Montreal, May 24 2009 (Sportcom) - Marie-Hélène Prémont has finally returned to the podium, holding the silver medal Sunday at the World Cup mountain bike race in Madrid, Spain.
The cyclist from Château-Richer finished just four seconds behind the winner of the race, Spaniard Margarita Fullana Riera who finished with a time of 1 hour, 28 minutes and 24 seconds. The third step of the podium went to the Norwegian Lene Byberg who crossed the finish line 11 seconds behind Prémont.
Everything is going as anticipated by the 31 year old athlete, after predicting that her 14th and 6th place finishes in Germany and Belgium during the last month were only temporary rankings.
"I knew that my place was not behind but ahead. I feel much less tired than I did at the start of the season. I had a good feeling and I had a good race. In recent weeks, the circumstances did not help me, especially because of two big study sessions. But the rest I recently had did a lot of good. I now can say that again I am very happy," said Prémont.
The new silver medalist is unclear what her next competition will be. "I want to especially focus on preparatory races and training for racing in Québec at Mont Ste-Anne and Bromont in July. I will make a decision soon about this. My main objective is to achieve my best performance at the World Championships," she said.
Translated from Sportcom Press release.
Race photos at Canadiancyclist.com