1997 Grundig Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country, Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic.

1997 Grundig Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country, Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic.

THE DAY MTB XC CHANGED FOREVER 🙁

[Applause] [Applause] The mountain bike World Cup is brought to you by giant earth wind and bicycles and Shimano original bike components [Laughter] Gamma Simon Rattle da hello welcome to euros board my name is Mark vice Siegel and we are at spindle rough Lynn in the Czech Republic for the fifth round of the cross country Grundy World Cup what a beautiful setting we have today for the race whether it’s

Fine it’s warm and sunny it’s about 15 degrees you’re looking at the resort of spindle reveal in a skiing resort in the winter but today we’re here for the mountain-bike world cup of course we were here two years ago in 1995 for the European Championships when the French

Writer Jean Christophe Sammy yoni won the men’s race and more notably for the British viewers it was Caroline Alexander the British rider then riding for BMW Klein who won the women’s race the first major medal in a major championships won by a British rider what a fabulous ride that was she came first

He’s a Spanish rider Sylvia of Revere a planet that was second followed by the Czech rider Katarina Newman over who is third back in 1994 1995 sorry the French race is having yoni who was first followed by the Italian Luca remati and the two Frenchman John Christophe Tipu a and bigger Martin is

In third and fourth spot but of course here today it’s seven laps for the main a lot of climbing as you can see by the course description there 303 that 30 meters sorry not that much technical stuff much like last week’s race Budapest will be looking out for these riders the

Sun Nike riders there’s the British rider David Baker riding for g teaming up Martinez looks like he’s growing the start sorry hubert Aluva the diamond a rider it’s almost fresh net so so dominant in World Cup racing this was the standings before the start of the race today Cade Elevens

Unbelievably not here today he decided at the start of this season that he was going to do the first four rounds of the World Cup and then move over to the the American continent to get ready for the American rounds and to race some of their races over there this weekend he

Is racing the first round of the normal Championships at Big Bear California but Cade Levin’s World Cup lead and not World Cup leader sorry not here today what a turn up for the books that is and he’s been going so well recently came well recently the first four races of course

First of all we’re going to take you back before we go live to the men’s race we’re going to take you back to the initial rallies [Applause] and what’s got to be said though is the dominance of the French team the Sun Nike French team since 1996 they seem to have just blown

Everybody apart they brought road racing tactics to mountain biking it never really was like that beforehand but at the start of the race today five French riders in the top ten of the World Cup and this is a very very fast start very hard as well the course is somewhat

Different than it was two years ago for the European Championships hitter shortly off the start it climbs up that pictures you’re watching now a very very grassy start which of course will SAP the strength of these riders 138 men starting today as I said earlier the conditions almost perfect for mountain

Biking sunny 15 degrees not too hot no rain as it was yesterday for the women’s race I’ll tell you about that later on in the program but a very very difficult start and it looks like I think that’s Alice Cooper Liuba Diamondback rider on the front of

The race so far but you can see the blue jerseys of a son Nike team behind them number nine there Thomas fresh names dropping in behind Christophe to three number two in the World Cup at the moment the Red Rider they’re wearing the Danish jersey that’s Michael Rasmussen

Really is a lottery at the start got I had such a good start someone notable absent ease from the start today Mike Luger the German rider lucre by Marty winner of the first round of the World Cup just look at this dark very very very difficult but the Italian as

They hunt known to do the Italians going off extremely first fast from the start followed very closely by the Spanish rider another new name to the circuit is Javier otário Francisco I hope they hope I pronounced that correctly but the course 6.4 kilometers long slightly shortened it was two years ago

This barry clark yellow and blue just going through your picture look at how steep that climb is so any aerobic right from the start Wow looks very painful one writer there number one for two who ready off his bike and walking probably thinks that that’s a better way to go first of all

That’s Phillip Savelle the Swedish Rider riding for the for the national team that palooka already got a good start followed by the when a Belgium rider Phillip Mir harder Chris dr. Khoi going through Dario journey all the notable names for their son Nike T right to the

