First-time world cup winner Barbara Blatter (SUI,
Scott USA) joined veteran racer Christophe Dupouey (FRA, Team Giant) at
the top of the finisher’s podium today when the two pro racers won the women’s and
men’s event in St. Wendel, Germany. Ideal racing conditions brought out an estimated
25,000 spectators to this long-running event, as the cross-country tour hit the half-way
point of its season.

With four different winners in as many rounds of racing,
the 2000 Tissot-UCI Mountain Bike World Cup cross-country series is again shaping
up as an epic series, with plenty to motivate the teams and riders in this Olympic
year.

Christophe Dupouey is a World Champion, multi-time
world cup winner and one of the most consistent racers on the circuit. So it’s no
surprise that this experienced rider finally put together the race necessary to win
a round of the 2000 world cup series, for his new Giant team.

Dupouey worked effectively within the competition
as he rode in a four-man breakaway group early in Sunday afternoon’s seven-lap event.
Going wheel-to-wheel with three of the sport’s top racers, Dupouey knew he had his
work cut out for him against former teammate Miguel Martinez (FRA, Full Dynamix),
Dutch star Bas Van Dooren (NED, Be-One) and last week’s winner Filip Meirhaeghe
(BEL, Subaru-Specialized).

Twenty seconds behind this four-man group was a long
line of 180 competitors, all vying for the front and working in small groups to maximize
their speed on St Wendel’s fast course. Beat Wabel (SUI) and Thomas Hochstrasser
(SUI, Scott USA) were among those chasers, riding together for nearly the entire
race.

This order remained mostly the same until the beginning
of the fifth lap, when Martinez moved 35 seconds clear of his group, which was soon
joined by Hochstrasser and subsequently left by Meirhaeghe, the Belgian experiencing
a race-ending mechanical in lap six.

By the end of the 6th lap Dupouey had shattered the
group and caught Martinez headed into the sixth lap, both he and Bas Van Dooren in
front of Martinez within that lap. Dupouey was now riding 25 seconds clear of Van
Dooren going into the final bell lap, Martinez chasing in a group with Wabel and
Hochstrasser.

This order remained the same for the remainder of
the final lap, as Dupouey rode across the finish line 22 seconds ahead of Van Dooren,
and 33 seconds ahead of Martinez for another close St Wendel finish. Wabel and Hochstrasser
rounded out the podium for 4th and 5th, approximately one minute back. With his win,
Dupouey takes the lead in the overall series.

Quoted:

1st Place, Christophe Dupouey:

“Miguel attacked in the fifth lap, and I was
waiting for Meirhaeghe – but he never came. So I took some risk and caught Miguel,
and we actually did ride together a bit. But he didn’t have enough power, and I felt
solid – so I went for the win. I saw that Bas couldn’t come back at the end of the
race, so it gave me more confidence for the win.”

2nd Place, Bas Van Dooren:

“I don’t particularly like this tactical racing,
I think it suits Dupouey more than me – he’s steady on the wheel in close racing.
I stayed in 2nd and tried to close the gap on the road climb, but it didn’t work
out for me and I knew that 2nd was the best I could do. But a podium place in the
world cup is always nice, and a hard thing to do.”

3rd Place, Miguel Martinez:

“I’m very happy with today’s finish – it was
good for me. This finish reminds me of racing with Christophe three years ago with
Sunn – we’re still in the front. I was fastest in the woods, and was able to make
up time in the descents. I never attacked, I just rode at my pace.”

Ari Cheren