’s also leading the women’s 4X standings having won again in Calgary ahead of Jill Kinter, Tara Llanes and Celine Gros. Overall it’s Jonnier followed by Llanes, Katrina Miller and Anneke Beerten. In the men’s race Mickal Prokop won the final from Roger Rinderknecht, Eric Carter and Wade Bootes. Prokop leads the overall standings ahead of Guido Tschugg, Wade Bootes and Cedric Gracia.

XC

Filip Meirhaeghe’s on a bit of a roll at the moment. He won last weekend at Mont Ste Anne and he won again at Calgary. And by a healthy 3:28 ahead of defending World Cup champ Christoph Sauser too. The battle was for third, with Jose Antonio Hermida, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Ludovic Dubau locked together until the final stages. Hermida just teased out a seven-second gap by the end, though. It was another good race for Britain’s Liam Killeen in 8th, once again the fastest under-23 rider.

So having snatched the overall lead last weekend, Meirhaeghe’s extended it – he’s now on 1165 points, 100 ahead of Sauser, who’s 100 ahead of team-mate Roel Paulissen. Peraud and Hermida occupy the remaining podium slots at the moment, while Killeen’s looking comfortably inside the top ten (8th with 470 points) and with a handy buffer ahead of Manuel Fumic in the under-23 standings.

As for the women’s race, see if you can guess who won? Yes, it was Gunn-Rita Dahle again, although she was pushed hard by the USA’s Mary McConneloug who finished 46 seconds down. Annabella Stropparo was third, while local support propelled Marie-Helene Premont to fourth. Ivonne Kraft was fifth.

The overall story is, of course, that Dahle is miles out in front, having won every round so far except Schladming which she wasn’t at. Her 1,250 points is clearly untouchable, with second-placed Annabella Stropparo on 780. Marie-Helene Premont is snapping at her heels with 720, while Irina Kalientieva and Alison Sydor round out the podium.

The racers have a few weeks off from the World Cup circus now, with the finals in Livigno, Italy not until 18/19 September. Before that, though, there’s the World Championships at Les Gets, France (8-12 September).