For Thomas fish net number nine there’s Bruner Hoidal number four guys with barry clark number twenty you just caught a picture of him they’re not very technical flipping mirror Hager didn’t do the first round to the World Cup been around a long long time he won the junior down here world championships

Back in 1988 of course but he’s still only 27 years old and he’s a very strong rider although I wouldn’t expect to see him this close to the front of the race at the end of the race This is where it’s so important to go good start there’s one of the riders coming off their number 48 just check to see who that was I envy Jack running for Harrow this is where the right is going to lose so much time my word there’s some night

Provider right at them right to the back of the field there I don’t think this is quite legal if one person does it suppose everyone’s gonna do it take the course Marshall should come around and check this part of the course they say this is the fifth round of the World Cup

All and that’s a bad fall they’re number 29 This is the standings after five laps so far today Miguel Martinez in the lead followed by teammate Christophe Harris a Michael Rasmussen in third another son like you wider in fifth Runa haidle in seventh domina can’t know what is it about these French they just seem to

Know how to write World Cups and make our Martinez yeah she said it he actually said a couple of weeks back that T was he was fed up with having a lot of bad luck if coming forth is bad luck and letter he wanted a winner race

And I think he’s setting about doing that here today we are now going live and that is your leader there Miguel Martinez the onion rice he hasn’t finished was the one in Wellington winning double punctured but apart from that he’s a he’s a very good result and

He seems to think that’s bad luck he came forth In the first round as we like us slow-mo Martin is himself And this is Nydia martinez teammate that’s Ludovic du Bois always rides a spinergy carbon wheels I think that’s Christophe duper his teammate at county line in second spot in the world come there’s Martinez you see the tiny figure out there in fact I was wrong then it

Wasn’t Duke who I it was Christophe Harris a he’s a new name too so the world cup watchers heresay is actually a very good rider recently came second in the off-road tourist by in fact came 10th overall in the vey tight a last year the below to Thailand were

In English the de jure the mountain by version of the Tour de France This is a view of the course you get today as you can see not very technical very fast on the Descent and very tough on the assets two major climbs in the race Second climb a hundred and seventy five meters [Applause] This is where team taxi to tactics can place such a major part when it’s not too technical the team can work together as they did last week in Budapest as we looked at some of the back markers we’re now at about the three kilometer market but of

Course these are all lapped riders 138 starters as I mentioned before and the lead motorbike or a motorbike which goes into until a lead rider coming through your picture now this is definitely not the leader these riders are soon to be passed by the leader number 141 there

That’s Robert glazier this is the leader number six Miguel Martinez riding for Son Nike the tiny junior world champion from the 1994 in Vail Colorado who wrote such a strong race there and in fact since that time he’s had major battles with the Australian rider Kyle Evans

Current world cup leader who’s not here today this is a lap rider don’t worry about him you see the time gap the left-hand section of your television screen we’re at 35 and a half kilometer mark it’s already over half a minute Martinez has been promising to do this

All season and it looks like he’s got a long long long gap to the next rider this is another lap rider you see the start of the major climb We go back to Martinez well Sinese have major back as the cable Evans Australian done back right as his teammates crystal Paris a just off to play and Ludovic do faux go through your picture this is going to be a first in the World Cup for

Frenchman in the first four so far four teammates at bats I also hear from my French counterpart here at Eurosport that world champion Jerome chiotti did not actually start today hasn’t been feeling too well after last week’s round in Budapest and there you have confirmation of the standings at the

Moment Martin is almost a minute in front of Harris a with decoite just on his tail when he climbs it’s notable how he sits right at the front of his saddle he’s determined to make this racist his own we look at the style of the man It’s a good caption of what Martinez is all about there came third overall in the World Cup last year and he was very disappointed not to have won the spa’s World Championships in Australia going so well before the Italian rider Dario a parolee absolutely blasted past him and won by a very

