Triumphant finale for the Multivan Merida Biking Team

At the UCI mountain bike worldcup’s final round in Fort William, Scotland, the Multivan Merida Biking Team celebrated a complete triumph with a double victory: Both Ralph Näf and Gunn-Rita Dahle won their respective races, while Irina Kalentieva finished third, José Hermida fourth and Nina Göhl fifth. Thanks to these excellent results, the team also dominated the overall team ranking of the 2005 UCI mountain bike worldcup.

n the men’s race, a high-profile chasing group containing Julien Absalon, José Hermida and Christoph Sauser went after Sweden’s early race leader Fredrik Kessiakoff. Halfway into the race, Näf was not in the leading positions yet, but he managed to close the gap and then drove away from the chasing group together with his compatriot Christoph Sauser. As Sauser had his team mate Kessiakoff in the lead, he saw no reason to help chasing him.Näf looked upon this as his opportunity: «I simply pedaled as hard as I possibly could, knowing from the world championships that I was in an excellent shape. Suddenly, I caught sight of Kessiakoff: From then on, I felt like I was flying.»

In the women’s race Gunn-Rita Dahle won her 23rd race in the UCI worldcup, this time by a margin of well over five minutes. This way, she has not only dominated this year’s worldcup in a superior manner, she is also on her way to become the most successful rider ever in the sport of mountain biking, a title that is currently still being held by Julie Furtado. Irina Kalentieva and Nina Göhl also showed excellent performances in Fort William:Kalentieva managed to beat Switzerland’s Petra Henzi in the sprint for third position, while Göhl finished shortly after in fifth position. This gave the Multivan Merida Biking Team three out of the top five positions in the women’s race.

The team ranking of the 2005 UCI mountain bike worldcup was also superiorly won by the Multivan Merida Biking Team: Riders of the team have won no less than eight worlcup races, a European championship title, a gold and a bronce medal at the world championships and the Marathon world championships.

Results Worldcup Fort William, Cross Country Men 1. Ralph Näf (SUI) 2:02.36 2. Christoph Sauser (SUI) + 0.01 3. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE) + 0.43 4. Jose Hermida (ESP) + 1.12 5. Julien Absalon (FRA) + 1.50 6. Bart Brentjens (NED) + 2.35 7. Adam Craig (USA) + 2.36 8. Lado Fumic (GER) + 2.51 9. Cédric Ravanel (FRA) + 3.11 10. Manuel Fumic (GER) + 3.55 18. Moritz Milatz (GER) +5.52

Results Worldcup Fort William, Cross Country Women 1. Gunn-Rita Dahle (NOR) 1:53:17 2. Sabine Spitz (GER) 1:58:23 3. Irina Kalentieva (RUS) 1:59.02 4. Petra Henzi (SUI) 1:59.03 5. Nina Göhl (GER) 1:59:06 6. Kiara Bisaro (CAN) 1:59:17 7. Mary McConneloug (USA) 2:01:05 8. Ivonne Kraft (GER) 2:02:04 9. Maria Östergren (SWE) 2:02:52 10. Franziska Röthlin (SUI) 2:03:27