Irina Kalentieva to complete the double victory with a silver medalThe austrian region of "Salzkammergut", well known as a destination to spend one´s holidays in, offered a highlight of the mountainbike season, holding the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Bad Goisern. With a length of 106 km and an extremely hard 3.693 m difference in altitude, the course offered an unpredictable mix to the athletes. The ongoing rain of the last days added to the difficulty of the track.
Nevertheless Gunn-Rita Dahle immediately after the start of the race took the lead of the field of 52. 18 km later, at the first timekeeping, she already had a lead of 1.09 minutes. The MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TEAM star drove at the speed of an Cross-Country World Cup race, even though the course was three times longer the distance. With this forceful ride, she closed after 5,28.12 hours - a time she herself thought unachievable - and finished under the overwhelming applause of the countless spectators. The lead of Gunn-Rita Dahle at this time added up to an incredible 19,43 minutes in front of the second placed Irina Kalentieva. Her first comments: "It is something very special to become World Champion. I will definetely not forget this day. Today I was in good shape from start till finish and I felt excellent. Eating and drinking regularly was very important. In the first loop I carried my bike downhill in order not to accumulate to much mud, in the second round I didn´t have the power anymore. The brakes also lost grip towards the end and I had to be careful not to risk a defect or fall." Gunn-"Merida" Dahle, as the only woman in the field, managed not to be "caught" by the men who started one hour later.
Her teammate Irina Kalentieva, who did her first marathon after Garmisch in 2000, chased the unkown 23 year old well performing Slovenian Blaza Klemencic till the last climb at third rank. During this last and long uphill, the petite Russian implemented her plan and commenced a final attack. She overtook the former freeclimber who now mainly does road racing and controlled her lead during the following downhill, just to prevent a sprint duel. At the finishing line her lead marked a comfortable 1,48 minutes and her total time reached 5,47.56 hours. "Prior to the race I thought I could reach the podium. After the strain though I was happy and surprised to win the Silver Medal. I discovered that Marathon is not my discipline. Pedalling over such long distances and pushing all the time is not really my cup of tea. I prefer short and step climbs followed by technically demanding downhills" summarized a happy Vice World Champion. Over all it was very astonishing to see Dahle and Kalentieva, known as Cross Country specialists, duping the whole elite of Marathon.
Birgit Jüngst, who also participated in the line up of MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TEAM, fell back after strong start up phase and finished after 6,22.31 hours with 15th rank: "I let myself seduce into going the same speed as the leading group and then collapsed".
The fourth Lady of the team, Anna Enocsson, was kept from achieving a top ten score by health problems. "Up to km 70 I kept a good 10th rank and felt well, then suddenly I got an asthmatic attack of a kind I never experienced before. I couldn´t catch a breath and had to stop for ten minutes. Nobody was able to help me as there was no spray around. Afterwards I tortured myself riding on to reach the finishing line", explained the speechless Swede with tears in her eyes. Rank 26 didn´t comfort her at all.
Jürgen Kotulla after a long lasting virus-related illness and consecutive training did his first important race this year. He had to start in the last block and finished after 5,06.55 hours as 34th in a field of 239. "My goal was to reach a top 30 place. Unfortunately it didn´t work out, nevertheless I´m quite happy with my result. Under those difficult conditions, I had enough stamina and finally my form is rising."
Women:
1. Dahle, Gunn-Rita NOR 5:28:12.45 hours 2. Kalentieva, Irina RUS 5:47:56.103. Klemencic, Blaza SLO 5:49:44.914. Huser, Andrea SUI 5:51:46.35 5. Posch, Doris AUT 5:55:30.386. Louis, Daniela SUI 6:00:48.09 7. Mächler-Rupp, Dolores SUI 6:02:05.52 8. Deubler, Martina AUT 6:06:10.83 9. Haywood, Susan USA 6:08:30.65 10. Ferrari, Anna ITA 6:08:58.07 15. Jüngst, Birgit GER 6:22:31.88 26. Enocsson, Anna SWE 6:35:48.96
Men:
1. de Bertolis, Massimo ITA 4:37:31.902. Dietsch, Thomas FRA 4:39:51.543. Brentjens, Bart NED 4:40:09.084. Kraler, Martin AUT 4:41:23.47 5. Acquaroli, Dario ITA 4:42:16.826. Deho, Marzio ITA 4:43:32.267. Sahm, Stefan GER 4:48:08.808. Lakata, Alban AUT 4:48:47.029. Platt Karl, GER 4:49:19.6410. Bresser, Carsten GER 4:49:55.3434. Kotulla, Jürgen GER 5:06:55.89
