UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Days 1 & 2

The 2011 Championships in Champéry, Switzerland kicked off with an exciting win for France in the team relay cross-country event, a mixed-gender, mixed-level race. Each four person squad included an under-23 male, a junior male, an elite female and an elite male. Switzerland, last year’s champion, snagged silver and Italy took bronze.

Canada, gold medal winner in 2001, 2002 and 2004, silver earners in 2009 and bronze performers in 2003, finished 7th 1:57 behind the French. The Canuck gang was comprised of Catharine Pendrel, Max Plaxton, Evan McNeely and Alexandre Daigle.

“Hometown” gal Linda Indergand won Switzerland’s first gold in the junior women’s cross-country race, finishing over two minutes ahead of Germany’s Lena Putz and Italian Julia Innerhofer. Top Canadian, Frederique Trudel, was 12th.

An early report from Champéry has France’s Victory Koretzky triumphant in the junior men’s cross-country event, with Kiwi Anton Cooper nipping Costa Rican Andrey Fonseca by one second for silver on a wet, slippery course.