Comfortable two minutes or in fact it was almost three minutes the Martinus only just held off the man I was talking about earlier cable Evans only held him up by six seconds there [Applause] as I was saying I think the French riders had bought a certain amount of

Road racing tactics to mountain biking they ride in as a team they ride as a team and almost as the nationality is well Martinez in the lead followed closely by Dooku a by de bois by pal uber the lone Italian amongst the Frenchmen with Runa hiding just behind him of course a diner where the viewers will remember haydn’s magnificent season in 1995 when he won 5 World Cup races never been done before

Got a handling Martin is quick and light on the bike I don’t know whether any of the viewers would have noticed last week at Budapest but both Martinez and Dupree I decided before the race that they were going to ride rigid forks they felt that there wasn’t enough on the course to for

Them to use a suspended front forks I think it looks though like that Martinez is riding suspension today but he’s got a big gap these are back markers don’t take any notice of them he’s got a big gap on the next rider coming through by my last count it was Christophe DUI [Applause] [Applause] In fact these are the second and third place riders teammates of Martinez it is indeed Du Bois and duper I think difficult to tell from such a long camera angle Ludovic Du Bois usually rise the spinergy we are this is the five and a half kilometer mark Martinez of course came third at the Olympics behind Thomas fresh necked in second and Bart Brent yen’s who hasn’t really been seen on the World Cup seen this year think he’s landing in all now

All-out assault on the world championship that he won back in 1995 was coached by Kanter nice a former king king of the mountains in the road version of the Tour de France This is Martinus coming into the start-finish area the men doing seven laps so he’ll have one more lap to do after this I believe those across the line in 143 22 let’s see what those gaps gonna be to the next rider through which it was that the current standings it was

Duper ie his teammate what about that then four French riders in the top four in Italian and a Norwegian right behind them this is the long hard climb that’s like Martinez pushing a big gear [Applause] somewhat deceiving though from that camera angle [Applause] I’m seen sight nor sound of the best

Place British rider in the World Cup at the moment David Baker up to this race he was lying in fit spots with a best over in fact his best position was two nights in the first two races of the World Cup and then a 14th and the 20th

After that indeed it is Martinez his teammates coming through Duprey and Du Bois we do / way over the line first in 115 with turbo right on his tail 115 behind what really has happened to the Americans in World Cup racing it’s the French that are now so

Dominant we will be taking a short break join us after that for the men’s race [Applause] back live to the mountain bike world car with giant earth wind and bicycle Welcome back to spindle of Lin this is the current standings after six laps Martin is in the lead in front 116 in front of teammate Christophe Dooku a Ludovic du Bois in third spot just behind hip hooray Christophe Harry say another teammate 137 behind him

We go down to the bottom three six seven and eight Michael Rasmussen who the high down this really is a Sun nykeya temptation race isn’t it Harry say not previously seen on the world cup you only have one result last year two results last year they were pretty minor placing [Applause] As we look at current leader Miguel Martinez it really is astonishing I can’t help repeating myself that the French domination of cross country riding was only two years ago there you have a brief rundown of his uh his palmares at the moment he’s ranked third

In the world six so far in the World Cup after having missed the second round or punctured in the second round in Wellington that was actually wrong he didn’t come first last year he was third in the World Cup last year maybe I’ll Martinez but since 1995 but had their

First result in the top twenty back then but last year they clearly dominated not only the World Cup World Championships Europeans they won five races in the World Cup last year five out of ten races they came second in four and third in two and in fact the first time they were in

The top twenty was back in Australia in 1995 Akane’s when Martinez was 18 and did poo I was 14 so it really is marvelous how they’ve concentrated their efforts on cross country they were so dominant in downhill racing this is runa hideout Just had a slow-mo aruna Hoidal carnie lying in seventh place as we go back to the second and third riders teammates of Miguel Martinez in first is it Christophe to play at the head of the two ranks second second in the World Cup so far this year and in fact that

