FOX RACING SHOX
NEWS & EVENTS
MAXXIS-ROCKY MOUNTAIN'S SABRINA JONNIER WINS WORLD CUP #5
Maribor, Slovenia - Heading into the fifth round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia, Maxxis-Rocky Mountain’s Sabrina Jonnier had reason to be confident having won three of four World Cups so far in 2009. However, after Saturday when a torrential downpour soaked the track and delayed qualifications, Jonnier who prefers drier tracks, found herself out of her preferred element.Floriane Pugin (Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker), the tenth rider down, set the first fast time of the day for the final, over 20 seconds ahead of the previous best time of Fionn Griffiths (Norco World Team). Pugin's time was so fast that only two riders would beat her - Jonnier and Emmeline Ragot (Suspension Center), the fastest in qualifying. Tracy Moseley (Trek World Racing), the winner of round one was well back, after crashing near the top of her run, and Myriam Nicole of France came within 12 seconds of Pugin, but it took Jonnier to finally displace her young French rival, and she did it with the first sub-3:40 ride, at 3:39.59 . There was only one rider left by this time - Ragot - and the former Junior world champion came through the first intermediate timer two-hundredths of a second ahead of Jonnier. However, Ragot lost four-tenths of a second in the lower portion of the run, to finish 0.31 seconds down on Jonnier. Celine Gros (Morzine-Avoriaz 74) took fourth, while Mio Suemasa of Japan took the final podium spot, breaking the French stranglehold. Claire Buchar (Chain Reaction) was the only Canadian to race, finishing tenth, 27.53 seconds behind Jonnier. "I wasn't super happy about my race run," revealed Jonnier, "because I made many mistakes, and didn't really think that I had done enough to win. But I'm glad that I changed back to my favourite Maxxis High Rollers from the 2.5 Wetscreams after qualifying, because the track was drying out quickly and conditions changed in favour of dry tires." Jonnier's win puts her at 1132 points, 197 ahead of Ragot and 322 in front of Moseley with three races remaining in the World Cup.
Report: Rob Jones – Photo: Colin Meagher
For more information, please visit www.bikes.com and www.maxxis.com
Rocky Mountain Bicycles Contact: Peter Vallance: peterv@bikes.com
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