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Livigno, Italy (September 3, 2005)-U.S. National Mountain Bike Team riders Brian Lopes (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.) and Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.) each rode to gold medals Saturday evening in the 4-Cross event at the 2005 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif.) captured bronze to give the U.S. it's first three medals of the week.

Both top seeds after the qualifying round on Friday, Lopes and Kintner lived up to their billing as pre-race favorites to secure the rainbow jerseys that designate a world champion in the sport of cycling.

In the men's final, Lopes outsprinted Jared Graves (AUS), Mickael Deldycke (FRA) and Greg Minnaar (RSA) who rounded out the top four spots respectively.

"My starts were really good in practice, so I was happy with my starts and really happy with how I was getting over the first jump and down the first straightaway," Lopes said of Saturday night's race. "A lot of people consider me to have good starts, but I don't think they're that fast. What I always rely on is my second, third, fourth, fifth pedal strokes and my power."

Lopes' win comes after a frustrating couple of years in which injuries sidelined him following his world title in 2002. After a bronze medal at the world championships in 2003 despite racing only one other time that year, Lopes lost most of 2004 only to return to full time racing this season.

"This was my first full year back and I'm very happy with the way things have gone." Lopes explained. "I felt pretty good for not racing all year, (referring to his 2003 campaign) but when you don't race all year you're not in that groove. There's definitely a little bit of time where you've got to build that confidence back up, I'd say it took about a year and a half of missed seasons."

Kintner's world championship is the latest in a long line of successful performances that also includes five UCI World Cup wins this season alone. Along with a silver medal from the 2004 world championships, Kintner appeared to be on the inevitable path towards a world title.

"I wasn't ready last year," admitted Kintner referring to her near miss. "I worked hard for this one...real hard. I did everything I could do, and it paid off. This is like the coolest thing ever."

Kintner bested Katrina Miller (AUS), and American teammates Llanes and Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.) to improve upon her silver medal effort from a year ago.

Defending men's world champion Eric Carter (Temecula, Calif.) won the men's consolation round to place fifth and Leana Gerrard (Sumner, Wash.) placed second in the women's small final to earn sixth overall.

In the elite women's downhill race, 2000 junior world champion and lone U.S. competitor Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, Calif.) placed seventh while a dominant trio of French riders swept the podium.

Pruitt clocked a time of 4:39.60 to finish just over 12 seconds off the pace of winner Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA) as the top American downhiller on the day regardless of category or gender.

As the sixth-to-last rider out of the gate, Pruitt was briefly in second place behind Switzerland's Marielle Saner before the French triumvirate and two others eclipsed the American's mark to bump her down to seventh.

Arguably the greatest female downhiller in the sport's history, Chausson clocked a winning time of 4:27.34 to edge Sabrinna Jonnier (FRA) by mere fractions of a second while two-time junior world champion Emmeline Ragot (FRA) was third.

Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif.) turned in the best U.S. performance in the elite men's downhill, placing 18th. A solid run by the 20-year-old left him 12.69 seconds off the pace of gold medalist Fabien Barel (FRA) who successfully defended his world title from a year ago.

Other U.S. performances in the elite men's race included David Klassenvanooschot (Riverside, Calif.) in 31st, Curtis Keene (Fremont, Calif.) in 44th, Geritt Beytagh (Fletcher, N.C.) in 47th and Chris Van Dine (Salt Lake City, Utah) in 48th.

In the junior men's downhill event, defending bronze medalist Kyle Strait (Redlands, Calif.) led all Americans in 11th place after an early run crash dashed his hopes for a second consecutive podium apperance in his final year of eligibility as a junior.

"I just went down pretty hard and just couldn't get my bike back up," a clearly dejected Strait explained afterwards.

Other American performances in the junior men's downhill race included a 17th-place effort from Travis Bond (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and a 33rd-place finish by Brendon Newton (Arvada, Colo.). Also hampered by a crash during his run was Kyle Adams (Hesperia, Calif.) who placed 50th.

Australians grabbed gold and bronze as Anmiel Cavalier and Liam Panozzo took first and third respectively while Great Britain's Brendan Fairclough descended to the silver.

Sunday is the final day of competition at the 2005 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships as elite men's and women's cross country athletes take the stage.

Representing the U.S. in the men's race will be 2004 Olympic Team members Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.) and Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.) and Adam Craig (Bend, Ore.), Barry Wicks (Corvallis, Ore.), Carl Decker (Bend, Ore.) and Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass.). Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va.) was scratched earlier in the week after a crash at the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series finals in Vermont forced him to withdraw from the world championships.

The elite women's cross country squad consists of 2004 Olympian Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass.), recent NORBA series champion Shonny Vanlandingham (Durango, Colo.), Willow Koerber (Ashville, N.C.), Heather Irmiger (Boulder, Colo.) and Kelli Emmett (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Sue Haywood (Davis, W. Va.) withdrew from the event after a minor crash and sickness.

Saturday's Results

Elite Men 4-Cross

1. Brian Lopes (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.)
2. Jared Graves (AUS)
3. Mickael Deldycke (FRA)
5. Eric Carter (Temecula, Calif.)
13. Mike King (San Diego, Calif.)
20. Kyle Strait (Redlands, Calif.)
36. Robin Baloochi
47. Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif.)

Elite Women 4-Cross

1. Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.)
2. Katrina Miller (AUS)
3. Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif.)
4. Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.)
6. Leana Gerrard (Sumner, Wash.)

Junior Men Downhill

1. Anmiel Cavalier (AUS) 4:05.79
2. Brendan Fairclough (GBR) +1.36
3. Liam Panozzo (AUS) +5.54
11. Kyle Strait (Redlands, Calif.) +13.86
17. Travis Bond (Chattanooga, Tenn.) +17.69
33. Brendon Newton (Arvada, Colo.) +28.95
50. Kyle Adams (Hesperia, Calif.) +45.92

Elite Women Downhill

1. Anne-Caroline Chausson (FRA) 4:27.34
2. Sabrina Jonnier (FRA) +.37
3. Emmeline Ragot (FRA) +4.18
7. Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, Calif.) +12.26

Elite Men Downhill

1. Fabien Barel (FRA) 3:54.77
2. Sam Hill (AUS) +.77
3. Greg Minnaar (RSA) +3.02
18. Cody Warren (Alpine, Calif.) +12.69
31. David Klassenvanooschot (Riverside, Calif.) +17.05
44. Curtis Keene (Fremont, Calif.) +20.74
47. Geritt Beytagh (Fletcher, N.C.) +21.45
48. Chris Van Dine (Salt Lake City, Utah) +21.58

Click here for complete results from Saturday's events

2005 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Livingo, Italy
August 30-September 4

REMAINING EVENT SCHEDULE

Sunday, September 4
Junior and Elite 20" and 26" Trials
Elite Women Cross Country
Elite Men Cross Country

For a more detailed event schedule and complete results, visit www.uci.ch

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