Caption water rock was wrong he won the World Cup last year he didn’t come second he picked Thomas fresh Nate listen Ludwig Ludovic du Bois very low standing in the World Cup last year only 59th County lying in third place des Beaux has been a consistent rider hasn’t been out of

The top eight that was his lowest position in a some vendo he came eight there a very fast course he’s had to fit spots and a fourth fourth in Wellington and as you can see a lot of climbing Don’t worry about this Reuter is one of the fact markers number 211 We should be waiting for the motorbike for the lead rider which I would presume is million Martin as he looked so strong he didn’t look like he was going to tire although recently he has had a habit of going off a very very hard don’t worry

About this guy either this is a lap rider number two four eight so is this guy number 240 as well I really like being lap were they and this is the number one rider number six Martin is juncos John just gone past number two three eights that’s lugar Salam riding four giant

Chip from the Czech Republic as we put our stopwatch on Martinez to see the gap between him and our second place rider which was Christoph duper way back in 95 when we had the European Championships here that was over 40,000 people came to watch this is another lap rider don’t worry about him And in fact now it’s so important for the riders to carry on even though I may get despondent losing a lot of time even being lad because now World Cup points actually go down to the 75th rider last year in fact previously in the World Cup

Why does only got points down to number 15 where you’ve got one point leader got 60 points now it’s slightly different the leader in the men’s men’s cross country gets a hundred points down to one point four seventy fifth spot the leader gets a hundred the first place

Rider sori gets one hundred second place ninety three third eighty-seven 482 fifth seventy eight six seventy five and after the tenth place rider at sixty six points it goes down by one point increments to seventy five and the women’s exchanged from the top twenty five getting points

As we go back to the second or third place riders they’re losing time they’re losing time one minute 45 behind now at the start of this lap it was only 115 the gap so er Martinez has in fact put 30 seconds into deep hue just watching crime Great slow-mo of the leader of the race here in the Czech Republic as he’s constantly checking back to see the gap between himself and the second place rider it really is astounding that someone so young has the endurance to remain or compete at the highest level

One World Cup racing you expect riders a little bit older to be up there like Thomas fish net we haven’t seen anything of him so far in today’s race apart from at the start where is fish net and here in nothing over my headphones so I’m

Afraid I can’t tell you it would be good to hear something about the lower place riders just to give us some sort of indication of how fast Martinez and the his son Nike teammates are going boss back in 95 Martinez actually came forth in the European Championships behind teammate Christophe duper a and

In fact there were four Frenchmen in the top ten that year in the 95 European Championships actually three I’m an economist a poet was deployed Martinez and Jerome chiotti 96 world champion and that’s the gap to deter to do puree and Du Bois as I was

Saying going back to the points in the women’s cross country they now have points down to the 50th place rice rider and instead of 35 points for the first place it’s 75 75 points not in this the hair he’s enjoying himself today is new obviously not having any problem staying

Ahead of his teammates how on earth do they do it I’m be talking to some of the best British riders Barry Clark David Baker Mickey gray Gary Ford veterans of World Cup circuits and they are just astonished at the strength and depth indeed of French cross country riding now this Sun night

Sun Nike team or as they were the Sun chippy team they were noted for their downhilling Pro X but they decided back in 95 that they wanted to compete seriously in cross country and my word look at what’s happening now incredible There’s a stage we’re at it’s at this point in the race five and a half kilometers from the finish as we look at the newly moustache he hoped maybe a Martinez ripping off his uh breathing apparatus look at that speed that he’s turning out there

I don’t know what that is it’s like a sandstorm doesn’t it but as important as the French domination of World Cup racing now is the American decline much nice shot at Martinez will they win this race today Martin is currently lying in first spot his team-mate Depot in second Dubeau in third and it looks like Christoph Depot a he’s gonna come across the line in first spots here in the Czech Republic he doesn’t wheelie across as he did at the Olympics last year but he’s a very

Happy Frenchman doesn’t look the slightest bit phase does he marvelous riding from Martinez this wonder kid from France Garcia saying burgundy only weighs a staggering 52 kilos isn’t lighter than a lot of the best women races on the circuit 164 metres tall let’s have a look that’s his team team boss max

Common saw just hold your ride was magnificent these are his two teammates coming through for a Sun nike domination of this the fifth round of the Grandda quark Cup Christoph do pro in second spot at the moment and it’s his teammate lubic du Bois just behind him will it be

A sprint finish I’m sure it will be they may be teammates but when it comes to World Cup points it’s every man for himself and I think at the moment Dafoe is in the best place he could be the 23 year old Frenchman from rass married got twins as these riders been

Told to get out of the way is the second of third place riders coming through to the finish who’s it gonna be is it gonna be a sprint finish I don’t think it looks like turbo it’s gonna go for this I think he’s gonna let Christoph do great Willie

Not much of a sprint finish there they’re gonna come across or just under two minutes in fact 144 behind teammate Miguel Martinez look back the first time it’s ever happened in the World Cup berth three spots go into three Frenchman all on the a who on the same team

Excellent riding as the riders get their bikes checked my word this really is incredible and it looks like Michael Rasmussen what a good ride from him the Danish rider rider for Trek VW comes across in four spots 215 down on Martinez Danish champion Rasmussen had a

Brilliant year back in 1995 when he came sixth overall twenty-three-year-old dane you survived for Scott of course and it looks like the Italian Hubert Pulu BER coming coming across the line in fifth spot number eight lying eight in the world cut up to this point he’s 247 behind Martinez good ride

From somewhat surprised by the lack of form of his teammate Alessandra Fontana last year they were so good in the World Cup fourth and fifth over overall there’s another son Nike rider leader for such a long time christoph harris say he couldn’t keep it up but he comes

Across in six spots that’s his best position so far in the World Cup this year you had an 18 Wellington and I must say most of the best riders weren’t at background where is fresh Nate quite al fakir IATI was shot he didn’t lie today there you have confirmation of the result

Today a son Nike French one two three to puree 145 behind debo 146 Rasmus and 215 behind pal uber 248 behind Bruna Hoidal actually comes across the line is 7th spot 341 down that’s his best ride since the first round in the Napa at the Napa Valley in California when he came second

That’s going to lift him up or keep him in full sport overall in the world cup we take a look at the winner today Martinez Well the end of the men’s race Miguel Martinez what a dominant ride today first spot a French domination all round we’re going to take a short break we’ll be showing them show you the women’s race after back live to the mountain bike world cup with Shimano original bike components Welcome back to the Czech Republic at spindle Roth Lin home of the 1995 gyro chip European Championships and of course the fifth round of the grunting cross-country World Cups in 1997 the winner of the men’s race Nico Martinez but yesterday we had the women’s race and there was a standing before

Yesterday’s event Paola pet so with two wins and two second places just in front of Alison side door Sean Delta core six spot Annabella strop RI in seven is Britain’s Caroline Alexander in 10th spot only 36 riders here today a very small field Alice inside our world

Champion when a long sleep jersey in fact wearing wearing tights as well so it was a lot colder yesterday than it was today women doing five laps as opposed to the men’s seven today back in 1995 when the course was slightly longer the men did six the woman did four but

It was Sean Delta core who led up the grassy Bank Of the very very tough climb the trek VW rider Carolina Alexander as you would expect right to the floor with Leslie Tomlinson the Kona rider number five and the sensation of the women’s round apart from Alison Dunlap the Spanish rider who’s actually absolutely blasted from nowhere margarita Falana Riera but

Alison Schneider who said last week after the Budapest round that she was a very very tired that DiPaola pet so he had the strength to go hard from the beginning but it was Caroline Alexander after eight spots Budapest breathing heavily after that tough climb the first

Climb of the race leading out from world champion Alison cider and world cup winner they had a gap over shoulder to core pala pizza and margarita Falana conditions absolutely dreadful compared to the men’s today raining very very hard in fact it rained throughout the race Karen Alexander had a good laugh a good

Gap over Alice inside or woke up leader pala pet so quite content not to go too hard from the start she likes these sort of conditions and it showed does she overhauled side or should I say she overhaul child L – core to get within striking distance of a Caroline

Alexander and indeed side door died or not realizing that the rest of the World Cup contingent knowing that they had to raise their game to get to the level that that she was at and this is where technique is so important in handing so so important pet so one of

The better cross-country descenders aziz allison side or bull she came from the road still does do a lot of training and the odd occasional road race just to keep her hand in but it was on lap three that caroline alexander and allison side up could only just watch as woke up

Leader Olympic champion allison side or wearing her gold shorts rode away from the two riders The British rider in the Canadian rider on one of the toughest climbs of the race Alexander 29 seconds behind 8 seconds in front of cider with margarita Falana About seven seconds behind side or of course Caroline Alexander they see it 29 seconds behind pet so at this stage of the race these are sort of conditions that indeed Paulo pet so won the World Championship back in 1993 at meta ba in France in fact the conditions were even

Worse than this because the ground under wheel was absolutely atrocious it’s reasonably hard today or should I say yesterday was reasonably hard but it back in 1993 it was like a an extra-long cyclocross race and that is pet size forte she likes climbs had a long slow tough

She doesn’t even mind if there’s a lot of a lot of running but the winner will have heard of the first two rounds of the World Cup in the second place rider in the next round was determined to stamp her authority on the five lap women’s race for the World Cup circus

Moves across all across country circus moves across to the North American continent let’s our supreme by Carla Alexander not noted for being so good but much much more improved than she was [Applause] she’s done a lot of practicing over the winter from in fact she’s written a lot

Of lots of the cycle across races as well she won her third national cyclocross championships in January in Great Britain there’s no rider really at the moment who can expect to get within a couple of minutes at least on the cross country mountain bikes at the

Circuit of Carolina eggs and ran in fact at the moment it doesn’t really appear to be anyone that can keep up with the consistent pet so either but Caroline Alexander yesterday was trying her hardest in the worst of conditions and in fact after the race Alexander

Said that it felt like petrol was toying with the rest of the World Cup riders even the winner of the World Cup from last year Alison side or having problems with the strength and consistency of petrol but in fact so had no problems coming across the line to take her third

First spots in the World Cup in 146 43 Like Martinez today she doesn’t even look she didn’t even look too bothered too tired about her performance been trained specifically for this a Carolina eggs and gets her next best result to the wind that she had in some vendor three weeks ago she comes across she came across the line 39 seconds behind

And power pets in fact she made up the gap allison side of coming over in third spots an improvement on her previous previous two fit spots she was 122 behind paulo pet so why should I say 123 Carolina Alexander making up the gap to pet so it was over

A minute but by the time she crossed the line only 39 seconds there’s the standings in the Women’s World Cup 365 points for pet so side row and second Dunlap in third Denis Gurion fourth led Leslie Tomlinson been consistent this year fifth Carolina Alexander moves up to 8th spot from 10 Well I hope you enjoyed that brief look at the women’s race Paulo pets are taking that in first but Carolina eggs and other Ritchie rider in second Allyson side of the World Cup winner from last year and world champion in third in the men’s race it was a very

Very very dominant ride from Miguel Martinez in first Chris Stockton who I was in second teammate Ludovic du Bois in third I hope you’ve enjoyed the program today what a fabulous resort we had for both the men’s race and the women’s race we will move over to the

Downhill circuit next week we will be coming from Cape Town South Africa for the first race of the grundy downhill World Cup the cross country moves across to North America in tune thank you very much